Patent Publication Number: US-2022235459-A1

Title: Reduced diameter carrier ring hardware for substrate processing systems

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/862,814, filed on Jun. 18, 2019. The entire disclosure of the application referenced above is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to edge rings for a substrate support in a substrate processing system. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The background description provided here is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure. 
     Substrate processing systems may be used to perform treatments such as deposition and etching of film on substrates such as semiconductor wafers. Example processes that may be performed on a substrate include, but are not limited to, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), conductor etch, and/or other etch, deposition, or cleaning processes. A substrate may be arranged on a substrate support, such as a pedestal, an electrostatic chuck (ESC), etc. in a processing chamber of the substrate processing system. During deposition, the substrate is arranged on a substrate support and one or more precursor gases may be supplied to a processing chamber during one or more process steps. During etching, gas mixtures including one or more precursors may be introduced into the processing chamber and plasma may be used to initiate chemical reactions. 
     SUMMARY 
     According to certain embodiments, the present disclosure discloses a substrate support for a substrate processing system that includes a baseplate, a ceramic layer arranged on the baseplate, and a carrier ring arranged on the ceramic layer. The ceramic layer has a first outer diameter. The carrier ring has a second outer diameter that is less than the first outer diameter. The ceramic layer includes a shoulder that extends from the second outer diameter of the carrier ring to the first outer diameter. 
     In some embodiments, the shoulder slopes downward from the second outer diameter to the first outer diameter. In some embodiments, the shoulder includes a sloped portion and a non-sloped portion. The sloped portion extends from the second outer diameter to the non-sloped portion and the non-sloped portion extends from the sloped portion to the first outer diameter. In some embodiments, the non-sloped portion extends from the second outer diameter to the sloped portion and the sloped portion extends from the non-sloped portion to the first outer diameter. 
     In some embodiments, the shoulder slopes are at an angle between 10 and 45 degrees. In some embodiments, the ceramic layer is configured to support a 200 mm substrate. In some embodiments, an inner diameter of the carrier ring is less than a diameter of the substrate. In some embodiments, the ceramic layer includes a downward step at the second outer diameter of the carrier ring. And in some embodiments, the ceramic layer has a shoulder slopes downward from the downward step to the first outer diameter. 
     According to certain embodiments, the substrate processing chamber includes the substrate support and a showerhead having a third outer diameter that is less than the second outer diameter. In some embodiments, the third outer diameter is greater than an inner diameter of the carrier ring. In some embodiments, a bottom outer edge of the showerhead is radiused. 
     According to certain embodiments, the present disclosure discloses a substrate support for a substrate processing system includes a baseplate, a ceramic layer, and a carrier ring arranged on the ceramic layer. The ceramic layer has a first outer diameter, the carrier ring has a second outer diameter that is less than the first outer diameter, and the ceramic layer includes a shoulder that extends from the second outer diameter of the carrier ring to the first outer diameter. 
     In some embodiments, the shoulder slopes downward from the second outer diameter to the first outer diameter. In some embodiments, the shoulder includes a sloped portion and a non-sloped portion. In some embodiments, the ceramic layer is configured to support a 200 mm substrate. In some embodiments, an inner diameter of the carrier ring is less than a diameter of the substrate. In some embodiments, the ceramic layer includes a downward step at the second outer diameter of the carrier ring. In some embodiments, the downward step is at least 50% of a thickness of the ceramic layer. 
     Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will become apparent from the detailed description, the claims and the drawings. The detailed description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a functional block diagram of an example substrate processing system according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an example substrate support including a carrier ring according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure; 
         FIGS. 3A and 3B  are example substrate supports including a carrier ring and a sloped shoulder according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure; and 
         FIGS. 4A and 4B  are example substrate supports including a carrier ring and a stepped shoulder according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     In the drawings, reference numbers may be reused to identify similar and/or identical elements. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A substrate support in a substrate processing system may include an edge ring. For example, the substrate support may include a ceramic layer arranged to support a substrate. The edge ring is arranged around an outer portion (e.g., outside of and/or adjacent to a perimeter) of the ceramic layer. The edge ring may be configured to confine plasma to a volume above the substrate, protect the substrate support from erosion caused by exposure to plasma and other process materials, etc. In some examples, the edge ring may correspond to a carrier ring configured to support an outer edge of the substrate. 
