throbber
Europaisches Patentamt
`European Patent Office
`Office europeen des brevets
`
`© Publication number:
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`0 2 7 2 1 4 0
`A 2
`

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`E U R O P E A N PATENT A P P L I C A T I O N
`
`© Application number: 87311193.4
`^
`© Date of filing: 18.12.87
`
`© Int. CI.4: C23C 16/54 , C23C 16/50 ,
`C23C 16/40 , H01L 2 1 / 3 1 6
`
`© Priority: 19.12.86 US 944492
`
`© Date of publication of application:
`22.06.88 Bulletin 88/25
`
`© Designated Contracting States:
`AT BE CH DE ES FR GB GR IT U LU NL SE
`
`^
`
`© Applicant: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
`3050 Bowers Avenue
`Santa Clara California 95051 (US)
`
`© Inventor: Wang, David Nin-Kou
`10931 Santa Teresa Drive
`Cupertino California 95014(US)
`Inventor: White, John M.
`2811 Colony View Place
`Hayward California 94541 (US)
`Inventor: Law, Kam S.
`14)1 Conoso Plaza
`Union City California 94587(US)
`Inventor: Leung, Cissy
`4954 Antioch Loop
`Union City California 94587(US)
`Inventor: Umotoy, Salvador P.
`62 Sharon Street
`Pittsburg California 94565(US)
`Inventor: Collins, Kenneth S.
`4838 Moorpark
`San Jose California 95129(US)
`Inventor: Adamik, John A.
`3072 Kittery Avenue
`San Ramon California 04583(US)
`Inventor: Perlov, llya
`1030 El Monte No. 207
`Mountain View California 94040(US)
`Inventor: Maydan, Dan
`1200 Murietta Lane
`Los Altos Hills California 94022(US)
`
`© Representative: Bayliss, Geoffrey Cyril et ai
`BOULT, WADE & TENNANT 27 Furnival Street
`London EC4A 1PQ(GB)
`
`^
`—
`r—
`—
`_ _ — ,
`^J© Thermal CVD/PECVD reactor and use for thermal chemical vapor deposition of silicon dioxide and
`in-situ mum-step pianarized process.
`
`1
`
`3_^57) A high pressure, high throughput, single wafer,
`ing, and deposition topography modification by sput-
`LU semiconductor processing reactor (10) is disclosed
`tering, either separately or as part of in-situ multiple
`which is capable of thermal CVD, plasma-enhanced
`step processing. The reactor includes cooperating
`CVD, plasma-assisted etchback, plasma self-clean-
`arrays of interdigitated susceptor (16) and wafer fin-
`(erox Copy Centre
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`gers (20) which collectively remove the wafer (15)
`from a robot transfer blade (24) and position the
`wafer with variable, controlled, close parallel spacing
`between the wafer and the chamber gas inlet mani-
`fold (26) then return the wafer to the blade. A com-
`bined RF/gas feed-through device (36) protects
`against process gas leaks and applies RF energy to
`the gas inlet manifold without internal breakdown or
`deposition of the gas. The gas inlet manifold (26) is
`adapted for providing uniform gas flow over the
`wafer. Temperature-controlled internal and external
`manifold surfaces suppress condensation, premature
`reactions and decomposition and deposition on the
`external surfaces. The reactor also incorporates a
`uniform radial pumping gas system which enables
`uniform reactant gas flow across the wafer and
`directs purge gas flow downwardly and upwardly
`toward the periphery of the wafer for sweeping ex-
`haust fases radially away from the wafer to prevent
`deposition outside the wafer and keep the chamber
`clean. The reactor provides uniform processing over
`a wide range of pressure including very high pres-
`sures. A low temperature CVD process for forming a
`highly conformal layer of silicon dioxide is also dis-
`closed. The process uses very high chamber pres-
`sure and low temperature, and TEOS and ozone
`reactants. The low temperature CVD silicon dioxide
`deposition step is particularly useful for planarizing
`underlying stepped dielectric layers, either alone on
`in conjunction with a subsequent isotropic etch. A
`preferred in-situ multiple-step process for forming a
`planarized silicon dioxide layer uses (1) high rate
`silicon dioxide deposition at a low temperature and
`high pressure followed by (2) the deposition of the
`conformal silicon dioxide layer also at high pressure
`and low temperature, followed by (3) a high rate
`isotropic etch, preferably at low temperature and
`high pressure in the same reactor used for the two
`oxide deposition steps. Various combinations of the
`steps are disclosed for different applications, as is a
`preferred reactor self-cleaning step.
