Disclosure of Invention
In view of this, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a process chamber and a semiconductor device, so as to shorten the production cycle and improve the production efficiency.
The technical scheme of the present disclosure is realized as follows:
the embodiment of the disclosure provides a process chamber, which comprises a chamber body, a laser penetrating plate and a gas control assembly, wherein the laser penetrating plate comprises a plurality of grooves and a plurality of adsorption holes, the grooves are formed in the edge of the laser penetrating plate, at least one adsorption hole is formed in each groove, the grooves are in contact with the edge of the chamber body under the condition that the chamber body and the laser penetrating plate are mutually abutted, a plurality of adsorption cavities are formed, and the gas control assembly is communicated with the adsorption cavities and is configured to control the gas pressure in the adsorption cavities.
In the above scheme, the gas control component is configured to exhaust the gas in the adsorption cavity until the gas pressure difference between the adsorption cavity and the external environment is greater than a first preset value when the process cavity is in a working state, or charge the gas into the adsorption cavity until the gas pressure difference between the adsorption cavity and the external environment is less than a second preset value when the process cavity is in a non-working state.
In the above scheme, the gas control assembly is configured to adjust the first inflation rate to the second inflation rate when the air pressure difference between the adsorption cavity and the external environment is smaller than a third preset value, wherein the first inflation rate is larger than the second inflation rate, and the third preset value is larger than the second preset value and smaller than the first preset value.
The gas control assembly comprises a first controller, a first gas pipeline, a first control valve and a first sensor, wherein the first sensor is arranged in the groove and is configured to monitor the air pressure difference between the adsorption cavity and the external environment, the first control valve is communicated to the adsorption cavity through the first gas pipeline and the adsorption hole, and the first controller is respectively connected with the first sensor and the first control valve and is configured to control the air charging rate of the first control valve based on the air pressure difference transmitted by the first sensor.
In the above aspect, the gas control component is connected to the chamber body and is further configured to introduce an inert gas into the chamber body, and, in a case that the process chamber is in a working state, introduce the gas in the chamber body into the adsorption hole.
In the scheme, the grooves are concentrically distributed, and the distance between adjacent grooves is larger than the width of the opening end of each groove.
In the above scheme, the plurality of adsorption holes in the plurality of grooves are symmetrically distributed.
The embodiment of the disclosure also provides a semiconductor device, which comprises a laser and the process chamber according to any scheme, wherein laser emitted by the laser enters the process chamber through the laser penetrating plate and performs laser annealing treatment on a wafer to be annealed in the process chamber.
In the scheme, the semiconductor device further comprises a temperature control component, the temperature control component is configured to monitor the temperature in the process chamber in real time, and the gas control component is connected with the temperature control component and is configured to adjust the air pressure difference between the adsorption chamber and the external environment based on the temperature in the process chamber.
The semiconductor device further comprises a bearing component and a driving component, wherein the bearing component is arranged in the process chamber and is configured to bear a wafer to be annealed, and the driving component is arranged in the process chamber, connected with the bearing platform and is configured to drive the bearing platform to move in the process chamber and adjust the position of the bearing platform relative to the laser.
The vacuum suction device has the advantages that the suction cavity is vacuumized through the suction holes to form negative pressure, suction force is generated between the laser penetration plate and the cavity body, the laser penetration plate and the cavity body can be tightly fixed through the suction force brought by the suction cavity, and interference caused by movement of the laser penetration plate to a laser annealing process is avoided. The gas control assembly is configured to control the gas pressure within the plurality of adsorption chambers. Like this, this disclosure can be through the atmospheric pressure in a plurality of absorption chambeies to control the adsorption affinity between laser penetration board and the cavity body to under the circumstances of desorbing laser penetration board, if can't normally reach the malleation in the slot, then can make the quick and safe stable rising of slot internal pressure to unanimous with external pressure through gas control assembly through the disclosed embodiment, make the laser penetration board desorb fast, further improve technology production efficiency.
Detailed Description
For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure more apparent, the technical solutions of the present disclosure are further elaborated below in conjunction with the drawings and the embodiments, and the described embodiments should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure, and all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without making inventive efforts are within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.
In the following description, reference is made to "some embodiments" which describe a subset of all possible embodiments, but it is to be understood that "some embodiments" can be the same subset or different subsets of all possible embodiments and can be combined with one another without conflict.