     When installed, results of various substrate processes performed on a substrate may be affected by features of a carrier ring (e.g., dimension such as a width of the carrier ring, an outer diameter of the carrier ring relative to the substrate, the substrate support, and/or a showerhead, etc.). In some examples, material (e.g., oxide material) may accumulate on a carrier ring over time, which may cause failure of substrates processed on the substrate support. In other examples, dimensions of the carrier ring may affect plasma characteristics, such as arcing of plasma toward the substrate, wrapping of plasma around the showerhead and the outer diameter of the substrate support, etc. An example substrate support configured for processing 200 mm substrates may have a diameter of 15.0″ (381 mm). The carrier ring may also have a diameter of 381 mm. The showerhead may have a diameter of 9.0″ (228.6 mm). 
     The carrier ring according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure has a reduced outer diameter relative to the outer frame of the substrate support. The reduced diameter of the carrier ring according to the principles of the present disclosure (e.g., a diameter of 11.0″, or 279.4 mm) achieves desired plasma characteristics and prevents material accumulation. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a shoulder of the substrate support may slope downward from the outer diameter of the reduced diameter carrier ring to the outer diameter of the substrate support. Accordingly, any material accumulation occurs on the sloped shoulder and has minimal effect on processes performed on the substrate. In some examples, a radius of a bottom outer edge of the showerhead is increased (e.g. from 0.15″ (0.381 mm) to 0.19″ (4.826 mm) to reduce an electric field sensitivity at the bottom outer edge. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 1 , an example substrate processing system  100  is shown. The substrate processing system  100  may be used for performing etching using RF plasma and/or other suitable substrate processing. The substrate processing system  100  includes a processing chamber  102  that encloses other components of the substrate processing system  100  and contains the RF plasma. The substrate processing chamber  102  includes an upper electrode  104  and a substrate support  106 , such as an electrostatic chuck (ESC). During operation, a substrate  108  is arranged on the substrate support  106 . While the substrate processing system  100  and chamber  102  are illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the principles of the present disclosure may be applied to other types of substrate processing systems and chambers, such as a substrate processing system that generates plasma in-situ, that implements remote plasma generation and delivery (e.g., using a plasma tube, a microwave tube), etc. 
     In some embodiments, the upper electrode  104  may include a gas distribution device such as a showerhead  109  that introduces and distributes process gases. The showerhead  109  may include a stem portion including one end configured to receive process gases. A base portion is generally cylindrical and extends radially outwardly from an opposite end of the stem portion at a location that is spaced from the top surface of the processing chamber  102 . In some embodiments, a substrate-facing surface or faceplate of the base portion of the showerhead  109  includes a plurality of holes through which process gas or purge gas flows. In some embodiments, the upper electrode  104  may include a conducting plate and the process gases may be introduced in another manner. 
     In  FIG. 1 , the substrate support  106  includes a conductive baseplate  110  that acts as a lower electrode. The baseplate  110  supports a ceramic layer  112 . In some examples, the ceramic layer  112  may comprise a heating layer, such as a ceramic multi-zone heating plate. The baseplate  110  may include one or more coolant channels  116  for flowing coolant through the baseplate  110 . 
     An RF generating system  120  generates and outputs an RF voltage to one of the upper electrode  104  and the lower electrode (e.g., the baseplate  110  of the substrate support  106 ). The upper electrode  104  and the baseplate  110  may be DC grounded, AC grounded or floating. In some embodiments, the RF generating system  120  may include an RF voltage generator  122  that generates the RF voltage that is fed by a matching and distribution network  124  to the upper electrode  104  or the baseplate  110 . In some embodiments, the plasma may be generated inductively or remotely. Although, as shown for example purposes, the RF generating system  120  corresponds to a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) system, the principles of the present disclosure may also be implemented in other suitable systems, such as, for example only transformer coupled plasma (TCP) systems, CCP cathode systems, remote microwave plasma generation and delivery systems, etc. 
     According to certain embodiments, a gas delivery system  130  of  FIG. 1  includes one or more gas sources  132 - 1 ,  132 - 2 , . . . , and  132 -N (collectively gas sources  132 ), where N is an integer greater than zero. The gas sources  132  supply one or more precursors and mixtures thereof. The gas sources  132  may also supply purge gas. In some embodiments, vaporized precursor may be used. The gas sources  132  are connected by valves  134 - 1 ,  134 - 2 , . . . , and  134 -N (collectively valves  134 ) and mass flow controllers  136 - 1 ,  136 - 2 , . . . , and  136 -N (collectively mass flow controllers  136 ) to a manifold  140 . An output of the manifold  140  is fed to the processing chamber  102 . In some embodiments, the output of the manifold  140  is fed to the showerhead  109 . 
