Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6843201?dq=6373188
Timestamp: 2017-03-30 14:52:36
Document Index: 498191383

Matched Legal Cases: ['art.\n38', 'application No. 1018086', 'art 10', 'art 30', 'art 10', 'art 30', 'art 10', 'art 30', 'art 30', 'art 30', 'art 10', 'art 10', 'art 30', 'art 10', 'art 30', 'art 30']

Patent US6843201 - Temperature control for single substrate semiconductor processing reactor - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsA reactor for heat treatment of a substrate having a process chamber within a substrate enclosing structure, and a support structure configured to position a substrate at a predetermined spacing between the upper part and the bottom part within the process chamber during processing. Streams of gas may...http://www.google.com/patents/US6843201?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6843201 - Temperature control for single substrate semiconductor processing reactorAdvanced Patent SearchTry the new Google Patents, with machine-classified Google Scholar results, and Japanese and South Korean patents.Publication numberUS6843201 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 10/141,517Publication dateJan 18, 2005Filing dateMay 8, 2002Priority dateMay 8, 2002Fee statusPaidAlso published asUS20030209327Publication number10141517, 141517, US 6843201 B2, US 6843201B2, US-B2-6843201, US6843201 B2, US6843201B2InventorsVladimir Kuznetsov, Ruud Grisel, Ernst GrannemanOriginal AssigneeAsm International NvExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (22), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (12), Classifications (23), Legal Events (5) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetTemperature control for single substrate semiconductor processing reactor
US 6843201 B2Abstract
A reactor for heat treatment of a substrate having a process chamber within a substrate enclosing structure, and a support structure configured to position a substrate at a predetermined spacing between the upper part and the bottom part within the process chamber during processing. Streams of gas may lift the substrate from the support structure so that the substrate floats. A plurality of heating elements is associated with at least one of the upper part and the bottom part and are arranged to define heating zones. A controller controls the heating elements individually so that each heating zone is configured to have a predetermined temperature determined by the controller. The heating zones provide for a non-uniform heating laterally across the substrate.
a heated body, having a substantially flat surface facing a flat substrate during processing; a substrate handling mechanism configured to place the flat substrate to be processed parallel to and in close proximity to the substantially flat surface of the heated body, and configured to remove said substrate in a removal direction from the heated body after processing; and a plurality of heating elements associated with the heated body, the heating elements being arranged to define heating zones and are connected to a controller configured to control the heating elements individually, wherein the controller and heating zones are configured to provide for a non-uniform temperature laterally across flat surface of the heated body, wherein the non-uniform temperature is selected to impose a non-uniform temperature on the substrate during processing to compensate for a non-uniform temperature distribution during removal of the substrate from the reactor. 2. The reactor of claim 1, wherein the heating elements define four individually controllable heating zones.
3. The reactor of claim 1, wherein the controller and heating zones are configured to define a unidirectional temperature gradient across the heated body in a direction parallel to the removal direction.
4. The reactor of claim 3, wherein the controller and heating zones are configured to additionally define a radial temperature gradient across the heated body.
5. The reactor of claim 1, wherein the heating zones define a circular area that extends beyond a circular area of the substrate, wherein a first heating zone is a disk-like center heating zone that is surrounded by an annular second heating zone, wherein a third heating zone and a fourth heating zone are annular segments that extend along a periphery of the heated body and are located at opposite sides of a center line through the heated body the centerline being parallel to the flat surface of the heated body and normal to the removal direction.
6. The reactor of claim 1, wherein the controller and heating zones are configured to define a unidirectional temperature gradient that causes a temperature difference of between about 1° and 5° C. across the heated body during processing.
7. The reactor of claim 1, wherein the controller and heating zones are configured to define a unidirectional temperature gradient that causes a temperature difference of between about 2° C. and 3° C. across the heated body during processing.
8. The reactor of claim 1, the controller and heating zones are configured to define a radial temperature gradient that causes a temperature difference of between about 2° and 3° C. between a point of the heated body adjacent a center of the substrate and a point of the heated body adjacent an edge of the substrate.
9. The reactor of claim 1, configured to space the substrate at a distance of about two millimeters from the surface of the heated body during processing.
10. The reactor of claim 1, wherein the substrate handling mechanism places the substrate at a distance of about one millimeter from the surface of the heated body.
11. The reactor of claim 1, wherein the substrate handling mechanism places the substrate at a distance of about 0.15 millimeters from the surface of the heated body.
12. The reactor of claim 1, wherein the reactor is configured to provide for rapid thermal annealing of the substrate.
13. The reactor of claim 12, wherein the reactor is configured to anneal the substrate for less than about ten seconds.
14. The reactor of claim 12, wherein the reactor is configured to anneal the substrate for about one second.
15. The reactor of claim 12, wherein a ratio of anneal time to removal time is smaller than 10:1.
16. The reactor of claim 12, wherein a ratio of anneal time to removal time is smaller than 3:1.
17. The reactor of claim 12, wherein the reactor is configured to unload the substrate from the process chamber and transfer it to another station within about two seconds.