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`THERMAL CVD/PECVD REACTOR AND USE FOR THERMAL CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION OF SILICON
`DIOXIDE AND IN-SITU MULTI-STEP PLANARIZED PROCESS
`
`Background of the Invention
`
`The present invention relates to a reactor and
`methods for performing single and in-situ multiple
`integrated circuit processing steps, including ther-
`mal CVD, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor depo-
`sition (PECVD), reactor self-cleaning, film etchback,
`and modification of profile or other film property by
`sputtering. The present invention also relates to a
`process for forming conformal, planar dielectric lay-
`ers on integrated circuit wafers and to an in-situ
`multi-step process for forming conformal, planar
`dielectric layers that are suitable for use as inter-
`level dielectrics for multi-layer metallization inter-
`connects.
`
`I. Reactor
`
`The early gas chemistry deposition reactors
`that were applied to semiconductor integrated cir-
`cuit fabrication used relatively high temperature,
`thermally-activated chemistry to deposit from a gas
`onto a heated substrate. Such chemical vapor de-
`position of a solid onto a surface involves a het-
`erogeneous surface reaction of gaseous species
`that adsorb onto the surface. The rate of film
`growth and the film quality depend on the wafer
`surface temperature and on the gaseous species
`available.
`low
`More recently,
`temperature plasma-en-
`hanced deposition and etching techniques have
`been developed for forming diverse materials, in-
`cluding metals such as aluminum and tungsten,
`dielectric films such as silicon nitride and silicon
`dioxide, and semiconductor films such as silicon.
`The plasma used in the available plasma-en-
`hanced chemical vapor deposition processes is a
`low pressure reactant gas discharge which is de-
`veloped in an RF field. The plasma is, by definition,
`an electrically neutral ionized gas in which there
`are equal number densities of electrons and ions.
`At the relatively low pressures used in PECVD, the
`discharge is in the "glow" region and the electron
`energies can be quite high relative to heavy par-
`ticle energies. The very high electron temperatures
`increase the density of disassociated species with-
`in the plasma which are available for deposition on
`nearby surfaces (such as substrates). The en-
`hanced supply of reactive free radicals in the
`PECVD processes makes possible the deposition
`of dense, good quality films at lower temperatures
`and at faster deposition rates (300-400 Angstroms
`
`per minute) than are typically possible using purely
`thermally-activated CVD processes (100-200 Ang-
`stroms per minute). However, the deposition rates
`available using conventional plasma-enhanced pro-
`cesses are still relatively low.
`Presently, batch-type reactors are used in most
`commercial PECVD applications. The batch reac-
`tors process a relatively large number of wafers at
`once and, thus, provide relatively high throughput
`despite the low deposition rates. However, single-
`wafer reactors have certain advantages, such as
`the lack of within-batch uniformity problems, which
`make such reactors attractive, particularly for large,
`expensive wafers such as 5-8 inch diameter wafers.
`In addition, and quite obviously, increasing the de-
`position rate and throughput of such single wafer
`reactors and further increase their range of useful
`applications.
`
`II. Thermal CVD of SiC-2; Planarization Process
`
`Recently integrated circuit (IC) technology has
`advanced from large scale integration (LSI) to very
`large scale integration (VLSI) and is projected to
`grow the ultra-large integration (ULSI) over the next
`several years. This advancement in monolithic cir-
`cuit integration has been made possible by im-
`provements in the manufacturing equipment as well
`as in the materials and methods used in process-
`ing semiconductor wafers into IC chips. However,
`the incorporation into IC chips of, first, increasingly
`complex devices and circuits and, second, greater
`device densities and smaller minimum feature
`sizes and smaller separations, imposes increas-
`ingly stringent requirements on the basic integrated
`circuit fabrication steps of masking, film formation,
`doping and etching.
`As an example of the increasing complexity, it
`is projected that, shortly, typical MOS (metal oxide
`semiconductor) memory circuits will contain two
`levels of metal interconnect layers, while MOS log-
`ic circuits may well use two to three metal intercon-
`nect layers and bipolar digital circuits may require
`three to four such layers. The increasing complex-
`ity, thickness/depth and small size of such multiple
`interconnect levels make it increasingly difficult to
`fabricate the required conformal, planar interlevei
`dielectric layers materials such as silicon dioxide
`that support and electrically isolate such metal in-
`terconnect layers.