If a similar description of "first/second" appears in the application document, the following description is added, and in the following description, the terms "first/second/third" merely distinguish similar objects and do not represent a specific ordering of the objects, it being understood that "first/second/third" may, where allowed, interchange a specific order or precedence, so that the embodiments of the disclosure described herein can be practiced otherwise than as illustrated or described herein.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing embodiments of the present disclosure only and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure.
Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an optional process chamber 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and will be described with reference to the steps shown in fig. 1, where fig. 1 also illustrates a wafer 40 to be annealed and a wafer chuck (chuck) 50, and the wafer chuck 50 is used to carry and fix the wafer 40 to be annealed.
In the disclosed embodiment, referring to fig. 1, a process chamber 100 includes a chamber body 10 and a laser penetration plate 20. The chamber body 10 may be used to house a wafer 40 to be annealed. The material of the chamber body 10 may be a metal alloy, ceramic, or the like. The material of the laser penetration plate 20 may be quartz glass or the like.
Fig. 2 and 3 are schematic structural views of an alternative laser penetration plate 20 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, where fig. 2 illustrates a top view of the laser penetration plate 20, and fig. 3 illustrates a front sectional view of the laser penetration plate 20, and a sectional position is a position where the suction hole 22 is shown in fig. 2. Fig. 2 and 3 illustrate only one trench 21, and the remaining trenches can be understood with reference to the illustration, and will not be described here again.
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 2 and 3, the laser penetration plate 20 includes a plurality of grooves 21 and a plurality of suction holes 22. A plurality of grooves 21 are provided at the edge of the laser penetration plate 20. At least one suction hole 22 is provided in each groove 21. In the case where the chamber body 10 and the laser penetration plate 20 collide with each other, the plurality of grooves 21 contact with the edge of the chamber body 10 and form a plurality of adsorption cavities. Like this, this embodiment of the disclosure accessible absorption hole 22 is taken out the vacuum with the absorption chamber and is formed negative pressure, makes the laser penetrate board 20 and the cavity body 10 between produce the adsorption affinity, and the laser penetrates board 20 and cavity body 10 can be closely fixed through the adsorption affinity that the absorption chamber brought, avoids the laser to penetrate board 20 removal and causes the interference to the process of laser annealing. Meanwhile, the embodiment of the present disclosure can prevent gas leakage in the process chamber 100 or external environmental impurities from entering the process chamber 100, and ensure the tightness of the process chamber 100.
Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an alternative process chamber provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure, where fig. 4 illustrates the component composition and connection relationship of the gas control assembly 30, and the gas control assembly 30 may further include other types of components, which are not limited herein. Fig. 4 illustrates only one adsorption cavity of the laser penetration plate 20, and the connection relationship between the remaining adsorption cavities of the laser penetration plate 20 and the gas control assembly 30 can be understood with reference to the illustrated example, and will not be described herein.
In the embodiment of the disclosure, referring to fig. 2 and 3, before the process chamber 100 performs the processes such as the laser annealing process, the devices such as the air pump may draw the gas in the trench 21 through the adsorption hole 22 and then close the adsorption hole 22, thereby forming a negative pressure environment to adsorb the laser penetration plate 20. After the annealing process or the like is completed, the adsorption hole 22 is opened to desorb the laser penetration plate 20. However, in the actual operation process, after the adsorption hole 22 is opened, the inside of the groove 21 cannot normally reach positive pressure, and the communication area between the groove 21 and the external environment needs to be increased by means of prying the hard object, so as to realize desorption of the laser penetrating plate 20. The laser penetrating plate 20 is damaged by the hard object prying, so that impurities are easily introduced into the process chamber 100, and meanwhile, the time of the laser annealing process can be prolonged by the hard object prying process, and the process production efficiency is affected.