18. A reactor for heat treatment of a flat substrate, comprising:
a heated body, having a substantially flat surface facing a flat substrate during processing; a substrate handling mechanism configured to place the flat substrate to be processed parallel to and in close proximity to the substantially flat surface of the heated body, and configured to remove said substrate in a removal direction from the heated body after processing; and a plurality of heating elements associated with the heated body, the heating elements being arranged to define heating zones and are connected to a controller configured to control the heating elements individually, wherein the controller and heating zones are configured to provide for a non-uniform temperature laterally across the flat surface of the heated body, and wherein the controller and heating zones are configured to define a radial temperature gradient that causes a temperature difference of between about 1° and 5° C. between a point of the heated body adjacent a center of the substrate and a point of the heated body adjacent an edge of the substrate. 19. A reactor for heat treatment of a flat substrate, comprising:
a heated body, having a substantially flat surface facing a flat substrate during processing; a substrate handling mechanism configured to place the flat substrate to be processed parallel to and in close proximity to the substantially flat surface of the heated body, and configured to remove said substrate in a removal direction from the heated body after processing; and a plurality of heating elements associated with the heated body, the heating elements being arranged to define heating zones and are connected to a controller configured to control the heating elements individually, wherein the controller and heating zones are configured to provide for a non-uniform temperature laterally across the flat surface of the heated body, and wherein the heating zones provide for a unidirectional temperature gradient and a radial temperature gradient. 20. A method of operating a thermal reactor for the treatment of flat substrates such as wafers, comprising:
loading a substrate into a chamber of the reactor; selectively driving heating elements to define a non-uniform temperature distribution adjacent the substrate in a direction extending laterally across the substrate so as to impose a corresponding non-uniform temperature profile in the substrate during processing of the substrate in the chamber, the non-uniform temperature distribution selected to compensate for an uneven thermal effect upon the substrate during loading and unloading of the substrate into and out of the chamber, processing the substrate for a predetermined period of time while the substrate is subject to the non-uniform temperature distribution; and unloading the substrate from the reactor after the predetermined period of time. 21. The method of claim 20, further comprising operating the reactor at a predetermined reactor temperature, wherein the non-uniform temperature distribution is defined with respect to the predetermined reactor temperature during processing.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein processing the substrate comprises rapid thermal annealing.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein the predetermined reactor temperature is between about 200° C. and about 1150° C.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein the predetermined reactor temperature is about 1000° C.
25. The method of claim 20, wherein the predetermined period of time is less than about ten seconds.
26. The method of claim 20, wherein a ratio of the predetermined period of time to a time for removal of the substrate is less than about 10:1.
27. The method of claim 20, wherein the loading comprises placing the substrate to be processed parallel to and in close proximity of a flat surface of a heated body, the non-uniform temperature distribution being defined in the heated body.
28. The method of claim 20, wherein the loading comprises separating upper and bottom parts defining a process chamber therebetween, positioning the substrate at a predetermined spacing between the upper part and the bottom part within the process chamber during processing, and moving the upper and bottom parts together to close the process chamber.
29. The method of claim 20, wherein selectively driving the heating elements includes driving a heating element assigned to an unloading side of the reactor with a first power, and a driving heating element assigned to an opposing side of the reactor with a second power, wherein the first power is higher than the second power causing a predetermined unidirectional temperature gradient across a heated body adjacent the substrate with a higher temperature at the unloading aide than at the opposing side.
30. The method of claim 20, wherein selectively driving the heating elements includes driving one or more heating elements assigned to a center of the substrate with a first power, and driving one or more heating element assigned to an edge of the substrate with a second power, wherein the first power is selected such with respect to the second power to cause a predetermined radial temperature gradient at steady state from a point adjacent the center of the substrate to a point adjacent the edge of the substrate with a higher temperature at the point adjacent the edge than at the point adjacent the center.
31. The method of claim 30, wherein the non-uniform temperature distribution produces a radial temperature gradient across a heated part adjacent the substrate.
32. The method of claim 31, wherein the radial temperature gradient provides for a temperature difference of between about 1° C. and 5° C. between a point of the heated body adjacent a center of the substrate and a point of the heated body adjacent an edge of the substrate.
33. The method of claim 32, wherein the temperature difference is between about 2° C. and 3° C.
34. The method of claim 20, wherein the non-uniform temperature distribution includes a unidirectional temperature gradient superimposed with a radial temperature gradient at steady state.
35. The method of claim 34, wherein the unidirectional temperature gradient is between about 1° C. and 5° C. and the radial temperature gradient is between about 1° C. and 5° C.
36. The method of claim 20, wherein the substrate comprises a metal film, processing reorients crystal structures in the metal film, and the non-uniform temperature distribution and the uneven thermal effect offset to produce a uniform resistivity across a substrate.
37. The method of claim 20, wherein driving the heating elements comprises employing a plurality of temperature sensors associated with a corresponding plurality of heating zones in a heated part.
38. A method of operating a thermal reactor for the treatment of flat substrates such as wafers, comprising:
loading a substrate into the reactor; selectively driving heating elements to define a non-uniform temperature distribution adjacent the substrate in a direction extending laterally across the substrate, the non-uniform temperature distribution selected to compensate for an uneven thermal effect upon the substrate during operation of the reactor, and wherein the non-uniform temperature distribution provides a unidirectional temperature gradient; processing the substrate for a predetermined period of time while the substrate is subject to the non-uniform temperature distribution; and unloading the substrate from the reactor after the predetermined period of time. 39. The method of claim 38, wherein the unidirectional temperature gradient, provides for a temperature difference of between about 1° C. and 5° C. across a heated part adjacent the substrate during processing.
