CN111489948B - Semiconductor chamber and air inlet structure thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a semiconductor chamber and an air inlet structure thereof, wherein the air inlet structure comprises a through hole arranged in the wall of the semiconductor chamber and a plunger piece arranged in the through hole, a buffer cavity and an annular pore are formed between the outer peripheral wall of the plunger piece and the wall of the through hole, and the buffer cavity is connected with an air inlet pipeline of the semiconductor chamber; and two ends of the annular pore are respectively communicated with the buffer cavity and the interior of the semiconductor cavity. By applying the invention, the air input in unit time is improved, when gas switching is carried out in the process, quick air inlet can be realized, the air flow is more dispersed and stable, the phenomenon of brightness extinction can be avoided, and the process requirement of quickly switching process gas in the process can be met.

Description

Semiconductor chamber and air inlet structure thereof

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductors, in particular to a semiconductor chamber and an air inlet structure thereof.

Background

With the rapid development of semiconductor devices, the requirements on the performance and the integration level of the devices are higher and higher in the application process, so that the plasma etching technology is widely applied. In the plasma etching process, the distribution and stability of the flow field in the reaction chamber play an important role in the process result.

In the prior art, a structure of a reaction chamber for plasma etching is shown in fig. 1 (only a partial structure of the reaction chamber is shown in the figure), and as can be seen from fig. 1, the reaction chamber includes a cylinder body, a radio frequency coil, and a gas inlet structure, wherein the cylinder body includes amain cylinder 01 located in the middle and anauxiliary cylinder 02 located at the edge, an upper cover plate is arranged on the top of themain cylinder 01, and the top of theauxiliary cylinder 02 is connected with the bottom of themain cylinder 01 through a connectingcover plate 03. The radio frequency coils include a centerradio frequency coil 04 located outside themain bobbin 01 and a rimradio frequency coil 05 located outside thesub bobbin 02.

The air inlet structure comprises a central air inlet structure positioned on the upper cover plate and an edge air inlet structure positioned on the connectingcover plate 03, wherein the central air inlet structure usually comprises a plurality of (such as 16) central through holes, the edge air inlet structure usually comprises a small number (such as 4) of edge throughholes 06, the number of the edge through holes is large, and the diameter of the edge throughholes 06 cannot be too large to avoid discharging due to hollow cathodes.

However, since two processes (such as deposition and etching) may be switched in the reaction chamber, the total gas inlet area of the edge gas inlet structure is often small, so that the edge gas inlet cannot be smoothly introduced according to the process requirements, and the process requirements for rapidly switching the process gas in the process cannot be met (for example, a stable state after switching is achieved within 0.4 s).

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to solve at least one technical problem in the prior art, and provides a semiconductor chamber and an air inlet structure thereof.

In order to achieve the object of the present invention, a first aspect provides a gas inlet structure of a semiconductor chamber, comprising a through hole arranged in a chamber wall of the semiconductor chamber and a plunger piece arranged in the through hole, wherein a buffer cavity and an annular pore are formed between an outer peripheral wall of the plunger piece and a wall of the through hole, wherein the buffer cavity is connected with a gas inlet pipeline of the semiconductor chamber; and two ends of the annular pore are respectively communicated with the buffer cavity and the interior of the semiconductor cavity.

Optionally, the through-hole includes first hole section and the second hole section that sets gradually from the inside of semiconductor cavity to the direction of outside, the diameter of first hole section is less than the diameter of second hole section the pore wall of first hole section with form between the periphery wall of plunger spare the ring shaped void the pore wall of second hole section with form between the periphery wall of plunger spare the cushion chamber.

Optionally, the through hole further comprises a transition hole section connected between the first hole section and the second hole section, and the diameter of the transition hole section gradually increases from the inside to the outside of the semiconductor cavity.

Optionally, the through hole further comprises a third hole section, and the third hole section extends from one end of the second hole section close to the outside of the semiconductor chamber;

plunger spare includes the cylinder and sets up the location portion of the one end of cylinder, the diameter of location portion is greater than the diameter of cylinder, the periphery wall of location portion with the clearance has between the pore wall of through-hole, just the profile of the periphery wall of location portion with the profile of the pore wall of third hole section is mutually supported, in order to right the hoop position of plunger spare is fixed a position.

Optionally, the diameter of the third hole section is greater than or equal to the diameter of the second hole section, and a radial distance between the outer peripheral wall of the positioning portion and the hole wall of the third hole section is smaller than a radial distance of the annular hole.

