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Plasma Basics
2006/4/12 1
Objectives
•List at least three IC processes using plasma
•Name three important collisions in plasma
•Describe mean free path
•Explain how plasma enhance etch and CVD
processes
•Name two high density plasma sources
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1
Topics of Discussion
•What is plasma?
•Why use plasma?
•Ion bombardment
•Application of plasma process
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Applications of Plasma
•CVD
•Etch
•PVD
•Ion Implantation
•Photoresist strip
•Process chamber dry clean
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What Is Plasma
A plasma is a ionized gas with equal numbers
of positive and negative charges.
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Components of Plasma
A plasma consists of neutral atoms or
molecules, negative charges (electrons) and
positive charges (ions)
Quasi-neutral: ni ne
Ionization rate:
ne/(ne + nn)
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3
Neutral Gas Density
•Idea gas
–1 mole = 22.4 Litter = 2.24104 cm3
–1 mole = 6.62 1023 molecules
•At 1 atm, gas density is 2.961019 cm3
•At 1 Torr, gas density is 3.891016 cm3
•At 1 mTorr, gas density is 3.891013 cm3
•RF plasma has very low ionization rate
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Ionization Rate
Ionization rate is mainly determined by electron
energy in plasma, which is in turn controlled by the
applied power. Also related to pressure, electrode
spacing, gas species and chamber design.
In most plasma processing chambers, the ionization
rate is less than 0.01%.
The ionization rate of high density plasma (HDP)
source such as inductively coupled plasma (ICP) or
electron cyclotron resonance (ECR), is much higher,
which is about 1~ 5%.
Ionization rate in the core of sun is ~100%.
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4
Parallel Plate Plasma System
RF power
Dark
Electrodes Plasma spaces or
sheath
layers
To Vacuum Pump
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Generation of a Plasma
•External power is needed
•Radio frequency (RF) power is the most
commonly used power source with which a
varying electric field is established
•Electrons and ions are continually generated and
lost by collisions and recombination
•A plasma is stabilized when generation rate of
electrons is equal to loss rate of electrons
•Vacuum system is required to generate a stable RF
plasma
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5
Ionization Process
e+A A+ + 2 e
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Illustration of Ionization
Nucleus Nucleus
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6
Excitation and Relaxation
e+A A* + e where A* is excited state
Excitation Collision
Impact
Excited electron
Grounded
electron
electron
Impact
electron
Nucleus Nucleus
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Relaxation
h: Planck Constant
: Frequency of Light
h
Excited State
h
Ground State
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Dissociation
•Electron collides with a molecule, it can
break the chemical bond and generate free
radicals:
e + AB A+B+ e
•Free radicals have at least one unpaired
electron and are very chemically reactive.
•Increasing chemical reaction rate
•Very important for both etch and CVD.
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8
Dissociation
e-
Free Radicals
B
A B A
Molecule e-
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Plasma Etch
•CF4 is used in plasma to generate fluorine
free radical (F) for oxide etch
e+ CF4 CF3 + F + e
4F + SiO2 SiF4 + 2O
•Enhanced etch chemistry
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9
Plasma Enhanced CVD
•PECVD with SiH4 and NO2 (laughing gas)
e+ SiH4 SiH2 + 2H + e
e+ N2O N2 + O + e
SiH2 + 3O SiO2 + H2O
•Plasma enhanced chemical reaction
•PECVD can achieve high deposition rate at
relatively lower temperature
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Q&A
•Why are dissociation not important in the
aluminum and copper PVD processes?
10
Q&A
•Is there any dissociation collision in PVD
processes?
•Yes. In TiN deposition process, both Ar and
N2 are used. In plasma, N2 is dissociated to
generate free radical N, which reacts with
Ti target to from TiN on the surface. Ar+
ions sputter TiN molecules from the surface
and deposit them on wafer surface.
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11
Q&A
•Which one of collisions in Table 7.1 is most
likely to happen? Why?
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12
MFP Illustration
Large Large
particle particle
Small Small
particle particle
(a) (b)
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1p
Higher pressure, shorter MFP
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Q&A
•Why does one need a vacuum chamber to
generate a stable plasma?
14
Movement of Charged Particle
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Thermal Velocity
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15
Magnetic Force and Gyro-motion
Gyro-motion
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Gyrofrequency
•Charged particle in gyro motion in magnetic field
qB
m
Gyro radius
•Gyroradius of charged particle in a magnetic
field, , can be expressed as:
= v/
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Boltzmann Distribution
f(E)
Electrons with
enough energy
for ionization
Energy, E
2 - 3 eV
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Ion Bombardment
Electrons reach electrodes and chamber wall first
Electrodes charged negatively, repel electrons
and attract ions.
The sheath potential accelerates ions towards the
electrode and causes ion bombardment.
Ion bombardment is very important for etch,
sputtering and PECVD processes.
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Sheath Potential
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
- - - - - - - - -
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Electrode
- - - - - - - - - - -
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
- - - - - - - - - - - -
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
- - - - - - - - - -
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
- - - - - - - -
+ + + + + + + + + + +x + + +
Sheath Potential
Vf
Dark space
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Ion Bombardment
Anything close to plasma gets ion bombardment
Mainly determined by RF power
Pressure also can affect bombardment
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Plasma Potential & DC Bias
Plasma Potential
Volt
DC Bias RF potential
Time
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Plasma potential
DC bias
DC bias time
0 0
time
RF potentials
20
Ion Bombardment
•
Ion energy
•
Ion flux (density)
•
Both controlled by RF power
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21
DC Bias of CVD Chamber Plasma
Grounded
RF hot
Vp = 10 20 V
0 time
Wafer Potential
DC bias
Self bias
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DC Bias of Etch Chamber Plasma
V2
A1
A2
DC bias V1
V1 = 200 to 1000 V
V1/V2 =(A2/A1) 4
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Q and A
•Can we insert a fine metal probe into the
plasma to measure the plasma potential V2?