40. The method of claim 39, wherein the temperature difference is between about 2° C. and 3° C.
41. A reactor for heat treatment of a flat substrate, comprising:
a substrate enclosing structure defining a process chamber between an upper part and a bottom part, the upper and bottom parts configured to separate for loading and unloading a flat substrate along a loading/unloading direction; a support structure configured to position the substrate between the upper part and the bottom part, the substrate having major surfaces within about 2 mm of each of the upper part and the bottom part within the process chamber during processing; and a plurality of heating elements associated with the substrate enclosing structure, wherein the heating elements are arranged to define heating zones, wherein each heating zone is configured to extend only over a part of the upper and bottom parts; and a controller connected to the heating elements individually, the controller being programmed to provide a non-uniform temperature distribution in a direction parallel to the loading/unloading movement wherein the non-uniform temperature distribution is selected to impose a non-uniform temperature on the substrate during processing to compensate for a non-uniform temperature distribution during removal of the substrate from the process chamber. 42. The reactor of claim 41, wherein the heating elements are configured to heat the upper and bottom parts such that the upper and bottom parts constitute heated bodies.
43. The reactor of claim 41, wherein the controller is programmed to provide for at least one of a unidirectional temperature gradient in the loading/unloading direction and a radial temperature gradient.
44. The reactor of claim 43, wherein the controller is programmed to provide a unidirectional temperature gradient across at least one of the upper and lower parts adjacent the substrate.
45. The reactor of claim 44, wherein the controller is programmed to additionally provide for a radial temperature gradient across the substrate.
46. The reactor of claim 41, wherein the support structure includes a plurality of gas flow openings in the upper part and the lower part arranged to support a substrate upon gas cushions above and below the substrate during processing.
47. A reactor for heat treatment of a flat substrate, comprising:
a substrate enclosing structure defining a process chamber between an upper part and a bottom part, the upper and bottom parts configured to separate for loading and unloading a flat substrate along a loading/unloading direction; a support structure configured to position the substrate between the upper part and the bottom part, the substrate having major surfaces within about 2 mm of each of the upper part and the bottom part within the process chamber during processing; and a plurality of heating elements associated with the substrate enclosing structure, wherein the heating elements are arranged to define heating zones, wherein each heating zone is configured to extend only over a part of the upper and bottom parts; and a controller connected to the heating elements individually, the controller being programmed to provide a non-uniform temperature distribution in a direction parallel to the loading/unloading movement, wherein the controller is programmed to provide for non-uniform heating of the process chamber to compensate for a non-uniform temperature distribution during substrate removal from the reactor along the loading/unloading direction. 48. A reactor for heat treatment of a flat substrate, comprising:
a substrate enclosing structure defining a process chamber between an upper part and a bottom part, the upper and bottom parts configured to separate for loading and unloading a flat substrate along a loading/unloading direction; a support structure configured to position the substrate between the upper part and the bottom part, the substrate having major surfaces within about 2 mm of each of the upper part and the bottom part within the process chamber during processing wherein the support structure includes spacers to support the substrate; and a plurality of heating elements associated with the substrate enclosing structure, wherein the heating elements are arranged to define heating zones, wherein each heating zone is configured to extend only over a part of the upper and bottom parts; and a controller connected to the heating elements individually, the controller being programmed to provide a non-uniform temperature distribution in a direction parallel to the loading/unloading movement. 49. A method of operating a thermal reactor for the treatment of flat substrates such as wafers, comprising:
loading a substrate into the reactor; selectively driving heating elements to define a non-uniform temperature distribution adjacent the substrate in a direction extending laterally across the substrate, the non-uniform temperature distribution selected to compensate for an uneven thermal effect upon the substrate during operation of the reactor; processing the substrate for a predetermined period of time while the substrate is subject to the non-uniform temperature distribution; and unloading the substrate from the reactor after the predetermined period of time, wherein the uneven thermal effect results at least in part from differential time exposure of parts of the substrate to the heaters during removal of the substrate from the reactor. 50. The method of claim 37, wherein driving the heating elements to define a non-uniform temperature distribution comprises supplying a first amount of power to a first heating zone on a first side of the heated part, the first amount of power being defined by reference to a temperature sensor reading, and supplying a second amount of power to second heating zone on a second side of the heated part opposite the first side, the second amount of power being a fixed percentage of the first amount of power.
The invention relates generally to reactors for treating wafers. More particularly, the invention relates to reactors that process wafers individually and a method of operating such a reactor.
One type of reactor processes wafers in batches where the wafers of a batch are simultaneously subject to the same treatment. Another type of reactor processes wafers individually. The latter type of reactor is typically used to process larger wafers, i.e., wafers that have a diameter of about 200 millimeters or 300 millimeters. A floating wafer reactor, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,565, for example, processes a single wafer at a time. Current state-of-the-art technology is configured for 300-millimeter wafers; future technology is expected to employ even larger substrates.
The reactor described in the '565 patent is a “hot wall” reactor having an upper part and a bottom part that form a process chamber and that include heating elements to heat the process chamber and the wafer to a predetermined temperature. The upper and bottom parts are relatively massive, such that a stable temperature is reached for the entire chamber, relatively unaffected by the loading of cold wafers. A controller controls the heating elements so that the actual temperature of the reactor is the same as a predetermined temperature selected for a particular process step. Within the process chamber, the wafer is supported upon gas cushions (“floating”) at a very short distance from upper and lower walls of the process chamber by gas flows in opposing direction from the upper and lower walls.