`The difficulty in forming planarized conformal
`coatings on small stepped surface topographies is
`illustrated in FIG. 16. There, a first film such as a
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`;onductor layer 171 has been formed over the
`sxisting stepped topography of a partially corn-
`Dieted integrated circuit (not shown) and is under-
`going the deposition of an interlayer dielectric layer
`172 such as silicon dioxide. This is done prepara-
`:6ry to the formation of a second level conductor
`ayer (not shown). Typically, where the mean-free
`oath of the depositing active species is long corn-
`Dared to the step dimensions and where there is no
`-apid surface migration, the deposition rates at the
`DOttom 173, the sides 174 and the top 175 of the
`stepped topography are proportional to the asso-
`ciated arrival angles. The bottom and side arrival
`angles are a function of and are limited by the
`depth and small width of the trench. Thus, for very
`narrow and/or deep geometries the thickness of the
`bottom layer 173 tends to be deposited to a lesser
`thickness than is the side layer 174 which, in turn,
`is less than the thickness of top layer 1 75.
`Increasing the pressure used in the deposition
`process typically will increase the collision rate of
`the active species and decrease the mean-free
`path. This would increase the arrival angles and,
`thus, increase the deposition rate at the sidewalls
`714 and bottom 173 of the trench or step. How-
`ever, and referring to FIG. 17A, this also increases
`the arrival angle and associated deposition rate at
`stepped corners 176.
`For steps separated by a wide trench, the
`resulting inwardly sloping film configuration forms
`cusps 177-177 at the sidewall-bottom interface. It is
`difficult to form conformal metal and/or dielectric
`layers over such topographies. As a consequence,
`it is necessary to separately planarize the topog-
`raphy.
`In addition, and referring to FIG. 17B, where
`the steps are separated by a narrow trench, for
`example, in dense 256 kilobit VLSI structures, the
`increased deposition rate at the corner 176 en-
`closes a void 178. Such voids are exposed by
`subsequent planarization procedures and may al-
`low the second level conductor to penetrate and
`run along the void and short the conductors and
`devices along the void.
`
`Summary of the Invention
`
`Objects
`
`In view of the above discussion, it is one object
`to provide a semiconductor processing reactor
`which provides uniform deposition over a wide-
`range of pressures, including very high pressures.
`It is another related object to provide a versa-
`tile single wafer semiconductor processing reactor
`which can be used for a multiplicity of processes
`thermal chemical vapor deposition,
`including
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`chemical
`deposition,
`vapor
`plasma-enhanced
`plasma-assisted etchback, plasma self-cleaning
`and sputter topography modification, either alone
`or in-situ in a multiple process sequence.
`It is a related object to provide such a reactor
`which accomplishes the above objectives and also
`is adapted for using unstable gases such as TEOS
`and ozone.
`It is another object of the present invention to
`-
`provide a process for forming highly conformal
`silicon dioxide layers, even over small dimension
`stepped topographies in VLSI and ULSI devices,
`using ozone and TEOS gas chemistry and thermal
`CVD.
`It is also an object of the present invention to
`provide a planarization process which provides ex-
`cellent conformal coverage and eliminates cusps
`and voids.
`It is still another object of the present invention
`to provide a planarization process which can be
`performed in-situ using a multiple number of steps,
`in the same plasma reactor chamber, by simply
`changing the associated reactant gas chemistry
`and operation conditions.
`It is yet another object of the present invention
`to provide an in-situ multiple step process including
`plasma deposition and isotropic etching of a wafer
`for the purpose of optimizing coating conformality
`and planarization, along with process throughput
`and wafer characteristics such as low particulates.
`Another object is to provide the above-de-
`scribed versatile process characteristics along with
`the ability to vary the process sequence and the
`number of steps, including but not limited to the
`addition of reactor self-cleaning.
`
`Summary
`
`In one specific aspect, our invention relates to
`a semiconductor processing reactor defining a
`chamber for mounting a wafer therein and an inlet
`gas manifold for supplying reactant gases to the
`wafer. The chamber also incorporates a uniform
`radial pumping system which includes vacuum ex-
`haust pump means; a gas distributor plate mounted
`peripherally about the wafer mounting position
`within the chamber and including a circular array of
`exhaust holes therein; and a circular channel be-
`neath and communicating with the hole array and
`having at least a single point connection to the
`vacuum exhaust pump for flowing gases radially
`the wafer and
`inlet manifold across
`the
`from
`through the exhaust port. The channel is of suffi-
`ciently large volume and conductance relative to
`the holes to enable controlled uniform radial gas
`flow across the wafer to the exhaust holes, thereby
`promoting uniform flow and processing (etching
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`and @ deposition) over a wide range of pressures,
`including very high pressures up to about one
`atmosphere.
