Electric lamp and discharge devices: systems – Discharge device load with fluent material supply to the... – Plasma generating
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-13
2003-09-23
Wong, Don (Department: 2821)
Electric lamp and discharge devices: systems
Discharge device load with fluent material supply to the...
Plasma generating
C438S123000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06624582
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for performing a required circuit-processing or circuit-treatment to produce an electric circuit on a processed object, i.e., a circuit-constituting member due to generation of plasma. The present invention also relates to a method of and an apparatus for controlling a processing motion of the circuit-processing apparatus, and further relates to an information storage medium to store a program as software to be used with a computer for controlling the processing motions of the circuit-processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that diverse kind of integrated circuit devices have recently been employed in a variety of uses. Thus, there have been provided various circuit-processing methods to manufacture these integrated circuit devices having a variety of construction depending on a difference in the uses. Description of an example of the conventional circuit-processing apparatuses for implementing the circuit-processing method will be provided hereinbelow with reference to
FIGS. 1 through 10
, in which
FIG. 1
is a plan view illustrating an entire construction of an example of a circuit-processing system accommodated in the conventional circuit-processing performing apparatus,
FIG. 2
is a diagrammatic cross-sectional side view illustrating a transport chamber in which a circuit-constituting member is held to wait for being processed, and a processing chamber, which forms a plasma generative portion, FIG.
3
(
a
) is a cross-sectional elevation view illustrating the stacked construction of an important portion of an LSI (large Scale integration), FIG.
3
(
b
) is a cross-sectional side view of same, FIG.
4
(
a
) through FIG.
5
(
b
) are cross-sectional views illustrating the important portions of the manufacturing steps to manufacture the LSI, and FIGS.
6
(
a
) through
7
(
c
) are cross-sectional views illustrating the important portions of the processing steps to conduct plasma etching treatment constituting the circuit-processing method.
Referring to FIGS.
1
through
7
(
c
), a circuit-processing system
100
constituting an example of the conventional circuit-processing apparatus is provided with a processing apparatus body
101
, which is a body portion of the circuit-processing apparatus, and a motion-controlling unit
102
including therein a computing system. The processing apparatus body portion
101
and the motion-controlling unit
102
are operatively connected to one another by a communication network
103
.
The processing apparatus body portion
101
is provided with a single transport chamber
110
corresponding to a circuit-constituting member waiting portion. Around the transport chamber
110
there are arranged two first and second load-lock chambers
111
and
112
and four first through fourth processing chambers
113
through
116
. The first and second load-lock chambers
111
and
112
are respectively provided with a body housing fluidly connected to an individual vacuum pump via a pipe arrangement. The first and second load-lock chambers
111
and
112
are provided with a pair of gate valves, respectively, which are mounted on the respective body housings so that each of the pair of gate valves is in a fluid communication with both the transport chamber
110
and the exterior of the circuit-processing system, and accordingly the pair of gate valves of each of the first and second load-lock chambers
111
and
112
perform transportation of the processed object (i.e., a circuit-constituting member
200
) from and toward the exterior.
As shown in
FIG. 2
, the transport chamber
110
is also provided with a hollow body housing
120
, which is fluidly connected to a vacuum pump
121
via a suitable pipe arrangement. The transport chamber
110
supports thereon a robot arm
122
forming a member transfer means, which can be used for freely transferring a circuit-constituting member
200
to the two lad-lock chambers,
111
and
112
and to the four processing chambers
113
through
116
. As also shown in
FIG. 2
, the first processing chamber
113
, which is used as a plasma generating portion is provided with a hollow ceramic-made body housing
123
and is fluidly connected to the transport chamber
110
via a gate valve
124
. The hollow body housing
123
of the first processing chamber
110
is connected to a peculiar vacuum pump
125
and a gas cylinder
126
via appropriate pipes.
The body housing
123
of the first processing chamber
113
is provided with a copper-made inductively-coupled plasma coil
127
having a good heat conductivity and mounted around the outer face of the housing
123
. The inductively-coupled plasma coil (it will be hereinafter referred to as ICP coil)
127
is electrically connected to a low-frequency ICP power source
128
and a matching box (not shown).
The first processing chamber
113
is further provided with a heating susceptor
129
capable of functioning as a member-holding means for holding a circuit-constituting member thereon is housed in a bottom portion of the body housing
123
, and is electrically connected to a high frequency power source, i.e., a radio-frequency power source (RF source)
130
and a matching box (not shown in FIG.
2
).
The first processing chamber
113
having the above-described construction is arranged so as to conduct a circuit processing method by which plasma etching is applied to the circuit-constituting member
200
. To this end, the vacuum pump
125
is operated so as to maintain the interior of the body housing
123
of the first processing chamber
113
at adjustable vacuum condition, and the gas cylinder
126
is operated so as to introduce gaseous argon and hydrogen gas into the interior of the body housing
123
. The ICP power source
128
applies a low-frequency energy having 1.0 KW at 450 KHz to the ICP coil
127
. As a result, plasma is generated in the interior of the body housing
123
. Therefore, it can be considered that the above-mentioned gas cylinder
126
, the ICP coil
127
and the ICP power source
128
corresponds to a plasma generating means. It should be understood that the ICP coil
127
is formed to have a hollow construction therein for permitting a cooling water (not shown) to flow in the interior of the ICP coil
127
.
The heating susceptor
129
removably supports thereon the circuit-constituting member
200
, and heats the member
200
by means of a built-in heat-generative resistance body to approximately 500 degrees centigrade (500° C.). The high-frequency RF power source
130
impresses high-frequency bias at 13.56 MHz to the heating susceptor
129
to thereby allow the circuit-constituting member
206
to be radiated by the generating plasma.
The second and third processing chambers
114
and
115
are formed to have a construction similar to that of the first processing chamber
113
, respectively. Thus, the circuit-constituting members
200
held in the second and third processing chambers
114
and
115
can be subjected to a predetermined circuit processing method, i.e., either a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method for depositing a titanium thin film onto the member
200
or a thermal CVD method for depositing a titanium nitride film onto the member
200
. The fourth processing chamber
116
is arranged for applying cooling treatment to the circuit-constituting member
200
when it is held therein.
The motion-controlling unit
102
is provided with an information storage medium consisting of a read-only memory (ROM) and a random access memory (RAM), which preliminarily stores an appropriate controlling program in the form of software. The motion-controlling unit
102
is also provided with a central processing unit (CPU), which operates so as to read the program thereby conducting predetermined data processing so that every part of the apparatus body portion
101
is administered and controlled.
In the circuit-processing system
100
having the described construction, the tr
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