The environment in which the reactor is placed, for example, a clean room of a laboratory or a semiconductor fabrication plant, is usually at room temperature. That is, at the beginning of the wafer processing or at the beginning of one of the processing stages, a handling apparatus moves the upper and lower parts apart to open the reactor and loads the wafer horizontally into the process chamber. By moving the upper and lower parts towards each other such that the wafer is at a very short distance from the upper wall and the lower wall, the wafer is heated very quickly and is then exposed to a very high temperature, for example, 1000° C. during annealing, compared to the room temperature.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,329,304 and Dutch application No. 1018086, both assigned to applicant, describe methods and apparatuses to achieve a reproducible treatment for a series of substrates. U.S. Pat. No. 6,329,304 describes that when a wafer is loaded into the process chamber of a floating wafer reactor, the surface temperature of the walls facing the wafer drops by about 10° C., whereas the interior temperature of the walls, i.e., further away from the wall surfaces, drops by about 3° C. Although the reactor's temperature control can compensate for this unequal wall temperature, a resultant time delay is undesirable for certain processes. Therefore, U.S. Pat. No. 6,329,304 discloses applying a pulse of energy to the heating elements during loading the wafer in order to heat the walls for a short period of time independently from the temperature sensors. The additional heating during that time is intended to compensate for the temperature drop.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a reactor is provided for heat treatment of a flat substrate. The reactor includes a heated body, having a substantially flat, surface facing a flat substrate during processing. A substrate handling mechanism is configured to place the flat substrate to be processed parallel to and in close proximity to the substantially flat surface of the heated body, and configured to remove said substrate in a removal direction from the heated body after processing. A plurality of heating elements are associated with the heated body and arranged to define heating zones connected to a controller. The controller is configured to control the heating elements individually, while the controller and heating zones are configured to provide for a non-uniform temperature laterally across the substrate.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method of operating a substrate treatment reactor is provided. The method includes loading a substrate into the reactor. Heating elements are selectively operated to define a non-uniform temperature distribution across the substrate, which distribution is selected to compensate for an uneven temperature distribution during removal of a substrate from the reactor. The substrate is processed for a predetermined period of time while the substrate is subject to the non-uniform temperature distribution. The substrate is unloaded from the reactor after the predetermined period of time.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, a reactor for heat treatment of a flat substrate is provided. The reactor includes a substrate enclosing structure defining a process chamber between an upper part and a bottom part. The upper and bottom parts are configured to separate for loading and unloading a flat substrate along a loading/unloading direction. A support structure is configured to position the substrate between the upper part and the bottom part. The substrate has major surfaces within about 2 mm of each of the upper part and the bottom part within the process chamber during processing. A plurality of heating elements is arranged to define heating zones. A controller is connected to the heating elements individually, the controller being programmed to provide a non-uniform temperature distribution in a direction parallel to the loading/unloading movement.
These and other aspects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, same elements have the same reference numerals.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic cross section of a reactor that includes a wafer positioned in a chamber formed by an upper part and a bottom part, wherein heating elements are arranged to define several heating zones in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1A is schematic illustration of the loading and unloading process as a function of time.
FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the heating zones defined by the heating elements included in the upper part or the bottom part.
In the method according to the invention a substrate is subjected to a heat treatment. During the heat treatment, the substrate is placed in close proximity to a heated body, wherein a steady state temperature gradient is established over the heated body during the heat treatment. A method for processing substrates, wherein the substrates are intentionally subjected to a non-uniform temperature is described by Porter et al., “Fast-Ramp Rapid Vertical Processor For 300-mm Si Wafer Processing,” SPIE, Vol. 3507, September 1998, pages 42-53. Porter et al. describe that during heating of a vertically spaced stack of wafers in a vertical batch furnace the edges of the wafers run hotter than the wafer centers while during cooling of the load the center to edge difference is reversed with the wafer centers hotter than the wafer edges by a few degrees. Therefore, Porter et al. disclose that the heating apparatus can be arranged to repeatedly heat-up and cool-down the wafers for short periods of 5-10 minutes and admit process gas in the furnace only during the cool-down stages whereas during the heat-up stage an inert gas is admitted in the furnace. This results in an improvement of the deposited film thickness over the surface of each wafer for processes that are normally inflicted with a relatively thick deposition on the wafer edge. In this case, however, the temperature gradient over the wafer occurs in a dynamic situation only and is not very precisely controlled.
FIG. 1 illustrates a reactor 1 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The reactor 1 is a single-substrate reactor in which a substrate is positioned horizontally between and closely spaced (for example, less than about one millimeter) from two high-mass blocks that act as a thermal flywheel and which are preferably maintained at a constant temperature. The substrate may be positioned through streams of gas that pass through passages in the blocks and exit the blocks on both sides of the substrate in vertical direction and pass along the horizontal surfaces of the substrate. The gas, therefore, causes the substrate to float. In another embodiment, spacers may support and hold the substrate horizontally, closely spaced from the high-mass blocks during processing.
The substrate is preferably heated through conduction rather than radiation. In one embodiment, the reactor 1 is configured for rapid thermal process applications, for example, a rapid thermal anneal process. During the rapid thermal annealing, the substrate is subject to rapid heating to an elevated temperature, for example, about 1000° C. Such annealing may serve, for example, to crystallize material, diffuse dopants, activate dopants, re-orient grains, reorder the crystal structure, etc., in a manner that affects material or device properties (for example, resistivity) or removes stresses. By positioning a substrate at a small distance from a high thermal mass block, heat transfer through conduction will be very high and the substrate rapidly assumes the temperature of the block, without a large effect on the temperature of the block. After the thermal annealing, the substrate is removed to a cool-down station.
However, temperature effects may occur at the beginning and the end of the substrate processing during loading of a substrate into the reactor or removal of a substrate from the reactor. FIG. 1 shows the reactor 1 in a closed, process position. To load a substrate, the blocks are moved apart and a substrate handling mechanism transports a substrate into the space delimited by the blocks. The leading edge of the substrate will be first inserted in the gap between the blocks and will receive heat radiation from the blocks. The trailing edge will be the last part of the substrate inserted in the gap between the blocks and will receive the heat radiation late. This results in an uneven heat-up of the substrate and an uneven thermal budget over the substrate. However, this is usually not very critical. For example, if the block temperature is 1000° C., the heat transfer between the blocks and the substrate during lateral transport of the substrate, when the blocks are in an open position is small compared to when the blocks are in the closed position. Premature heating of part of the substrate to a temperature of a few hundred degrees is not so relevant.