`In another aspect, the present invention is di-
`rected
`to a semiconductor processing reactor
`which comprises a housing forming a chamber for
`mounting a wafer horizontally, a vacuum exhaust
`pumping system communicating with the chamber,
`and an inlet gas manifold oriented horizontally over
`the wafer mounting position. The manifold has a
`central array of process gas apertures configured
`for dispensing reactant gas uniformly over the wa-
`fer and a second peripheral array of purging gas
`apertures configured for directing purging gas
`downward to the periphery of the wafer. The hole
`arrays are also arranged to eliminate radial align-
`ment of holes.
`In another aspect, the reactor incorporates a
`system for circulating fluid of controlled tempera-
`ture within the manifold for maintaining the internal
`surfaces within a selected temperature range to
`prevent condensation and reactions within
`the
`manifold and for maintaining the external manifold
`surfaces above a selected temperature range for
`eliminating unwanted deposition thereon.
`In still another aspect,
`the reactor of the
`present invention comprises a thin susceptor for
`supporting a wafer, susceptor support means for
`mounting the susceptor in a horizontal position
`precisely parallel to the gas inlet manifold and
`means for selectively moving the wafer support
`means vertically to position the susceptor and sup-
`the gas manifold at selected
`to
`port parallel
`variable-distance positions closely adjacent the gas
`manifold. In particular, the variable parallel close
`spacing can be 0.5 centimeter and smaller.
`In still another aspect, the semiconductor pro-
`cessing reactor of the present invention comprises
`a housing defining a chamber therein adapted for
`the gas chemistry processing of a wafer positioned
`within the chamber. A transparent window forms
`the bottom of the chamber. A thin high emissivity
`susceptor is used for supporting a wafer within the
`chamber. A radiant heating module comprising a
`circular array of lamps mounted in a reflector mod-
`ule is mounted outside the housing for directing a-
`substantially collimated beam of near-infrared ra-
`diant energy through the window onto the suscep-
`tor with an incident power density substantially
`higher at the edge of the susceptor than at the
`center thereof, to heat the wafer uniformly.
`Preferably, a second, purge gas manifold is
`positioned beneath the wafer processing area for
`providing purging gas flow across the window and
`upward and across the bottom of the wafer. The
`combination of the high pressure, the purge flow
`from the inlet gas manifold and that from the purge
`gas manifold substantially eliminates deposition on
`
`chamber surfaces.
`In still another aspect,
`the reactor of the
`present invention comprises a deposition gas feed-
`through device connected to the gas inlet manifold
`which comprises tube means adapted for providing
`co-axial flow of deposition gas on the inside of the
`tube and purge gas on the outside thereof into the
`gas inlet manifold. The tube is adapted for connec-
`tion to ground at the inlet end and to an RF power
`supply at the outlet or manifold end to provide RF
`power to the manifold, and has a controlled elec-
`trical impedance along its length from the inlet to
`the outlet end for establishing a constant voltage
`gradient to prevent breakdown of the gas even at
`high RF frequencies and voltages.
`These and other features discussed below per-
`mit reactor operation over a wide pressure regime,
`that is, over a wide of pressures including high
`pressures up to approximately one atmosphere.
`The features also provide uniform susceptor and
`wafer temperatures, including both absolute tem-
`perature uniformity and spatial uniformity across
`the susceptor/wafer; uniform gas flow distribution
`across the wafer; and effective purging. The vari-
`able parallel close spacing between the electrodes
`adapts the reactor to various processes. These
`features and the temperature control of the internal
`and external gas manifold temperatures enable the
`advantageous use of very sensitive unstable gases
`such as ozone and TEOS in processes such as the
`following.
`That is, the present invention also relates to a
`method for depositing a conformal layer of silicon
`dioxide onto a substrate by exposing the substrate
`to a reactive species formed from ozone, oxygen,
`tetraethylorthosilicate, and a carrier gas within a
`vacuum chamber, using a total gas pressure within
`the chamber 10 torr to 200 torr and a substrate
`temperature within the range of about 200 °C to
`500°C. Preferably, a substrate
`temperature of
`about 375 °C ±20 °C is used to obtain maximum
`deposition rates and the chamber pressure is about
`40 torr to 120 torr.