Optionally, the hole wall of the third hole section includes at least one first curved surface and one first plane that are in circumferential end-to-end connection, the periphery wall of the positioning portion includes at least one second curved surface and one second plane that are in circumferential end-to-end connection, the first curved surface with the second curved surface matches the setting, the first plane with the second plane matches the setting.

Optionally, the through holes include a plurality of through holes, each through hole is provided with the plunger element, the plurality of through holes are uniformly distributed around the central axis of the semiconductor chamber, every two adjacent through holes are communicated with each other through an air inlet groove, and the air inlet groove is connected with the air inlet pipeline and conveys the gas in the air inlet pipeline to the two through holes connected with the air inlet groove.

Optionally, the radial spacing of the annular apertures is less than or equal to 0.8mm.

To achieve the object of the present invention, in another aspect, a semiconductor chamber is provided, which includes the gas inlet structure provided in the first aspect.

The invention has the following beneficial effects:

the gas inlet structure of the semiconductor chamber provided by the invention is provided with the gas inlet body arranged in the chamber wall of the semiconductor chamber, one end of the gas inlet body close to the inside of the semiconductor chamber is provided with the annular pore, gas conveyed by the gas inlet pipeline of the semiconductor chamber can enter the semiconductor chamber from the annular pore, and the gas inlet area of the annular pore is greatly improved compared with the gas inlet area of a single through hole (the aperture of the through hole is equal to or slightly larger than the width of the annular gap), so that the gas inlet amount in unit time is improved, when gas switching is carried out in the process (such as gas switching between a deposition step and an etching step of a thin film etching process), rapid gas inlet can be realized, and the gas flow is more dispersed and stable. In addition, a buffer cavity is arranged at one end, close to the outer part of the semiconductor cavity, of the gas inlet body, gas conveyed from a gas inlet pipeline of the semiconductor cavity can be buffered in the buffer cavity and then enters the semiconductor cavity from the annular hole, and the impedance of the gas in the flowing process of the gas in the annular hole is stable, so that the phenomenon of glow extinction can be avoided, and the process requirement of rapidly switching process gas in the process can be met (for example, the switched stable state is achieved within 0.4 s).

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a reaction chamber for plasma etching in the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an inlet structure of a semiconductor chamber according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an inner side of a gas inlet structure of a semiconductor chamber according to an embodiment of the present disclosure as viewed from the inside of the chamber;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an outer side of a gas inlet structure of a semiconductor chamber, which is observed from the outside of the chamber, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 is a partially enlarged view of the outer side structure view in fig. 4.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to the present application, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the same or similar parts or parts having the same or similar functions throughout. In addition, if a detailed description of the known art is not necessary for illustrating the features of the present application, it is omitted. The embodiments described below with reference to the drawings are exemplary only for the purpose of explaining the present application and are not to be construed as limiting the present application.

It will be understood by those within the art that, unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the prior art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", "the" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. Further, "connected" or "coupled" as used herein may include wirelessly connected or wirelessly coupled. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes all or any element and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

The following describes the technical solution of the present application and how to solve the above technical problems in detail by specific embodiments.

The gas inlet structure of the semiconductor chamber provided by the embodiment comprises a through hole formed in achamber wall 200 of the semiconductor chamber and aplunger member 20 arranged in the through hole, and referring to fig. 2 and 3, abuffer chamber 102 and anannular pore 101 can be formed between the outer peripheral wall of theplunger member 20 and the wall of the through hole, wherein thebuffer chamber 102 is connected with a gas inlet pipeline of the semiconductor chamber; both ends of theannular aperture 101 communicate with thebuffer chamber 102 and the interior of the semiconductor chamber, respectively.

It will be appreciated that the inner ends of the through holes communicate with the interior of the semiconductor chamber, and the radial spacing of theannular apertures 101 is less than the radial spacing of thebuffer cavities 102. In addition, the present embodiment does not specifically limit the structure and material of theplug 20, as long as the plug can be disposed in thechamber wall 200 of the semiconductor chamber to form the gas inlet structure for introducing gas into the semiconductor chamber.