During unloading, however, a different situation occurs. At the moment that the blocks are moved apart, the wafer is 1000° C. During removal, the leading edge is the first part moved from between the blocks and is able to loose heat by radiative transport. The initial trajectory of the cool-down curve, for example, from 1000° C. to 900° C. occurs in a short time. It is exactly this high temperature region that appears to be critical for the thermal budget and the final process result. Consequently, it is particularly the inhomogeneous cooling during removal of the substrate from the reactor that results in a variation of the thermal budget over the surface of the substrate, in the direction of transport of the substrate. As an example, it has been found that a substrate, after annealing for a short period of time, may have a substantially linear profile in sheet resistivity with the direction of the resistivity gradient parallel to the direction of removal of the substrate. Further, it has been found that a circular substrate may have a radial profile in sheet resistivity after a short annealing process. Apparently, upon moving the reactor blocks away from each other after processing, the substrate edge looses more heat by radiation than the center of the substrate, resulting in a lower edge temperature. The substrate's sheet resistivity is, therefore, non-uniform and a function of the location on the wafer. Other material properties may be similarly non-uniformly affected.
Referring to FIG. 1, the reactor 1 is shown in a closed position with a substrate, particularly a wafer 60, positioned in a process chamber 61. The wafer 60 may have a diameter of 300 millimeters or 200 millimeters and is subject to one or more stages of chemical treatment, such as CVD, one or more stages of heat treatment such as annealing, or a combination of chemical and heat treatment stages. Hereinafter, the description focuses mainly on annealing processes and reactors configured therefor and, thus, describes the reactor 1 for an annealing process. However, it is contemplated that the principles and advantages described herein also apply to reactors that can provide for chemical treatment and have equipment that provide for such chemical treatment. Such equipment supplies gas to the wafer and exhausts the gas from the reactor.
Further, the reactor 1 includes equipment to heat the blocks 20, 40, the process chamber 61 and the wafer 60 positioned within the process chamber 61 to a predetermined temperature and to maintain this temperature for a predetermined time. It is contemplated that the blocks are maintained at a constant, desired temperature throughout the sequential processing of a series of substrates. However, it is possible to select a desired temperature out of range of predetermined temperatures. The term “controlling the temperature,” as used herein, therefore, encompasses the act of increasing the temperature and the act of decreasing the temperature of the reactor 1.
In the illustrated embodiment of the reactor 1, the equipment includes a plurality of heating elements in each of the upper part 10 and the bottom part 30. The upper part 10 includes heating elements 101, 102, 103, 104 that are individually connected to a controller 100 that selectively drives the heating elements 101, 102, 103, 104. While the overall heating system has a central controller 100, the skilled artisan will appreciate that each heating element or zone can have its own direct controller, for example, a PID controller. The heating element 101 defines a first heating zone, the heating element 102 defines a second heating zone, the heating element 103 defines a third heating zone and the heating element 104 defines a fourth heating zone. The bottom part 30 includes heating elements 201, 202, 203, 204 that are positioned opposite to the respective heating elements 101, 102, 103, 104 of the upper part 10. Accordingly, the heating elements 201, 202, 203, 204 define also the first, second, third and fourth heating zones for the bottom part 30. An exemplary arrangement of the heating zones is shown in FIG. 2 and described below. Note that, for purposes of the present description, the controller 100 is considered part of the reactor 1, even though the controller may be physically located next to the tool or at a remote location.
As shown in FIG. 1, the thermoelement P1 is located above a center region of the wafer 60, the thermocouple P2 is located above an edge region of the wafer 60 and the thermocouple P3 is located in an outer region. For zones 101, 102, 103, the input of thermocouple S1 and P1, S2 and P2, S3 and P3, respectively, is used in a cascade type of temperature control, wherein a desired temperature is achieved and maintained at thermocouple P1 to P3. Thermocouple assembly 112 comprises a thermocouple for over heat protection, which is indicated by OHP. The input of this thermocouple is not used for temperature control but for checking and safety purposes only. For zone 104, a single thermocouple is used. In the preferred embodiment, the power fed to the zone 104 is controlled in a master-slave arrangement with the zone 103. The zone 104 receives a fixed percentage of the power sent to zone 103. In standard operation, where no unidirectional gradient is desired, this percentage is typically 100%, which means that zone 104 receives the same amount of power as zone 103.
For ease of illustration, FIG. 1 does not show thermocouple assemblies in the bottom part 30. However, it is contemplated that the bottom part 30 includes thermocouples that are positioned and operate similarly to the thermocouple assemblies 111, 112, 113, 114 and 115 of the upper part 10.
Within the process chamber 61, a ring 62 surrounds and supports the wafer 60. A support ring 64 surrounds the ring 62 and has fingers 65 to mechanically support the wafer 60 and the ring 62 during transfer to and from the reactor 1. In the closed position of FIG. 1, the ring 62 and the wafer 60 are housed within the process chamber 61 and surrounded by the blocks 20, 40. To load and unload the reactor 1, the bearing shafts 18, 38 spread the upper part 10 and the bottom part 30 apart. In this open position, a load/unload mechanism acts upon the support ring 64 and transfers the wafer 60 and the ring 62 to and from the reactor 1. The loading and unloading of a reactor is described in WO 00/68977, published Nov. 16, 2000, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The controller 100 is programmed to heat the reactor 1 such that during annealing the wafer 60 is exposed to a reactor temperature between about 200° C. and 1150° C. for a period of 0.2 seconds and longer. In one embodiment, the annealing occurs at a reactor temperature that is about 1000° C. for about 1 second. Desirably, the reactor maintains a substantially constant temperature in each zone during a run of sequential wafer treatments, rather than significantly ramping reactor temperatures during each cycle. Thus, despite intentional gradients noted below, the reactor 1 behaves as a hot wall reactor. A small amount of ramping may be required to compensate for the load created by cold wafer loading and losses from opening the chamber.