`In still another aspect, the present invention is
`embodied in a method for depositing silicon diox-
`ide onto a film or substrate by exposing the sub-
`strate to the plasma formed from tetraethylor-
`thosilicate, oxygen and a carrier gas in a chamber
`using a total gas pressure within the range of about
`1 to 50 torr, and a substrate temperature in the
`range of about 200 "C to 500 °C. Preferably, the
`chamber pressure is 8-12 torr and the substrate
`temperature is about 375°C ±20°C.
`In still another aspect, the invention is directed
`to a method for isotroptcally etching a silicon diox-
`ide surface comprising the step of exposing a
`silicon dioxide surface to a plasma formed from
`fluorinate gas such as NF3, CF4 and C2F6 in a
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`carrier gas in a chamber using a wafer temperature
`in the range of from about 200 °C to 500 °C. Prefer-
`ably, the chamber pressure is within the range of
`about 200 mT to 20 torr, and 500 mT to 10 torr.
`The invention is also embodied in a method for
`planarizing a non-planar dielectric coating or com-
`posite within a vacuum chamber by depositing a
`conformal layer of silicon dioxide onto the coating
`by exposing the coating to a reactive species
`formed from ozone, oxygen, tetraethylorthosilicate
`and a carrier gas, the total chamber gas pressure
`being within the approximate range 10 torr to 200
`torr and the substrate temperature being within the
`approximate range 200 °C to 500 °C, to thereby
`form a composite of the conformal layer on the
`substrate; and isotropically etching the outer sur-
`face of the resulting composite layer. Preferably,
`this planarizing process uses the plasma oxide
`deposition to first form a layer of silicon oxide and
`also uses the isotropic etch described above.
`
`Brief Description of the Drawings
`
`The above and other aspects and advantages
`of the present invention are described in conjunc-
`tion with the following drawing figures, in which:
`is a top plan view of a preferred
`FIG. 1
`embodiment of the combined CVD/PECVD reactor
`of the present invention, shown with the cover
`pivoted open;
`FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-section, partly in -
`schematic, taken along line 2-2 in FIG. 1, with the
`reactor cover closed;
`FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-section through the
`wafer elevator mechanism, taken along line 3-3 in
`FIG. 1;
`FIGS. 4-8 are sequential, highly schematized
`representations of the operation of the wafer trans-
`port system in positioning wafers within, and re-
`moving wafers from the reactor susceptor;
`FIG. 9 is a reduced scale, horizontal cross-
`section through the circular-array, radiant lamp
`heating assembly, taken along line 9-9 in FIG. 2;
`FIG. 10 is an enlarged, partial depiction of
`FIG. 2 showing the process gas and purge distribu-
`tion systems in greater detail;
`FIG. 11 is a partial, enlarged bottom plan
`view of the gas distribution head or manifold;
`FIG. 12 depicts an enlarged, vertical cross-
`section of the RF/gas feed-through system shown
`in FIG. 2;
`FIGS. 13A-13C schematically depict various
`alternative embodiments of the gas feed-through;
`FIG. 14 illustrates breakdown voltage as a
`function of pressure for low frequency and high
`frequency RF power without a constant voltage
`gradient device;
`
`FIG. 15 illustrates breakdown voltage as a
`function of pressure with and without a constant
`voltage gradient device;
`FIG. 1 6 is a schematic cross-sectional repre-
`sentation of an integrated circuit which illustrates
`the arrival angles associated with the deposition of
`a layer of material such as dielectric onto a surface
`of stepped topography;
`FIGS. 17A and 17B are schematic cross-
`sections, similar to FIG. 16, which illustrate the
`effect of trench width on planarization;
`FIGS. 18 and 19 are cross-sections of the
`surface topology of an integrated circuit, in the
`manner of FIG. 16, illustrating the conformal, planar
`qualities of oxide films resulting from the applica-
`tion of our planarization process; and
`FIGS. 20 and 21 depict the deposition rate
`as a function of temperature and pressure, respec-
`tively, for our present oxide deposition process.
`
`Detailed Description of the Invention
`
`I. CVD/PECVD Reactor
`
`A. Overview of CVD/PECVD Reactor
`
`FIGS. 1 and 2 are, respectively, a top plan view
`of the preferred embodiment of the single wafer,
`reactor 10 of our present invention, shown with the
`cover pivoted open, and a vertical cross-section of
`the reactor 1 0.