In the disclosed embodiment, referring to fig. 4, the process chamber 100 further includes a gas control assembly 30. The gas control assembly 30 may include a differential pressure sensor, a gas control valve, and the like. The gas control assembly 30 communicates with a plurality of adsorption chambers. The gas control assembly 30 is configured to control the gas pressure within the plurality of adsorption chambers. In this way, the embodiments of the present disclosure can control the adsorption force between the laser penetration plate 20 and the chamber body 10 by the air pressure in the plurality of adsorption chambers, and in turn, can control the adsorption and desorption of the laser penetration plate 20. Therefore, in desorption, if the inside of the groove 21 cannot normally reach the positive pressure, the pressure in the groove 21 can be quickly, safely and stably increased to be consistent with the external pressure through the gas control assembly 30, so that the laser penetrating plate 20 can be quickly desorbed, and the process production efficiency is further improved.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 4, the plurality of adsorption holes in the plurality of grooves are symmetrically distributed. For example, the plurality of adsorption holes are symmetrically arranged in pairs or groups with the center of the laser penetration plate as a symmetry axis. Thus, the negative pressure acting points are uniformly distributed in the circumferential direction, and the local adsorption force is prevented from being too strong or too weak. The uniform adsorption force can enable the laser penetrating plate to be in closer contact with the edge of the chamber body, the lamination is smoother, and gaps caused by uneven stress are reduced, so that the overall tightness is enhanced, and process gas leakage or external environment impurity entering in the chamber is prevented. The pulling force that negative pressure produced evenly distributes at the plate body edge, avoids local region to bear too big stress because of the absorption hole concentrates, reduces the risk of plate body fracture or damage.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 4, the gas control assembly 30 is configured to exhaust the gas within the adsorption cavity until the gas pressure difference between the adsorption cavity and the external environment is greater than a first preset value when the process chamber 100 is in an operating state. For example, the gas control assembly 30 may actively pump gas out of the adsorption chamber until the pressure difference between the adsorption chamber and the external environment is greater than a first predetermined value. The external ambient air pressure may be atmospheric pressure (about 760 torr). The first preset value may be 100 Torr (Torr). Thus, the laser penetration plate 20 can be fixed by suction through the suction pressure of the suction chamber.
In the embodiment of the disclosure, referring to fig. 4, in the case where the process chamber 100 is in the non-working state, gas is filled into the adsorption cavity until the gas pressure difference between the adsorption cavity and the external environment is less than the second preset value. The first preset value is more than 20 times of the second preset value. For example, the second preset value may be 5 Torr (Torr). That is, the gas control assembly 30 may actively charge the gas into the adsorption chamber to reduce the pressure difference between the adsorption chamber and the external environment, thereby facilitating desorption of the laser penetration plate 20.
It should be noted that, the specific values of the first preset value and the second preset value may be determined according to whether the parameters such as the sealing condition and the process flatness/stability requirement meet the requirements. For example, the specific set point of the first preset value is required to ensure that the laser penetration plate's compliance with the underlying support surface (e.g., chamber body) meets the requirements of optical flatness and thermal conductivity throughout the working area and remains stable during processing without any measurable displacement or vibration. The specific setting value of the second preset value needs to ensure that the laser penetrating plate is in a free or extremely easily separated state, and at this time, the laser penetrating plate can be separated stably by means of slight external force.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 1, the gas control assembly 30 is configured to adjust the first inflation rate to a second inflation rate if the pressure differential of the adsorption cavity from the external environment is less than a third preset value, wherein the first inflation rate is greater than the second inflation rate, and the third preset value is greater than the second preset value and less than the first preset value. For example, the gas control assembly 30 may dynamically adjust the valve opening or pump speed by monitoring the pressure differential between the adsorption chamber and the external environment in real time, such that the aeration rate is directly proportional to the current pressure differential. The first inflation rate may be 50torr/s and the second inflation rate may be 10torr/s. When the internal and external pressure difference is smaller than a third preset value (such as 20 Torr), the air charging rate is reduced from 50Torr/s to 10Torr/s. Further, when the internal and external pressure difference is smaller than or equal to a second preset value (such as 5 Torr), the air charging rate is reduced from 10Torr/s to 0. That is, the embodiments of the present disclosure gradually decrease the aeration rate as the pressure differential decreases during the process of switching the pressure differential between the adsorption chamber and the external environment from a high pressure differential to a pressure balance. In this way, the pressure change curve in the groove 21 of the laser penetration plate 20 is more gentle, so that the pressure overshoot (Over shot) is effectively suppressed, the stress impact on the laser penetration plate is reduced, and the service life of the laser penetration plate 20 is remarkably prolonged.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 4, a gas control assembly 30 includes a first controller 31, a first gas conduit 32, a first control valve 33, and a first sensor 34.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 4, a first sensor 34 is disposed within the channel 21 and configured to monitor the differential air pressure of the adsorption cavity from the external environment. The first sensor 34 may be a differential pressure sensor.