FIG. 1A is schematic illustration of the loading and unloading process as a function of time t. A typical removal time for removal of the wafer 60 from the process chamber 61 is 1.3 seconds. The first 0.5 seconds of the unloading time is used for moving the heated reactor blocks 20, 40 apart from each other, as indicated at time T0. Then the wafer 60 starts to move in a direction parallel to the plane of the wafer 60. During the first 0.3 seconds after the start of the wafer movement, the wafer 60 is still entirely in between the blocks 20, 40. At about 0.3 seconds after the start of the wafer movement, the leading wafer edge has just been removed from between the heated reactor blocks 20, 40, as indicated at time T1. At about 0.8 seconds after the start of the wafer movement, the trailing wafer edge has been removed from between the heated reactor blocks 20, 40, as indicated at time T2. During the first 0.8 seconds of the unloading procedure, when the wafer 60 is still completely between the blocks 20, 40, but the blocks 20, 40 are already in a separated position, the wafer 60 can suffer from a radial temperature gradients due to heat loss by radiation at the wafer edge. By the 2.0 seconds mark, the wafer 60 has been completely unloaded to another station as so the wafer 60 is not shown in the diagram at that stage, as indicated at T3.
While described herein as if the substrate handler accomplishes all substrate movement, the skilled artisan that a combination of other elements can also be involved in the substrate movement (e.g., lift pins, transfer ring, etc.). Ultimately, however, at the end of a loading process or beginning of an unloading process, the substrate is closely spaced (preferably less than 2.0 mm) from the surface of the heated body. Note also that, during wafer unloading, a second wafer (not shown) can be loaded from the side of the reactor opposite that of the unloading side. It will be understood that, in other arrangements, the wafer can be loaded and unloaded from the same side, although the illustrated arrangement improves throughput. It will therefore be understood that, though referred to as “a substrate handler” or “the substrate handler” herein, in reality the substrate handling mechanism can include more than one robot as well as intermediate devices.
Accordingly, the preferred reactor 1 provides individual control over temperatures across the heating zones shown in FIG. 2, and is thus configured to compensate for the non-uniform sheet resistivity (or other thermally-influenced property) caused by the temperature gradients during unloading. Preferably, therefore, the controller 100 includes a processor and memory programmed to non-uniformly heat the wafer 60 in a specified manner, which is empirically determined prior to programming. Herein, the controller 100 is considered part of the reactor 1, even though the controller may be physically located next to the tool or at a remote location.
FIG. 2 is an exemplary illustration of the heating zones defined by the heating elements 101, 102, 103, 104 included in the upper part 10. It is contemplated that the heating elements 201, 202, 203, 204 of the bottom part 30 define corresponding heating zones. For ease of reference, the heating zones have hereinafter the same reference numerals as the heating elements 101, 102, 103, 104, although it will be appreciated that, in practice, each zone can include multiple heating elements. The heating zones 101, 102, 103, 104 cover a circular area with the bearing shaft 18 as center, wherein the circular area extends in the illustrated embodiment beyond the wafer 60, as shown in FIG. 1. The heating zone 101 is the innermost disk-like heating zone that is surrounded by the annular or ring-shaped heating zone 102. The heating zones 103, 104 are both ring segments that extend along the periphery of the heating zone 102 and are located at opposite sides of a center line through the blocks 20, 40, wherein the centerline is parallel to the surfaces of the blocks 20, 40 and normal to the direction of substrate loading and unloading. In FIG. 2, the heating zone 103 is on the left-hand side, and the heating zone 104 is on the right-hand side. The heating zones 103, 104, thus, permit asymmetric heating profiles across the wafer 60.
These heating zones 101, 102, 103, 104 and the corresponding heating zones in the bottom part 30 provide for a predetermined temperature gradient across the blocks 20, 40 and the wafer 60 during annealing so that the thermal effect of the unloading process is compensated. Each heating zone 101, 102, 103, 104 has its own thermoelement S1-S4 and control loop associated with the controller 100. In one embodiment, the controller 100 can selectively control the heating zones 101, 102, 103, 104 to apply a unidirectional or “linear” temperature gradient, a radial temperature gradient, or a combination of a linear and radial temperature gradients. The controller 100 preferably applies these temperature gradients at steady state.
FIG. 3 schematically illustrates that the linear temperature gradient (ΔTlinear) extends in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of loading on the right-hand side and unloading on the left-hand side between the blocks 20, 40. It will be understood that the gradient might not be exactly linear. Rather, the temperature gradient is substantially unidirectional, with a continuously increasing temperature in the direction of wafer removal, and no substantial temperature gradients in a direction perpendicular to the direction of wafer removal. For ease of reference, this temperature gradient is referred to as a “linear” gradient. For illustrative purposes, the temperature gradient (ΔTlinear) is illustrated above the block 20, and the heating zones 101-104 are illustrated below the block 40. The controller 100 drives the heating zones 101, 102 and 103 according to a closed loop temperature control with a temperature setpoint. In the specific embodiment, the heating zone 104 is driven according to a master/slave configuration with the zone 103 with varying power ratios. For example, if a power ratio of 100% is defined, the controller 100 drives both peripheral heating zones 103, 104 with the same power, causing essentially the same temperature. The amount of power is such that the temperature setpoint of the zone 103 is achieved. When the power ratio is less than 100%, the controller 100 drives the heating zone 104 with less power than the heating zone 103.
