Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Differential fluid etching apparatus – With microwave gas energizing means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-21
2003-03-04
Mills, Gregory (Department: 1763)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Differential fluid etching apparatus
With microwave gas energizing means
C156S345340, C118S7230MW, C118S7230ER
Reexamination Certificate
active
06527908
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma process apparatus, and more specifically, to a plasma process apparatus capable of suppressing generation of plasma in an unwanted location and performing a stable and uniform plasma processing.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, in the manufacturing steps of a liquid crystal device, a semiconductor device, and the like, a plasma process apparatus is employed which utilizes plasma in such steps as a deposition step, an etching step, and an ashing step. With such a plasma process apparatus, a uniform plasma needs to be generated for an entire surface to be processed, in order to perform uniform processing, such as deposition, for the entire surface to be processed of a substrate that is the target of the processing.
Moreover, in recent years, larger-scale substrates are being formed in the field of semiconductor devices, represented by semiconductor memory devices and such, and in the field of liquid crystal devices, and so on. In particular, in the case of a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) liquid crystal display device, a substrate that is as large as 500 mm×500 mm to 1 m×1 m as well as a substrate of an even larger size may possibly be used. Thus, there is a need for a plasma process apparatus that is capable of improving processing uniformity within a surface to be processed by generating uniform plasma for the entire surface to be processed of such a large substrate.
In order to realize such uniform plasma processing for a large substrate described above, a plasma process apparatus as the one shown in
FIG. 9
is proposed.
FIG. 9
is a schematic cross sectional view representing a plasma process apparatus that forms the basis for the present invention. The plasma process apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.
9
.
As shown in
FIG. 9
, the plasma process apparatus is provided with a chamber lid
101
, a chamber body
102
, microwave introduction windows
104
a,
104
b,
a shower plate
105
, a substrate holder
107
, and waveguide ends
103
a,
103
b.
Chamber lid
101
is disposed over an upper opening of chamber body
102
. Within a chamber interior
119
, substrate holder
107
is provided for holding a substrate
108
that is the member to be processed. A shower plate
105
formed of a dielectric such as ceramic is provided on a surface of chamber lid
101
that faces substrate
108
. Shower plate
105
is fixed on a bottom surface of chamber lid
101
by a shower plate holding member
106
.
In a region above shower plate
105
, openings
120
a,
120
b
are formed in chamber lid
101
such that they penetrate through chamber lid
101
. Microwave introduction windows
104
a
,
104
b
are respectively provided to openings
120
a
and
120
b.
Microwave introduction windows
104
a
,
104
b
are formed of dielectrics such as ceramic. Waveguide ends
103
a,
103
b
are provided on an upper surface of chamber lid
101
in regions located above microwave introduction windows
104
a
,
104
b
. Waveguide ends
103
a,
103
b
are respectively connected to waveguide
113
a,
113
b
for propagating microwaves to the plasma process apparatus. Temperature-maintaining channels
112
a,
112
b
are respectively formed in waveguide ends
103
a,
103
b.
Temperature-maintaining channels
112
a,
112
b
are provided to allow temperature maintaining material for maintaining an ambient temperature of waveguide ends
103
a,
103
b
at a prescribed temperature to flow therethrough.
A gas introduction hole
121
for supplying into chamber interior
119
a reactive gas to be used for plasma processing is formed in shower plate
105
. A recess having a depth of about 0.1 to 1 mm is formed on a bottom surface of chamber lid
101
facing shower plate
105
. This recess and a surface of shower plate
105
facing chamber lid
101
together form a reactive gas channel
115
. A reactive gas inlet
114
for supplying a reactive gas is formed in chamber lid
101
such that it connects with reactive gas channel
115
. Reactive gas inlet
114
, reactive gas channel
115
and gas introduction hole
121
are connected, and the reactive gas is supplied from reactive gas inlet
114
via reactive gas channel
115
and gas introduction hole
121
into chamber interior
119
.
An O-ring groove
117
is formed in a portion of chamber body
102
connected to chamber lid
101
. An O-ring
109
is disposed inside O-ring groove
117
. In addition, O-rings
110
are provided inside O-ring grooves
118
which are formed in chamber lid
101
in portions where chamber lid
101
and microwave introduction windows
104
a,
104
b
are connected. Chamber interior
119
can be isolated and sealed from outside air using O-rings
109
and
110
.
Now, an operation of the plasma process apparatus shown in
FIG. 9
will be briefly described.
First, atmosphere gas is evacuated from chamber interior
119
using a vacuum pumping member (not shown). As a result, chamber interior
119
is held in vacuum state. Then, a reactive gas is supplied from reactive gas inlet
114
via reactive gas channel
115
and gas introduction hole
121
into chamber interior
119
. Gas introduction holes
121
are formed such that they are distributed over substantially an entire surface of shower plate
105
so that the reactive gas can be supplied in a substantially uniform manner to a region facing the entire surface of substrate
108
. On the other hand, microwaves generated by a microwave generating member (not shown) propagate from waveguides
113
a,
113
b
connected to the microwave generating member to waveguide ends
103
a,
103
b.
Then, microwaves respectively propagate from openings
111
a,
111
b
of waveguide ends
103
a,
103
b
to microwave introduction windows
104
a,
104
b.
The microwaves further propagate from microwave introduction windows
104
a,
104
b
to shower plate
105
. Thus, microwaves are radiated substantially uniformly from shower plate
105
to a region facing the entire surface of substrate
108
in chamber interior
119
. The reactive gas is excited by the microwaves radiated into chamber interior
119
and plasma is generated. Using the generated plasma, plasma processing such as deposition or ashing can be performed on a surface of substrate
108
. In this manner, substantially uniform plasma can be formed in a region facing the entire surface of substrate
108
by uniformly supplying a reactive gas to the entire surface of substrate
108
, while at the same time, by uniformly radiating microwaves from shower plate
105
.
The plasma process apparatus shown in
FIG. 9
, however, involves the following problems.
A top surface of shower plate
105
forms a portion of a sidewall surface of reactive gas channel
115
for supplying into chamber interior
119
a reactive gas that is to form the plasma. Shower plate
105
serves as a microwave radiating member for radiating into chamber interior
119
microwaves supplied from microwave introduction windows
104
a,
104
b.
Thus, in some cases, a portion of the microwaves is radiated from shower plate
105
to reactive gas channel
115
. In such case where microwaves are radiated into the interior of reactive gas channel
115
, discharge in an unwanted location takes place inside reactive gas channel
115
, thereby exciting the reactive gas, causing generation of plasma in an unwanted location inside reactive gas channel
115
. Such generation of plasma in an unwanted location created the problem of a sidewall surface of reactive gas channel
115
being damaged. Moreover, when using the plasma process apparatus shown in
FIG. 9
as a CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) apparatus, such problems arise as adhesion of a reaction product that results from plasma generation in an unwanted location to a sidewall surface of reactive gas channel
115
. In a case where a sidewall of reactive gas channel
115
is damaged or where a reaction product adheres to the sidewall, a flow rate or a pressure of a reactive gas within reactive gas channel
115
varies fr
Hirayama Masaki
Kanetsuki Norio
Ohmi Tadahiro
Tadera Takamitsu
Yamamoto Tatsushi
Hassanzadeh P.
Mills Gregory
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
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