In the presently disclosed embodiment, referring to fig. 4, a first control valve 33 communicates to the adsorption chamber through a first gas conduit 32 and the adsorption orifice 22. For example, the first control valve 33 may be an MFC (mass flow controller ). The first control valve 33 is used to precisely control the mass flow of gas (e.g., inert gas, reactant gas) to the adsorption chamber. In the adsorption stage, the first control valve 33 may close the pneumatic valve 35, and cooperate with a suction pump or a negative pressure source to establish negative pressure in the adsorption cavity. During the desorption phase, the first control valve 33 may open the pneumatic valve 35 to inflate the adsorption chamber, balancing the pressure to effect desorption.
In the presently disclosed embodiment, referring to fig. 4, a first controller 31 is connected to a first sensor 34 and a first control valve 33, respectively. The first controller 31 is configured to control the inflation rate of the first control valve 33 based on the differential air pressure transmitted by the first sensor 34. The first controller 31 may be a PID controller. In the air pressure control of the adsorption cavity, the first controller 31 receives the real-time air pressure difference signal of the first sensor 34, compares the real-time air pressure difference signal with the first preset value (the second preset value or the third preset value), and adjusts the air charging flow of the first control valve 33 or the power of the air suction pump to stabilize the air pressure difference within a set range, so as to avoid sealing failure caused by pressure difference fluctuation.
Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of another alternative laser penetration board 20 provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure, and it should be noted that, the laser penetration board 20 illustrated in fig. 5 only includes two grooves 21, and the laser penetration board 20 may further include a greater number of grooves 21.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 5, the plurality of grooves 21 are concentrically distributed. For example, two grooves 21 in fig. 5 are arranged in concentric rectangular shapes. In this way, the grooves 21 are uniformly arranged at the edge of the laser penetrating plate 20, and after the grooves 21 contact with the edge of the chamber body to form adsorption cavities, the positions of each adsorption cavity are symmetrically distributed. Thereby, the negative pressure that the absorption hole evacuation formed evenly distributes at whole laser penetration board 20 and cavity body contact edge, avoids local adsorption affinity too strong or weak to laminating when guaranteeing that laser penetration board 20 and cavity body 10 contradict each other is inseparabler, reduces the gap that leads to because of the atress is uneven, and then, avoids leading to gas leakage or impurity entering, influences process stability.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 5, the pitch of adjacent trenches is greater than the width of the open ends of the trenches. Too small a distance between adjacent grooves 21 may cause too close a distance between adjacent suction chambers, and air flow interaction (such as overlapping of negative pressure areas) may occur, resulting in unstable local negative pressure and affecting sealing effect. The interval between adjacent grooves in the embodiment of the disclosure is larger than the width of the opening end of the groove, so that the negative pressure field of each adsorption cavity is independent, the respective adsorption force can be stably maintained, and the sealing reliability is ensured. Meanwhile, the embodiment of the disclosure can avoid too small spacing between adjacent grooves, which can lead to too narrow side walls of the grooves, and avoid breakage caused by stress during assembly (abutting fit) or vacuumizing, thereby damaging components.
In other embodiments, the laser light transmissive plate may be circular. Correspondingly, a plurality of grooves formed on the edge of the circular laser penetration plate 20 may be distributed in concentric rings.
Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of another alternative process chamber 100 provided in the embodiment of the disclosure, and it should be noted that the laser penetration board 20 illustrated in fig. 6 may be understood with reference to the above embodiment, and will not be described herein. The first gas pipe 32 illustrated in fig. 4 includes a plurality of gas supply pipes 320 of fig. 6, and the gas supply pipes 320 may be connected to one adsorption hole, respectively. The second gas conduit 36 illustrated in fig. 6 may include a chamber inlet conduit 321 and a chamber outlet conduit 322. The chamber inlet pipe 321 and the chamber outlet pipe 322 may be connected to the first control valve 33 in fig. 4.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the gas control assembly communicates with the chamber body. The gas control assembly is also configured to introduce an inert gas into the chamber body. For example, as shown in fig. 6, a chamber inlet pipe 321 and a chamber outlet pipe 322 of the gas control assembly are respectively communicated with the chamber body 10, forming a flow path of gas in the chamber body 10. After the laser penetration plate 20 is adsorbed to the chamber body 10, the gas control assembly may deliver inert gas such as nitrogen (N 2) into the inner cavity 11 of the chamber body 10 through the chamber inlet pipe 321, and then the inert gas is exhausted out of the chamber body 10 through the chamber outlet pipe 322. In this way, embodiments of the present disclosure are able to effectively create and maintain a suitable process environment inside the chamber body 10 through the gas control assembly. For example, the inert gas can isolate air, prevent the wafer to be annealed from being oxidized due to reaction with oxygen in the air and the like in the treatment process, and provide reliable environmental support for smooth progress of the processes such as laser annealing and the like. Meanwhile, the embodiment of the disclosure can recycle the gas control assembly to maintain the proper process environment inside the chamber body 10, and does not need to additionally provide an extra gas control assembly for maintaining the proper process environment inside the chamber body 10, thereby reducing the cost and providing the utilization production efficiency of the gas control assembly.
