JPH0265231A - Semiconductor manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the resist only on the peripheral part of a semiconductor substrate to be selectively removed by radiating O2 plasma over the peripheral part only of a semiconductor substrate by a method wherein an asher chamber whereinto only the peripheral part of the semiconductor substrate is inserted is arranged in a vacuum chamber while an O2 leading-in tube to produce O2 plasma and an RF electrode are provided outside the vacuum chamber. CONSTITUTION:The inside of a vacuum chamber 1 is vacuumized at specified pressure by vacuum pumps 6, 8 while the peripheral part of a semiconductor wafer W is inserted into an asher chamber 7 through a slit 12 by shifting a wafer stage 3 leftward by operating a slide driving unit 4. At this time, the peripheral part of the semiconductor wafer W is detected by a wafer sensor 13 to feedback-control the slide driving unit 4. Next, when O2 gas is led into the asher chamber 7 and an RF power supply 8 is turned on, O2 plasma is produced in the asher chamber 7 to remove the resist only on the peripheral part of the semiconductor wafer W inserted into the asher chamber 7. At this time, the wafer stage 3 is turned by a rotary driving unit 2 to remove the resist on the whole peripheral part of the semiconductor wafer W.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and particularly to an asher for removing resists 1 and the like used in the manufacturing process.

(Prior Art) Generally, in the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, it is necessary to remove resist I such as photoresist applied to a semiconductor substrate (semiconductor wafer), and an asher is used for this purpose. The unshader is configured to generate 0□ plasma in a vacuum chamber, project this plasma onto the surface of a semiconductor wafer, and remove the resist on the semiconductor wafer.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The conventional asher described above removes the resist by placing the semiconductor wafer in 02 plasma, and therefore cannot remove only a portion of the resist on the semiconductor wafer. For this reason, it is not possible to selectively remove only the resist on the outer periphery of the semiconductor wafer, and the 1/cyst in the periphery, which is not directly related to the pattern formation of the semiconductor wafer, exists as a foreign substance, and the resist ( - There is a problem that the manufacturing yield is lowered due to the fact that the product is placed in the first place.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that is capable of removing only the resist at the periphery of a semiconductor wafer.

[Failure to solve the problem]

The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention includes a vacuum chamber into which a semiconductor substrate coated with a resist is placed, an asher chamber into which only the outer peripheral portion of the semiconductor substrate enters the vacuum chamber, and an asher chamber disposed in the asher chamber. Only 0
□Equipped with an 02 introduction pipe and an RF electrode for generating plasma, and configured to be able to project 0° plasma only onto the outer periphery of the semiconductor substrate.

[Effect]

In the above-mentioned configuration, 0 is applied only to the outer periphery of the semiconductor substrate.
□ Plasma can be projected, and only the resist on the outer periphery of the semiconductor substrate can be selectively removed.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a first embodiment of the present invention.

A wafer stage 3 rotated by a rotation drive unit 2 is provided in the vacuum chamber 1, and the wafer stage 3 is configured to be horizontally movable by a slide drive unit 4. Moreover, on this wafer stage 3, a semiconductor wafer W that is transported through the gate valve 5 can be placed. Further, the inside of the vacuum chamber 1 can be set to a predetermined vacuum pressure by a vacuum pump 6.

On the other hand, an asher chamber 7 is located in a part of the inside of the vacuum chamber 1.
is placed. A vacuum pump 8 is connected to this asher chamber 6 so that a higher vacuum pressure can be set, and an RF
By arranging the RF electrode 10 connected to the power supply 9 and further connecting the 0□ gas introduction pipe 11, the 0□ gas is introduced into the asher chamber 6.
□It is designed to generate plasma. A slit 12 is formed in a part of this asher chamber 7, and the peripheral edge of the wafer W is inserted through this slit 12. Note that a wafer sensor 13 using light is arranged facing this slit 12.