The gas inlet structure of the semiconductor chamber provided by the embodiment comprises a through hole formed in achamber wall 200 of the semiconductor chamber and aplunger member 20 arranged in the through hole, wherein anannular pore 101 and abuffer cavity 102 are formed between the outer peripheral wall of theplunger member 20 and the wall of the through hole, gas conveyed by a gas inlet pipeline of the semiconductor chamber can enter the semiconductor chamber from theannular pore 101, and the gas inlet area of theannular pore 101 is greatly increased compared with the gas inlet area of a single through hole (the aperture of the through hole is equal to or slightly larger than the width of the annular gap), so that the gas inlet amount in unit time is increased, and when gas switching is performed in the process (such as gas switching between a deposition step and an etching step of a thin film etching process), rapid gas inlet can be realized, and the gas flow is more dispersed and stable. In addition, the gas delivered from the gas inlet pipeline of the semiconductor chamber can be buffered in thebuffer cavity 102, and then enters the semiconductor chamber from theannular hole 101, and the impedance of the gas in the flowing process of the gas in theannular hole 101 is stable, so that the phenomenon of extinction can be avoided, and the process requirement of rapidly switching the process gas in the process can be met (for example, the switched stable state is achieved within 0.4 s). And set upplunger piece 20 in the through-hole, set up through the cooperation ofplunger piece 20 and through-hole and formannular hole 101 andbuffer cavity 102, the processing of this air inlet structure of being convenient for has reduced the processing cost, also be convenient for this air inlet structure and the air inlet pipe's of semiconductor chamber be connected (make air inlet pipe and through-hole be close to the drill way department intercommunication outside the semiconductor chamber can), make the practicality of this embodiment stronger.

It should be noted that the gas inlet structure may be directly formed in thechamber wall 200 of the semiconductor chamber, or may be fabricated separately as an independent component and then installed in thechamber wall 200 of the semiconductor chamber, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment.

In one embodiment, the through hole may include afirst hole section 11 and asecond hole section 12 sequentially disposed from the inside to the outside of the semiconductor chamber, the diameter of thefirst hole section 11 is smaller than that of thesecond hole section 12, anannular void 101 is formed between the hole wall of thefirst hole section 11 and the outer circumferential wall of theplunger 20, and abuffer cavity 102 is formed between the hole wall of thesecond hole section 12 and the outer circumferential wall of theplunger 20. In this way, by providing thefirst bore section 11 and thesecond bore section 12 with different diameters, theplunger element 20 with the same diameter can be provided, so as to form thebuffer cavity 102 with a larger diameter and theannular aperture 101 with a smaller diameter, so that the processing and installation operations of theplunger element 20 are simpler, the manufacturing cost is further reduced, and the practicability of the embodiment is improved. Of course, the present embodiment is not limited to this, and for example, thebuffer chamber 102 and theannular void 101 having different diameters may be formed by providing theplunger members 20 having different diameters.

More specifically, the through hole may further include atransition hole section 14 connected between thefirst hole section 11 and thesecond hole section 12, a diameter of thetransition hole section 14 gradually increases from an inside to an outside of the semiconductor chamber, and by providing thetransition hole section 14, when the gas enters theannular aperture 101 from thebuffer cavity 102, the gas flow is more stable, which may further facilitate the rapid switching of the two gases (herein, the switching of the two gases includes a process of reaching a stable state after the gases are switched, rather than merely changing the two introduced gases). Thetransition hole section 14 may be a smooth transition or a smooth transition, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment.

In another embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, the through hole may further include athird hole segment 13, and thethird hole segment 13 extends from an end of thesecond hole segment 12 near the outside of the semiconductor chamber to the outside of the semiconductor chamber. Theplunger member 20 may include acolumn body 21 and apositioning portion 22 provided at one end of thecolumn body 21, a diameter of thepositioning portion 22 is larger than a diameter of thecolumn body 21, a gap is provided between an outer peripheral wall of thepositioning portion 22 and a hole wall of the through hole, and a profile of the outer peripheral wall of thepositioning portion 22 and a profile of the hole wall of thethird hole section 13 are fitted to each other to position an annular position of theplunger member 20. Thecolumn 21 is mainly used for forming abuffer cavity 102 and anannular pore 101 with the through hole, an outer end opening of the through hole is communicated with an air inlet pipeline of the semiconductor chamber, and gas can enter thebuffer cavity 102 from a gap between the outer peripheral wall of thepositioning part 22 and a hole wall of the through hole. The diameter of thepositioning portion 22 is made larger than that of thecolumn 21, so that the gas is prevented from pushing theplunger member 20 into the semiconductor chamber. In addition, the profile of the outer peripheral wall of thepositioning portion 22 and the profile of the hole wall of thethird hole section 13 cooperate with each other to position the circumferential position of theplug member 20 to prevent theplug member 20 from rotating in the through hole. It should be noted that the present embodiment does not specifically limit the profile of the peripheral wall and the profile of the hole wall of the through hole, as long as the two are matched to match the profile of the hole wall of the through hole, so as to prevent theplunger 20 from rotating in the through hole. And thethird hole section 13 is arranged at one end of the through hole, which is positioned at the outer side of the semiconductor chamber, and thethird hole section 13 is processed only to be matched with thepositioning part 22 to realize the positioning, so that the positioning arrangement between theplunger element 20 and the through hole is more convenient to realize.