     According to certain embodiments, a temperature controller  142  is connected to a plurality of heating elements  144 , such as thermal control elements (TCEs) arranged in the ceramic layer  112 . For example, the heating elements  144  may include, but are not limited to, macro heating elements corresponding to respective zones in a multi-zone heating plate and/or an array of micro heating elements disposed across multiple zones of a multi-zone heating plate. In some embodiments, the temperature controller  142  is configured to control the plurality of heating elements  144  to control a temperature of the substrate support  106  and the substrate  108 . 
     The temperature controller  142 , in some embodiments, is configured to communicate with a coolant assembly  146  to control coolant flow through the channels  116 . For example, the coolant assembly  146  may include a coolant pump and reservoir. In some embodiments, the temperature controller  142  operates the coolant assembly  146  to selectively flow the coolant through the channels  116  to cool the substrate support  106 . 
     In  FIG. 1 , a valve  150  and pump  152  are configured to evacuate reactants from the processing chamber  102  according to certain embodiments. In some embodiments, a system controller  160  is configured to control components of the substrate processing system  100 . A robot  170  may be used to deliver substrates onto, and remove substrates from, the substrate support  106 . For example, the robot  170  may transfer substrates between the substrate support  106  and a load lock  172 . Although shown as separate controllers, the temperature controller  142  may be implemented within the system controller  160 . 
     In  FIG. 1 , the substrate support  106  includes a carrier ring  180 . The carrier ring  180  is arranged on the ceramic layer  112  and surrounds the substrate  108 . The carrier ring  180  extends below an outer edge of the substrate  108 . In other words, an outer diameter of the substrate  108  is greater than an inner diameter of the carrier ring  180 . The carrier ring  180  according to the principles of the present disclosure has a reduced diameter as discussed below in more detail. 
       FIG. 2  shows a processing chamber  200  includes a substrate support  204  including a carrier ring  208  having a reduced diameter according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure. The substrate support  204  includes a conductive baseplate  212  that supports a ceramic layer  216 . A substrate  220  is arranged on the ceramic layer  216 . In some embodiments, the substrate  220  is a 200 mm substrate. A gas distribution device such as a showerhead  224  is arranged above the substrate support  204  and provides and distributes process gases within the processing chamber  200  as described above. 
     An outer diameter  228  of the substrate support  204  (e.g., the ceramic layer  216 ) may be approximately 15.0″ (e.g., 381 mm, +/−5 mm). The carrier ring  208  has a reduced outer diameter  232  diameter relative to the outer diameter  228  of the ceramic layer  216 . For example, the outer diameter  232  of the carrier ring  208  may be approximately 11.0″ (e.g., 279.4 mm, +/−5 mm). In other examples, the outer diameter  232  may be between 10.0″ and 13.0″ (e.g., between 254.0 and 330.2 mm). An inner diameter  236  of the carrier ring  208  may be less than the diameter of the substrate  220 . For example, a difference between an inner diameter  236  of the carrier ring  208  and the diameter of the substrate  220  may be between 0.025″ and 0.150″ (e.g., between 0.635 and 3.81 mm). In other words, the inner diameter  236  may be between 7.72″ and 7.85″ (e.g., between 196.19 and 199.365 mm). In some examples, the carrier ring  208  has a thickness of approximately 0.167″ (e.g., 4.25 mm, +/1 0.5 mm). In other examples, the thickness of the carrier ring  208  is approximately 0.101″ (e.g., 2.57 mm, +/−0.5 mm). In some examples, the showerhead  224  may have a diameter of approximately 9.0″ (e.g., 228.6 mm, +/−5 mm). In certain embodiments, the diameter of the showerhead  224  may be greater than the diameter of the substrate  220  and the inner diameter  236  and less than the outer diameter  232  of the carrier ring  208 . 