According to this configuration, the semiconductor wafer W is moved into the vacuum chamber 1 through the gate valve 5, and the wafer stage 3
placed in The gate valve 5 is closed and the vacuum pump 6.
At step 8, the inside of the chamber 1 is evacuated to a predetermined pressure.

At the same time, the slide drive unit 4 operates to move the wafer stage 3 to the left in the figure, so that the outer peripheral portion of the semiconductor wafer W is inserted into the asher chamber 7 through the slit 12. At this time, the outer periphery of the semiconductor wafer is detected by the wafer sensor 13, and the slide drive unit 4
feedback control.

Then, 0□ gas is introduced into the asher chamber 7 and the RF power source 9
When turned on, 0□ plasma is generated in the asher chamber 7, and only the resist on the outer periphery of the semiconductor wafer W that has entered the asher chamber is removed. At this time, since the wafer stage 3 is rotated by the rotation drive unit 2, the resist on the entire outer periphery of the semiconductor wafer W is removed.

It should be noted that since the vacuum pump 1 and the asher chamber 7 are evacuated by separate vacuum pumps 6.8, the semiconductor wafers are not contaminated with gas during ashing.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a second embodiment of the present invention, and parts equivalent to those in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals.

In this embodiment, the asher chamber 7' and the RF electrode 10 are formed in an annular shape, and the asher chamber 7' is divided into an asher lower chamber 7A and an asher upper chamber 7B. The lower asher chamber 7A is configured to be vertically movable by a vertical drive unit 14. Further, the wafer stage 3 is also configured to be vertically movable by a vertical drive unit 15.

Note that a slide drive unit and a vacuum pump dedicated to the asher chamber are not provided here.

In this configuration, the wafer stage 3 is lowered and the semiconductor wafer W passes through the gate valve 5 and enters the vacuum chamber 1.
and placed on the wafer stage 3. and,
By moving the asher lower chamber 7A and the wafer stage 3 upward, the asher upper chamber 7B constitutes an asher chamber 7', and the outer peripheral portion of the semiconductor wafer W enters into the asher chamber 7'. After evacuating the inside of the vacuum chamber 1 to a predetermined pressure with the vacuum pump 8, 0□ gas is introduced into the asher chamber 7, and the RF power supply 9 is turned on, so that the inside of the asher chamber 7' is 0□. Plasma is generated.

Therefore, since only the outer periphery of the semiconductor wafer W is placed in the arashi chamber 7', only the resist on the outer periphery is removed by the 02 plasma.

This embodiment is efficient because the resist on the outer periphery of the semiconductor wafer W is removed at once.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention provides an asher chamber in which only the outer peripheral portion of the semiconductor substrate enters the vacuum chamber, and this asher chamber is provided with an 02 introduction pipe and an RF electrode for generating 02 plasma. It becomes possible to project the 02 plasma only onto the outer periphery of the semiconductor substrate, which has the effect of selectively removing only the resist on the outer periphery of the semiconductor substrate, thereby improving the manufacturing yield of semiconductor devices.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a first embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a second embodiment of the invention. 1... Vacuum chamber, 2... Rotation drive unit, 3
... Wafer stage, 4... Slide drive unit, 5... Gate valve, 6... Vacuum pump, 7,
7'...Asher chamber, 7A...Asher lower chamber, 7
B...Asher upper chamber, 8...Vacuum pump, 9...
- RF power supply, 10... RF electrode, 11... 0° gas introduction tube, 12... slit, 13... wafer sensor, 14.15... vertical drive unit, W... semiconductor wafer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum chamber into which a semiconductor substrate coated with resist is placed, an asher chamber into which only the outer periphery of the semiconductor substrate enters the vacuum chamber, and an O_2 plasma generated only in the asher chamber by disposing it in this asher chamber. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising an O_2 introduction tube and an RF electrode, and configured to be able to project O_2 plasma only onto the outer peripheral portion of the semiconductor substrate.