`Referring primarily to these two figures and to
`others indicated parenthetically, the reactor system
`termed a
`10 comprises a housing 12
`(also
`"chamber"), typically made of aluminum, which
`defines an inner vacuum chamber 13 that has a
`plasma processing region 14 (FIG. 6). The reactor
`system 10 also includes a wafer-holding susceptor
`16 and a unique wafer transport system 18 (FIG.
`1) that includes vertically movable wafer support
`fingers 20 and susceptor support fingers 22. These
`fingers cooperate with an external robotic blade 24
`(FIG. 1) for introducing wafers 15 into the process
`region or chamber 14 and depositing the wafers 15
`on the susceptor 16 for processing, then removing
`the wafers 15 from the susceptor 16 and the cham-
`ber 12. The reactor system 10 further comprises a
`process/purge gas manifold or "box" 26 that ap-
`plies process gas and purging gas to the chamber
`13, an RF power supply and matching network 28
`for creating and sustaining a process plasma from
`the inlet gas and a lamp heating system 30 for
`heating the susceptor 16 and wafer 15 positioned
`on the susceptor to effect deposition onto the wa-
`fer. Preferably, high frequency RF power of 13.56
`MHz is used, but low frequencies can be used.
`The gas manifold 26 is part of a unique pro-
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`10
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`cess and purge gas distribution system 32 (FIGS. 2
`and 10) that is designed to flow the process gas
`evenly radially outwardly across the wafer 15 to
`promote even deposition across the wafer and to
`purge the spent gas and entrained products radi-
`ally outwardly from the edge of the wafer 15 at
`both the top and bottom thereof to substantially
`eliminate deposition on (and within) the gas mani-
`fold or box 26 and the chamber 12.
`A liquid cooling system 34 controls the tem-
`perature of the components of the chamber 12
`including, in particular, the temperature of the gas
`manifold or box 26. The temperature of the gas
`box components is selected to eliminate premature
`deposition within the gas box/manifold 26 upstream
`from the process chamber 14.
`The reactor system 10
`includes a unique,
`RF/gas feed-through device 36 (FIGS. 2 and 12)
`that supplies process and purge gas to the RF-
`driven gas manifold 26 from an electrically ground
`supply. Applying the RF energy to the gas box or
`manifold 26 has the advantage of the wafer resid-
`ing on the grounded counter electrode or susceptor
`16, which makes possible a high degree of plasma
`confinement that would not be achievable if the RF
`energy were applied to the wafer and the gas box
`were grounded. Additionally, the hardware is me-
`chanically and electrically simpler since electrical
`isolation between wafer/susceptor and chamber is
`not required (or permitted). Temperature measure-
`ment and control of the susceptor/wafer in the
`presence of high frequency electric and magnetic
`fields is greatly simplified with the susceptor 16
`grounded. Also, the feed-through 36 is rigid, elimi-
`nating flexible gas connections and the purge gas
`flow path safely carries any leaking process gas
`into the chamber to the chamber exhaust. The
`capability to apply RF power to the gas manifold is
`made possible (despite the inherent tendency of
`high potential RF operation to form a deposition
`plasma within the feed-through) by the unique de-
`sign of the feed-through, which drops the RF po-
`tential evenly along the length of the feed-through,
`thus preventing a plasma discharge within.
`
`B. Wafer Transport System 1j3
`
`As mentioned,
`this system
`is designed
`to
`transfer individual wafers 15 between the external
`blade, FIG. 2, and the susceptor 16 and to position
`the susceptor 16 and wafer 15 for processing.
`Referring further to FIG. 1, the wafer transport
`system 18 comprises a plurality of radially-extend-
`ing wafer-support fingers 20 which are aligned with
`and spaced about the periphery of susceptor 16
`and are mounted to a semi-circular mounting bar or
`bracket 38. Similarly, an array of radially-extending
`
`susceptor-support fingers 22 are spaced circum-
`ferentially about the susceptor 16, interdigitated
`with the wafer support fingers 20, and are mounted
`to a semi-circular bar 40 positioned just outside bar
`38. The arcuate mounting bars 38 and 40 are
`mounted within a generally semi-circular groove 42
`formed in the housing, and are actuated respec-
`tively, by vertically movable elevator assemblies 44
`and 46.
`As shown in FIG. 3, the susceptor elevator
`mechanism 44 includes a vertically movable shaft
`48 that mounts the bar 38 at the upper end thereof.
`The shaft can be moved vertically up and down by
`various moving means 56, including a pneumatic
`cylinder, or, preferably, a stepper motor operating
`via suitable gear drive. Wafer elevator mechanism
`46 is similar to the elevator

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