In one embodiment, the controller 100 intentionally applies a power ratio of less than 100%, for example, 92%, to cause the unidirectional temperature gradient, preferably linear, across the blocks 20, 40. The temperature at the unloading (left) side of the blocks 20, 40 is therefore a few degrees higher than the temperature at the opposing (right) loading side. With reference to FIG. 2, the heating zone 103 has a higher temperature than the heating zone 104. The heating zones 101, 102 have temperatures according to predetermined temperature setpoints. In one embodiment, the temperature gradient extends between high and low temperatures with a temperature difference between about 1° C. and 5° C., more preferably between about 2° C. and 3° C.
The slope (ΔT/Δx) of the linear temperature gradient (ΔTlinear) is opposite in sign to the inherent temperature gradient affecting the wafer 60 during unloading. If the anneal time and unload time are about equal, the temperature gradients are about equal in magnitude and opposite in sign. For unequal times, the skilled artisan can readily determine the appropriate gradients to apply through routine experimentation. Therefore, the linear temperature gradient (ΔTlinear), which provides for a “hotter” unloading side, compensates for the uneven cool-down of the wafer's leading and trailing sides during unloading. As a result, the wafer 60 has an improved sheet resistivity uniformity across the wafer 60.
FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a radial temperature gradient (ΔTradial) extending radially from the center to the wafer edge between the blocks 20, 40. For illustrative purposes, the radial temperature gradient (ΔTradial) and the heating zones 101-104 are illustrated below the block 40. In this case, the controller 100 drives the central heating zone 101 with a somewhat lower temperature setpoint than the annular zone 102 near the wafer periphery to cause a radial temperature gradient across the blocks 20, 40. The temperature at the wafer edges is therefore a few degrees higher than the temperature at the wafer center. Similar to the linear temperature gradient, the radial temperature gradient compensates for the uneven cool-down of the wafer's edge and center during unloading. In one embodiment, the temperature difference over the radial temperature gradient is preferably between about 1° C. to 5° C., more preferably between about 2° C. and 3° C. The zones 103 and 104 can be driven with a power ratio of 100%, and a selected temperature setpoint for zone 103. It should be noted that during processing, the wafer 60 extends only over the zone 101. The difference in temperature setpoint for the zones 101 and 102 results in a temperature gradient in the radial direction in the border region of these two zones. Consequently, the wafer 60 will not experience the full difference in temperature difference but only a certain fraction of it.
FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 show graphs of a wafer's sheet resistivity Rs [Ω/sq] as a function of position x [mm] across the wafer 60 having a diameter of 200 millimeters to illustrate the improvement provided by applying a temperature gradient. In the examples shown, the wafer was implanted with single, positively charged boron ions, with an energy of 5 keV and a dose of 1.15 cm−2. The wafers were subjected to a heat treatment of 1100° C. for 1.22 seconds. The wafer removal time was about 1.2 s.
In FIG. 5, the controller 100 does not apply a temperature gradient and the sheet resistance varies substantially across the wafer 60 resulting in a 1 sigma (σ) variation of 1.26%, wherein σ is the sample standard deviation used in statistics. Without wanting to be limited by theory, the inventors believe this variation is due to a non-uniform thermal effect during unloading. In contrast, in FIG. 6, a linear temperature gradient is applied that reduces the variance of the sheet resistance substantially to a 1 sigma variation of 0.96%. In one embodiment, the power ratio of the heating zones 103, 104 is 92% causing a linear temperature gradient. FIG. 7 illustrates the sheet resistivity when the controller 100 applies a combined linear temperature gradient and a radial temperature gradient. In one embodiment, the power ratio between the heating zones 103, 104 is 92% and the temperature setpoint for the zone 102 was 2.5° C. degrees higher than the setpoint for the zone 101. The combined gradients further improve the uniformity of the sheet resistivity to a 1 sigma variation of 0.85%.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a procedure that illustrates a method of operating a reactor with a compensation for uneven temperature distributions during unloading the wafer. In a step 800, the method initializes and performs one or more system tests to determine, for example, if the controller 100 receives a signal from each of the thermocouples 111-114.
In a step 802, the heating elements 101-104 and 201-204 operate to heat the process chamber 61 to a predetermined temperature. In one embodiment, the controller 100 drives each heating element with an amount of electrical power that the respective heating element converts into thermal energy. The thermal energy heats the high-mass blocks 20, 40 and thus the process chamber 61. The controller 100 drives the heating elements 101-104, 201-204 as a function of the temperatures measured by the thermocouple assemblies 111-115. In one embodiment, the reactor 1 is in the closed position while heated to a predetermined temperature of, for example, 1000° C.
In a step 808, the reactor 1 anneals the wafer 60 in the process chamber 61 for a predetermined period of time, wherein the wafer is subject to a non-uniform heating. Preferably, the temperature distribution provides at least one of the predetermined linear temperature gradient and the predetermined radial temperature gradient. In one embodiment, the wafer is subject to spike or rapid thermal annealing. That is, the wafer 60 is exposed to the process temperature of about 1000° C. for less than 10 seconds.