Further, the diameter of thethird hole section 13 may be greater than or equal to the diameter of thesecond hole section 12, and the radial distance between the outer peripheral wall of thepositioning portion 22 and the hole wall of thethird hole section 13 may be smaller than the radial distance of theannular void 101. So, the total hoop length in clearance between the periphery wall oflocation portion 22 and the pore wall ofthird hole section 13 will be greater than the hoop length ofannular space 101, when making the radial interval between the pore wall ofthird hole section 13 be less than the radial interval ofannular space 101, still can provide great air intake area, and the radial interval between the pore wall ofthird hole section 13 is less than the radial interval ofannular space 101, when makingplunger piece 20 take place the micro-shaking, even the periphery wall oflocation portion 22 and the local laminating of the pore wall ofthird hole section 13 also can not cause too big influence toannular space 101, basically, can not influence holistic circumstances of admitting air. And the gas pressure and the unstable gas flow caused by too large gas inflow and untimely gas discharge in theannular hole 101 can be prevented.

More specifically, as shown in fig. 4 and 5, the hole wall of thethird hole section 13 may be formed by connecting two oppositely disposed first curved surfaces and two parallel first flat surfaces, and the outer circumferential wall of thepositioning portion 22 may also be formed by connecting two oppositely disposed second curved surfaces and two parallel second flat surfaces, the first curved surfaces and the second curved surfaces are arranged in a matching manner, the first flat surfaces and the second flat surfaces are arranged in a matching manner, and the first curved surfaces and the second curved surfaces and the first flat surfaces and the second flat surfaces which are arranged in a matching manner form a positioning structure. Thus, theplunger member 20 can be effectively prevented from rotating in the through hole by the cooperation of the curved surface and the cooperation of the plane and the plane. It should be noted that this embodiment is only a specific embodiment of this embodiment, and this embodiment is not limited thereto, and the hole wall of thethird hole segment 13 may include at least one first curved surface and one first flat surface that are connected end to end in the circumferential direction, and the outer peripheral wall of thepositioning portion 22 may also include at least one second curved surface and one second flat surface that are connected end to end in the circumferential direction, as long as the hole wall of thethird hole segment 13 and the outer peripheral wall of thepositioning portion 22 cooperate to prevent thepillar member 20 from rotating in the through hole.

In another embodiment, the gas inlet structure can be applied to the reaction chamber shown in fig. 1, especially for edge gas inlet, and as shown in fig. 4, the through holes can include a plurality of through holes, each of which has a plunger to form theannular cavity 101 and thebuffer cavity 102, and the plurality of through holes are uniformly distributed around the central axis of the semiconductor chamber to achieve simultaneous ventilation from several symmetrical positions to the reaction chamber, so that the gas flow and gas field in the reaction chamber are more stable. And can communicate through anair inlet duct 201 between every two adjacent through-holes, the structure and the size of allair inlet ducts 201 can be the same (including the mirror image),air inlet duct 201 is connected with the air inlet pipeline to carry the gas in the air inlet pipeline to two through-holes of being connected withair inlet duct 201 simultaneously, can make the gas that lets in from two air inlet structures of connecting sameair inlet duct 201 get into reaction chamber simultaneously, be favorable to switching gaseous back gaseous fast and stable, thereby further improve the switching speed of two kinds of gases.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 4, the gas inlet structure may be provided in a cover plate for connecting the bottom of the main cylinder and the top of the sub-cylinder of the reaction chamber, and in practice, other elements are usually provided on the outer side of the cover plate to press theplunger member 20 into the through hole. Theair inlet groove 201 can be opened outside the cover plate, and a via hole is opened in the middle of theair inlet groove 201 on the cover plate and is communicated with an air inlet pipeline of the reaction chamber. More specifically, as shown in fig. 4, four air inlet structures may be circumferentially and uniformly distributed on the same diameter, so that the gas flow field inside the chamber is uniform, and no eccentricity phenomenon is generated. In addition, thegas inlet groove 201 may have a circular arc shape to facilitate gas flow.