     In some embodiments, a shoulder  240  of the ceramic layer  216  slopes downward from the outer diameter  232  of the carrier ring  208  to the outer diameter  228  of the substrate support  204 . In some embodiments, the shoulder  240  slopes downward at an angle between 10 and 45 degrees. The angle may be dependent upon a difference between the outer diameter  228  and the outer diameter  232 . In some examples, the ceramic layer  216  may include a downward step  244 , beneath and near (for example, within 4 mm of) the outer diameter  232  of the carrier ring  208  and the shoulder  240  slopes downward from the step  244  as shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     The reduced outer diameter  232 , the downward slope of the shoulder  240 , and the step  244  allows plasma generated in a volume between the showerhead  224  and the substrate  220  to wrap around the outer diameter  232  of the carrier ring  208  toward the shoulder  240 . Accordingly, arcing of the plasma toward the substrate  220  and material accumulation on the carrier ring  208  are reduced. For example, the downward slope causes any material accumulation to occur on the shoulder  240  instead of the carrier ring  208 , and the downward step  244  facilitates the wrapping of the plasma around the outer diameter  232  of the carrier ring  208 . In some examples, a bottom outer edge  248  of the showerhead  224  has a radius of approximately 0.19″ (e.g., 4.826 mm, +/−1.0 mm) to reduce an electric field sensitivity at the bottom outer edge  248 . 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 3A and 3B , processing chambers  300  include substrate supports  304  including a carrier ring  308  having a reduced diameter according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure. Each of the substrate supports  304  includes a conductive baseplate  312  that supports a ceramic layer  316 . A substrate  320  is arranged on the ceramic layer  316 . A showerhead  324  is arranged above the substrate supports  304  and provides and distributes process gases within the processing chamber  300  as described above. 
     In these examples, a shoulder  340  of the ceramic layer  316  includes a sloped portion  352  that slopes downward from an outer diameter  332  of the carrier ring  308  to an outer diameter  328  of the substrate support  304  and a non-sloped (e.g., horizontal) portion  356 . As shown in  FIG. 3A , in some embodiments, the sloped portion  352  slopes downward from a step  344  and transitions to the non-sloped portion  356  and the non-sloped portion  356  extends from the sloped portion  352  to the outer diameter  328 . 
     In other embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 3B , the non-sloped portion  356  extends from the downward step  344  to the sloped portion  352  and the sloped portion  352  extends from the non-sloped portion  356  to the outer diameter  328 . 
     Although as shown the shoulder  340  includes the generally horizontal non-sloped portion  356 , in other examples, the portion  356  may instead have a slope that is different from (e.g., has slope having a greater or lesser angle than) the slope of the sloped portion  352 . In other examples, the shoulder  340  may include a step (e.g., a vertical downward step) between the sloped portion  352  and the non-sloped portion  356 . 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 4A and 4B , processing chambers  400  include substrate supports  404  including a carrier ring  408  having a reduced diameter according certain embodiments of the present disclosure. Each of the substrate supports  404  includes a conductive baseplate  412  that supports a ceramic layer  416 . A substrate  420  is arranged on the ceramic layer  416 . A showerhead  424  is arranged above the substrate supports  404  and provides and distributes process gases within the processing chamber  400  as described above. 
     In these examples, a shoulder  440  of the ceramic layer  416  is not sloped from an outer diameter  432  of the carrier ring  408  to an outer diameter  428  of the substrate support  404 . Rather, the shoulder  440  of the ceramic layer  416  is generally horizontal. As shown in  FIG. 4A , the ceramic layer  416  includes a downward step  444 , beneath and near (for example, within 4 mm of) the outer diameter  432  of the carrier ring  408 . The shoulder  440  extends from the step  444  to the outer diameter  428 . The step  444  may be greater (i.e., higher) than the steps  244  and  344  described in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3  respectively. For example, the step  444  may be greater than 50% of a thickness of the ceramic layer  416  to facilitate wrapping of the plasma around the outer diameter  432  of the carrier ring  408  and reduce material accumulation on the carrier ring  408 . In some embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 4B , the shoulder  440  is not sloped and the ceramic layer  416  does not include the step  444  at the outer diameter  432  of the carrier ring  408 . 
     The foregoing description is merely illustrative in nature and is in no way intended to limit the disclosure, its application, or uses. The broad teachings of the disclosure can be implemented in a variety of forms. Therefore, while this disclosure includes particular examples, the true scope of the disclosure should not be so limited since other modifications will become apparent upon a study of the drawings, the specification, and the following claims. Further, although each of the embodiments is described above as having certain features, any one or more of those features described with respect to any embodiment of the disclosure can be implemented in and/or combined with features of any of the other embodiments, even if that combination is not explicitly described. In other words, the described embodiments are not mutually exclusive, and permutations of one or more embodiments with one another remain within the scope of this disclosure. 