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Advantages of Using Plasma
•Plasma processes in IC fabrication:
–PECVD
•CVD chamber dry clean
–Plasma Etch
–PVD
–Ion implantation
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Comparison of PECVD and LPCVD
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HDP CVD Void-free Gap Fill
27
Benefits of Using Plasma For
PVD Process
•Argon sputtering
•Higher film quality
–Less impurity and higher conductivity
•Better uniformity
•Better process control
•Higher process integration capability.
•Easier to deposit metal alloy films
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PECVD Chambers
•Ion bombardment control film stress
•Wafer is placed grounded electrode
•Both RF hot and grounded electrodes have
about the same area
•It has very little self-bias
•The ion bombardment energy is about 10 to
20 eV, mainly determined by the RF power
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RF
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Plasma Etch Chambers
•Ion bombardment
–Physically dislodge
–break chemical bonds
•Wafer on smaller electrode
•Self-bias
•Ion bombardment energy
–on wafer (RF hot electrode): 200 to 1000 eV
–on lid (ground electrode): 10 to 20 eV.
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Plasma Etch Chambers
•Etch prefer lower pressure
–longer MFP, more ion energy and less scattering
•Low pressure, long MFP, less ionization
collision
–hard to generate and sustain plasma
•Magnets are used to force electron spin and
travel longer distance to increase collisions
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Process
chamber Plasma Magnet coils
Wafer
Chuck
By-products to
the pump RF power
Backside
cooling helium
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Remote Plasma Processes
•Need free radicals
–Enhance chemical reactions
•Don’
t want ion bombardment
–Avoid plasma-induced damage
•Remote plasma systems
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Process
chamber Free radicals
Heated plate
By-products to
the pump
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Photoresist Strip
•Remove photoresist right after etch
•O2 and H2O chemistry
•Can be integrated with etch system
•In-situ etch and PR strip
•Improve both throughput and yield
2006/4/12 65
Process chamber
Wafer with O H O O H O H O
photoresist
33
Remote Plasma Etch
•Applications: isotropic etch processes:
–LOCOS or STI nitride strip
–wineglass contact hole etch
•Can be integrated with plasma etch system
–improve throughput
•Part of efforts to replace wet process
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NF3 Plasma
Wafer
Process F F F
N2 F
chamber F N2
34
Remote Plasma Clean
•Deposition occurs not only on wafer surface
•CVD chamber need clean routinely
–Prevent particle contamination due to film crack
•Plasma clean with fluorocarbon gases is
commonly used
–Ion bombardment affects parts lifetime
–Low dissociation rate of fluorocarbon
–Environmental concern of fluorocarbon releases
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35
Remote Plasma Clean System
Microwave Remote plasma
chamber
NF3 Plasma
CVD F F
N2 F
chamber F N2 F
36
High-density Plasma
•High-density at low pressure are desired
•Lower pressure, longer MFP, less ion
scattering, which enhance etch profile control.
•Higher density, more ions and free radicals
–Enhance chemical reaction
–Increase ion bombardment
•For CVD processes, HDP in-situ, simultaneous
dep/etch/dep enhance gap fill
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37
Limitation of Parallel Plate
Plasma Source
•Cannot independently control ion flux and ion
energy
•Both are directly related to RF power
•Better process control requires a plasma source
that capable to independently control both of
them
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Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP)
•RF current flows in the coils generates a
changing electric field via inductive coupling
•The angular electric field accelerates electrons
in angular direction.
•Electrons to travel a long distance without
collision with the chamber wall or electrode.
•Ionization collisions generate high-density
plasma at low pressure
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Illustration of Inductive Coupling
RF current in coil
RF magnetic field
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Plasma Wafer
Chamber body
E-chuck Bias RF
Helium
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Application of ICP
•Dielectric CVD
•All patterned etch processes, particularly for
high aspect-ration structure
•Sputtering clean prior to metal deposition
•Metal plasma PVD
•Plasma immersion ion implantation
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ECR
•Gyro-frequency or cyclotron frequency:
qB
m
•Determined by magnetic field
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ECR
•Electron cyclotron resonance when MW = e
•Electrons get energy from MW
•Energetic electrons collide with other atoms
or molecules
•Ionization collisions generate more electrons
•Electrons are spiraling around the field line
•Many collisions even at very low pressure
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Illustration of ECR
Electron trajectory
Mi c
row
ave
P ow
er
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Illustration of ECR
Microwave
Magnetic
Coils ECR
Plasma
Magnetic
field line Wafer
E-chuck Bias RF
Helium
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ECR
•Bias RF power controls the ion energy
•Microwave power controls the ion flux
•Magnet coil current controls plasma position
and process uniformity
•Helium backside cooling system with E-chuck
controls wafer temperature
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Application of ECR
•Dielectric CVD
•All patterned etch processes
•Plasma immersion ion implantation
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Summary
44
Summary
•Increasing RF power increases both ion flux
and ion energy in capacitive coupled plasmas
•Low frequency RF power gives ions more
energy, causes heavier ion bombardment
•The etch processes need much more ion
bombardment than the PECVD
•Low pressure, high density plasma are desired
•ICP and ECR are two HDP systems used in IC
fabrication
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