Chemistry: electrical and wave energy – Apparatus – Coating – forming or etching by sputtering
Utility Patent
1998-03-10
2001-01-02
Nguyen, Nam (Department: 1753)
Chemistry: electrical and wave energy
Apparatus
Coating, forming or etching by sputtering
C204S192120, C118S728000, C156S345420
Utility Patent
active
06168697
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not applicable.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
Not applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to article holders suitable for holding articles being processed, and more particularly to holders which use gas flow to hold articles.
Holders that use gas flow are widely used in different industries including, for example, the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Examples of such holders are vortex holders described in PCT Publication WO 97/45862 “Non-Contact Holder for Wafer-Like Articles” (Dec. 4, 1997). Other examples are holders based on the Bernoulli principle.
It is desirable to provide improved article holders that use gas flow.
SUMMARY
The inventor has observed that the gas flow emitted by the holder can have a negative effect on the article processing by affecting the temperature or other conditions at different parts of the article. Of note, some semiconductor wafer processes, e.g. plasma etches, are quite sensitive to the wafer temperature. For example, a plasma etch of silicon dioxide may have an etch rate that changes by a factor of 10 as the wafer temperature changes from 100° C. to 300° C. Some plasma etches of silicon nitride are also sensitive to the wafer temperature. If, for example, a gas flow emitted by the holder cools the wafer non-uniformly, the etch becomes less uniform.
These problems are exacerbated in some processes in which the wafer temperature is supposed to change during processing in a predetermined fashion. The problems are exacerbated because it may become more difficult to adjust the gas temperature to reduce the processing non-uniformity. Examples of such processes include dynamic plasma treatment (DPT) described in PCT Publication WO 96/21943. In DPT, the plasma cross section is smaller than the wafer, and hence the plasma contacts at most a portion of the wafer at any given time. The wafer makes multiple passes through the plasma. With each pass, the plasma traces a path on the wafer surface, heating the wafer along the path. The wafer is cooled between the passes. In order for the process results to be uniform across the wafer, the temperature profile of these heating and cooling cycles may have to be uniform for different wafer points processed in different passes. This requirement makes it difficult or impossible to reduce the process non-uniformity by gas flow temperature control.
To reduce or eliminate such disadvantages, some embodiments of the present invention restrict the area in which a gas flow generated by the holder contacts the article. In some embodiments, that area is substantially restricted to the article portion reserved for article handling. For example, in many semiconductor manufacturing processes, each wafer has a peripheral area reserved for wafer handling. The wafer useful area is confined to the rest of the wafer. At least one gas flow generated by the holder does not contact the wafer useful area. Therefore, the temperature non-uniformity in the wafer useful area is reduced.
According to another aspect of the invention, at least one gas outlet in an article holder is positioned opposite to a periphery or a handling portion of the article.
In some embodiments, the holders hold articles which are not being processed.
Other features of the invention are described below. The invention is defined by the appended claims.
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Kaufman Steven
Siniaguine Oleg
Cantelmo Gregg
Nguyen Nam
Shenker Michael
Skjerven Morrill & MacPherson LLP
TruSi Technologies LLC
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