     Spatial and functional relationships between elements (for example, between modules, circuit elements, semiconductor layers, etc.) are described using various terms, including “connected,” “engaged,” “coupled,” “adjacent,” “next to,” “on top of,” “above,” “below,” and “disposed.” Unless explicitly described as being “direct,” when a relationship between first and second elements is described in the above disclosure, that relationship can be a direct relationship where no other intervening elements are present between the first and second elements, but can also be an indirect relationship where one or more intervening elements are present (either spatially or functionally) between the first and second elements. As used herein, the phrase at least one of A, B, and C should be construed to mean a logical (A OR B OR C), using a non-exclusive logical OR, and should not be construed to mean “at least one of A, at least one of B, and at least one of C.” 
     In some implementations, a controller is part of a system, which may be part of the above-described examples. Such systems can comprise semiconductor processing equipment, including a processing tool or tools, chamber or chambers, a platform or platforms for processing, and/or specific processing components (a wafer pedestal, a gas flow system, etc.). These systems may be integrated with electronics for controlling their operation before, during, and after processing of a semiconductor wafer or substrate. The electronics may be referred to as the “controller,” which may control various components or subparts of the system or systems. The controller, depending on the processing requirements and/or the type of system, may be programmed to control any of the processes disclosed herein, including the delivery of processing gases, temperature settings (e.g., heating and/or cooling), pressure settings, vacuum settings, power settings, radio frequency (RF) generator settings, RF matching circuit settings, frequency settings, flow rate settings, fluid delivery settings, positional and operation settings, wafer transfers into and out of a tool and other transfer tools and/or load locks connected to or interfaced with a specific system. 
     Broadly speaking, the controller may be defined as electronics having various integrated circuits, logic, memory, and/or software that receive instructions, issue instructions, control operation, enable cleaning operations, enable endpoint measurements, and the like. The integrated circuits may include chips in the form of firmware that store program instructions, digital signal processors (DSPs), chips defined as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and/or one or more microprocessors, or microcontrollers that execute program instructions (e.g., software). Program instructions may be instructions communicated to the controller in the form of various individual settings (or program files), defining operational parameters for carrying out a particular process on or for a semiconductor wafer or to a system. The operational parameters may, in some embodiments, be part of a recipe defined by process engineers to accomplish one or more processing steps during the fabrication of one or more layers, materials, metals, oxides, silicon, silicon dioxide, surfaces, circuits, and/or dies of a wafer. 
     The controller, in some implementations, may be a part of or coupled to a computer that is integrated with the system, coupled to the system, otherwise networked to the system, or a combination thereof. For example, the controller may be in the “cloud” or all or a part of a fab host computer system, which can allow for remote access of the wafer processing. The computer may enable remote access to the system to monitor current progress of fabrication operations, examine a history of past fabrication operations, examine trends or performance metrics from a plurality of fabrication operations, to change parameters of current processing, to set processing steps to follow a current processing, or to start a new process. In some examples, a remote computer (e.g. a server) can provide process recipes to a system over a network, which may include a local network or the Internet. The remote computer may include a user interface that enables entry or programming of parameters and/or settings, which are then communicated to the system from the remote computer. In some examples, the controller receives instructions in the form of data, which specify parameters for each of the processing steps to be performed during one or more operations. It should be understood that the parameters may be specific to the type of process to be performed and the type of tool that the controller is configured to interface with or control. Thus as described above, the controller may be distributed, such as by comprising one or more discrete controllers that are networked together and working towards a common purpose, such as the processes and controls described herein. An example of a distributed controller for such purposes would be one or more integrated circuits on a chamber in communication with one or more integrated circuits located remotely (such as at the platform level or as part of a remote computer) that combine to control a process on the chamber. 
     Without limitation, example systems may include a plasma etch chamber or module, a deposition chamber or module, a spin-rinse chamber or module, a metal plating chamber or module, a clean chamber or module, a bevel edge etch chamber or module, a physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber or module, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chamber or module, an atomic layer deposition (ALD) chamber or module, an atomic layer etch (ALE) chamber or module, an ion implantation chamber or module, a track chamber or module, and any other semiconductor processing systems that may be associated or used in the fabrication and/or manufacturing of semiconductor wafers. 
     As noted above, depending on the process step or steps to be performed by the tool, the controller might communicate with one or more of other tool circuits or modules, other tool components, cluster tools, other tool interfaces, adjacent tools, neighboring tools, tools located throughout a factory, a main computer, another controller, or tools used in material transport that bring containers of wafers to and from tool locations and/or load ports in a semiconductor manufacturing factory.