Patent CitationsCited PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS3836751 *Jul 26, 1973Sep 17, 1974Applied Materials IncTemperature controlled profiling heaterUS4738748Sep 27, 1984Apr 19, 1988Fujitsu LimitedPlasma processor and method for IC fabricationUS4860687Mar 16, 1987Aug 29, 1989U.S. Philips CorporationDevice comprising a flat susceptor rotating parallel to a reference surface about a shift perpendicular to this surfaceUS4975561Mar 3, 1989Dec 4, 1990Epsilon Technology Inc.Heating system for substratesUS5332442Nov 12, 1992Jul 26, 1994Tokyo Electron Kabushiki KaishaSurface processing apparatusUS5430271Dec 13, 1993Jul 4, 1995Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd.Method of heat treating a substrate with standby and treatment time periodsUS5650082Jun 7, 1995Jul 22, 1997Applied Materials, Inc.Profiled substrate heatingUS5790750Oct 20, 1995Aug 4, 1998Applied Materials, Inc.Profiled substrate heating utilizing a support temperature and a substrate temperatureUS6064799Apr 30, 1998May 16, 2000Applied Materials, Inc.Method and apparatus for controlling the radial temperature gradient of a wafer while ramping the wafer temperatureUS6080969May 27, 1998Jun 27, 2000Smc CorporationApparatus for and method of thermally processing substrateUS6111225 *Feb 21, 1997Aug 29, 2000Tokyo Electron LimitedWafer processing apparatus with a processing vessel, upper and lower separately sealed heating vessels, and means for maintaining the vessels at predetermined pressuresUS6183565 *Jan 8, 1999Feb 6, 2001Asm International N.VMethod and apparatus for supporting a semiconductor wafer during processingUS6207936Jan 30, 1997Mar 27, 2001Asm America, Inc.Model-based predictive control of thermal processingUS6329304Apr 21, 2000Dec 11, 2001A.S.M. International N.V.Floating wafer reactor and method for the regulation of the temperature thereofUS6644965 *Feb 4, 2002Nov 11, 2003Tokyo Electron LimitedSubstrate processing apparatus and substrate processing methodJPH08236533A Title not availableJPH10321505A Title not availableJPS63136532A Title not availableWO2000006897A2 *Jul 28, 1999Feb 10, 2000Valeo Equipements Electriques MoteurFriction clutch bearing an electric machine rotor, in particular for a motor vehicleWO2000042638A2Jan 13, 2000Jul 20, 2000Asm International N.V.Device for positioning a waferWO2000068977A1May 8, 2000Nov 16, 2000Asm International N.V.Method for transferring wafers and ringWO2001069656A2Mar 15, 2001Sep 20, 2001Mattson Thermal Products Inc.Localized heating and cooling of substrates* Cited by examinerNon-Patent CitationsReference1Porter et al., "Fast-ramp rapid vertical processor for 300-mm Si wafer processing," Part of the SPIE Conference on Process, Equipment, and Materials Control in Integrated Circuit Manufacturing IV, Santa Clara, CA, Sep. 1998, SPIE, vol. 3507.Referenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS7022627 *Oct 31, 2003Apr 4, 2006Asm International N.V.Method for the heat treatment of substratesUS7217670Nov 22, 2004May 15, 2007Asm International N.V.Dummy substrate for thermal reactorUS7897414Jan 8, 2009Mar 1, 2011Fujitsu Semiconductor LimitedMethod of manufacturing semiconductor device and thermal annealing apparatusUS8237264Jan 20, 2011Aug 7, 2012Fujitsu Semiconductor LimitedMethod of manufacturing semiconductor device and thermal annealing apparatusUS20050095873 *Oct 31, 2003May 5, 2005Granneman Ernst H.A.Method for the heat treatment of substratesUS20060043065 *Aug 26, 2004Mar 2, 2006Applied Materials, Inc.Gasless high voltage high contact force wafer contact-cooling electrostatic chuckUS20060110944 *Nov 22, 2004May 25, 2006Asm International N.V.Dummy substrate for thermal reactorUS20080047568 *Sep 4, 2007Feb 28, 2008Ritter Rogers CMethod for Safely and Efficiently Navigating Magnetic Devices in the BodyUS20090181474 *Jan 8, 2009Jul 16, 2009Fujitsu Microelectronics LimitedMethod of manufacturing semiconductor device and thermal annealing apparatusUS20110097491 *Oct 27, 2009Apr 28, 2011Levy David HConveyance system including opposed fluid distribution manifoldsUS20110108542 *Jan 20, 2011May 12, 2011Fujitsu Semiconductor LimitedMethod of manufacturing semiconductor device and thermal annealing apparatusUS20110155061 *Nov 15, 2010Jun 30, 2011National Chiao Tung UniversityReactor, chemical vapor deposition reactor, and metalorganic chemical vapor deposition reactor* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification118/725, 392/418, 392/416, 219/405, 219/411, 219/390, 118/50.1, 118/724International ClassificationC23C16/46, C30B33/02, H01L21/00, C23C16/458, C23C16/52Cooperative ClassificationC30B33/02, C23C16/46, H01L21/67248, C23C16/52, C23C16/4583European ClassificationH01L21/67S8A, C30B33/02, C23C16/46, C23C16/52, C23C16/458D2Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionJun 7, 2002ASAssignmentOwner name: ASM INTERNATIONAL N.V., NETHERLANDSFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:KUZNETSOV, VLADIMIR;GRISEL, RUUD;GRANNEMAN, ERNST;REEL/FRAME:012953/0951Effective date: 20020531Feb 21, 2006CCCertificate of correctionJan 31, 2008FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4Jun 20, 2012FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 8Jul 7, 2016FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 12RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services