In another embodiment, the radial spacing of theannular gap 101 may be less than or equal to a predetermined threshold to control the potential difference of the ionized process gas in theannular gap 101 to prevent the gas from generating a hollow cathode discharge phenomenon in theannular gap 101. Specifically, the preset threshold may be specifically set according to the potential difference for generating the hollow cathode discharge in theannular aperture 101, and the potential difference for generating the hollow cathode discharge in theannular aperture 101 is mainly related to the radio frequency voltage and the gas type. For example, when the two gases introduced are octafluorocyclobutane and sulfur hexafluoride, respectively, and under a certain radio frequency voltage, the critical condition for generating the hollow cathode discharge is that the radial distance of theannular gap 101 is 0.8mm, the radial distance of theannular gap 101 may be set to be less than 0.8mm, and the preset threshold may be less than or equal to 0.8mm.

Based on the same concept, the embodiment of the present application also provides a semiconductor chamber, and the semiconductor chamber can be provided with the gas inlet structure according to any one of the above embodiments.

The semiconductor chamber provided by this embodiment can at least achieve the beneficial effects of the above-mentioned gas inlet structure, and will not be described herein again.

In the description of the present application, it is to be understood that the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience in describing the present invention and simplifying the description, but do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed in a particular orientation, and be operated, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

The foregoing is only a partial embodiment of the present application, and it should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, various modifications and decorations can be made without departing from the principle of the present application, and these modifications and decorations should also be regarded as the protection scope of the present application.

Claims (9)

1. An air inlet structure of a semiconductor chamber is characterized by comprising a through hole arranged in a chamber wall of the semiconductor chamber and a plunger piece arranged in the through hole, wherein a buffer cavity and an annular pore are formed between the outer peripheral wall of the plunger piece and the wall of the through hole, and the buffer cavity is connected with an air inlet pipeline of the semiconductor chamber; and two ends of the annular pore are respectively communicated with the buffer cavity and the interior of the semiconductor cavity.

2. The gas inlet structure according to claim 1, wherein the through hole includes a first hole section and a second hole section which are sequentially arranged from the inside to the outside of the semiconductor chamber, the first hole section has a diameter smaller than that of the second hole section, the annular void is formed between a hole wall of the first hole section and an outer peripheral wall of the plug member, and the buffer cavity is formed between a hole wall of the second hole section and an outer peripheral wall of the plug member.

3. The air intake structure of claim 2, wherein the through-hole further comprises a transition hole section connected between the first hole section and the second hole section, the transition hole section having a diameter that gradually increases from an inside to an outside of the semiconductor chamber.

4. The air intake structure of claim 2, wherein the through-hole further comprises a third hole section extending from an end of the second hole section near the outside of the semiconductor chamber to the outside of the semiconductor chamber;

plunger spare includes the cylinder and sets up the location portion of the one end of cylinder, the diameter of location portion is greater than the diameter of cylinder, the periphery wall of location portion with the clearance has between the pore wall of through-hole, just the profile of the periphery wall of location portion with the profile of the pore wall of third hole section mutually supports, and is right the hoop position of plunger spare is fixed a position.

5. The air intake structure of claim 4, wherein the diameter of the third bore section is equal to or greater than the diameter of the second bore section, and a radial spacing between the outer peripheral wall of the positioning portion and the bore wall of the third bore section is less than a radial spacing of the annular aperture.

6. The air intake structure of claim 5, wherein the hole wall of the third hole section includes at least one first curved surface and one first flat surface that are circumferentially connected end to end, the outer circumferential wall of the positioning portion includes at least one second curved surface and one second flat surface that are circumferentially connected end to end, the first curved surface and the second curved surface are arranged in a matching manner, and the first flat surface and the second flat surface are arranged in a matching manner.

7. The gas inlet structure according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the through holes comprise a plurality of through holes, the plunger members are arranged in each through hole, the plurality of through holes are uniformly distributed around the central axis of the semiconductor chamber, every two adjacent through holes are communicated through a gas inlet groove, and the gas inlet groove is connected with the gas inlet pipeline and conveys gas in the gas inlet pipeline to the two through holes connected with the gas inlet groove simultaneously.

8. An air intake structure according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the radial spacing of the annular apertures is less than or equal to 0.8mm.

9. A semiconductor chamber comprising a gas inlet structure according to any of claims 1 to 8.

Images