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 6, the gas in the chamber body 10 is introduced into the adsorption hole in the case where the process chamber 100 is in the non-operating state. For example, the chamber outlet tube 322 may be in communication with a plurality of gas supply tubes 320, and the gas control assembly may pass the gas within the chamber body 10 into the adsorption holes. Accordingly, the present disclosure can reuse the gas in the process chamber 100 to perform desorption of the laser penetration plate 20, reduce gas waste, and improve production efficiency.
Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an alternative semiconductor device 200 provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure.
The disclosed embodiments provide a semiconductor apparatus 200, referring to fig. 7, the semiconductor apparatus 200 comprising a laser 210 and the process chamber 100 of any of the embodiments described above. The laser beam emitted by the laser 210 enters the process chamber 100 through the laser penetrating plate, and performs laser annealing treatment on the wafer to be annealed in the process chamber 100.
Fig. 8 is a schematic structural view of another alternative semiconductor structure provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 8, the semiconductor device 200 further includes a temperature control assembly 220. The temperature control assembly 220 is configured to monitor the temperature within the process chamber in real time. The gas control assembly 30, coupled to the temperature control assembly 220, is configured to adjust the pressure differential between the adsorption chamber and the external environment based on the temperature within the process chamber 100. The air pressure difference of the adsorption cavity is the core power for fixing the wafer (such as adsorption by negative pressure). The laser annealing can cause thermal expansion of the gas in the chamber and can indirectly influence the gas pressure balance of the adsorption cavity. Thus, after the temperature change is captured by the temperature control component 220 in real time, the gas control component can ensure that the wafer is always tightly attached to the bearing component by adjusting the air pressure difference (such as appropriately increasing negative pressure when the temperature rises to counteract the decrease of the adsorption force caused by thermal expansion), so that the laser action position deviation (such as dislocation of an annealing area caused by tiny displacement of the wafer) caused by adsorption loosening is avoided, and the annealing precision is improved.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, referring to fig. 8, the semiconductor apparatus 200 further includes a carrier assembly 310 and a driving assembly 320. Wherein a carrier assembly 310, disposed within the process chamber 100, is configured to carry a wafer 40 to be annealed. The driving assembly 320 is disposed in the process chamber 100, connected to the carrier assembly 310, and configured to drive the carrier assembly 310 to move in the process chamber 100, and adjust the position of the carrier assembly 310 relative to the laser 210. Laser annealing may require processing of specific areas (e.g., local repair of a chip array) or global areas (e.g., activation processing of a full wafer) of the wafer to be annealed. The driving component 320 can drive the bearing component 310 to realize translational motion, rotation motion and the like, and can precisely adjust the alignment of the laser action point and the target area of the wafer (the positioning precision can reach the micron level) in cooperation with the optical path control of the laser 210, so that the error of manual adjustment is avoided, and the high-precision semiconductor process is satisfied. The movement range of the driving assembly 320 can flexibly adapt to the load requirements of wafers with different sizes.
It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.
The foregoing embodiment numbers of the present application are merely for the purpose of description, and do not represent the advantages or disadvantages of the embodiments. The methods disclosed in the method embodiments provided by the application can be arbitrarily combined under the condition of no conflict to obtain a new method embodiment. The features disclosed in the several product embodiments provided by the application can be combined arbitrarily under the condition of no conflict to obtain new product embodiments. The features disclosed in the embodiments of the method or the apparatus provided by the application can be arbitrarily combined without conflict to obtain new embodiments of the method or the apparatus.
The foregoing is merely illustrative of the present application, and the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art will readily recognize that variations or substitutions are within the scope of the present application.