Future success in microelectronics will demand rapid innovation, rapid product introduction and ability to react to a change in technological and business climate quickly. These technological advances in integrated electronics will require development of flexible manufacturing technology for VLSI systems. However, the current approach of establishing factories for mass manufacturing of chips at a cost of more than 200 million dollars is detrimental to flexible manufacturing. We propose concepts of a micro factory which may be characterized by more economical small scale production, higher flexibility to accommodate many products on several processes, and faster turnaround and learning. In-situ multiprocessing equipment where several process steps can be done in sequence may be a key ingredient in this approach. For this environment to be flexible, the equipment must have ability to change processing environment, requiring extensive in-situ measurements and real time control. In this paper we describe the development of a novel single wafer Rapid Thermal Multiprocessing (RTM) reactor for next generation flexible VLSI manufacturing. This reactor will combine lamp heating, remote microwave plasma and photo processing in a single cold-wall chamber, with applications for multilayer in-situ growth and deposition of dielectrics, semiconductors and metals.
Rapid thermal processing (RTP) can play an important role in in situ single-wafer thermal multiprocessing, since it allows for a rapid wafer throughput rate. Conventional dedicated RTP equipment, where temperature uniformity is achieved by optimized reflector and chamber geometries for a specific process, typically cannot provide uniformity for different processes, or for a range of processing conditions. In this work we present a new flexible lamp system, in which tungsten-halogen lamps are configured in three concentric rings that are independently and dynamically controlled. The resultant circularly symmetric flux, which can be varied and controlled both temporally and spatially, offers significantly improved temperature uniformity. This is demonstrated using thermocouples as well as actual processes such as implant annealing, thermal oxidation and chemical vapor deposition of silicon. Through added flexibility and more precise control, this approach offers a powerful tool for multiprocessing and rapid process prototyping.
Absfruct-This paper presents an overview of research at Stanford University on the development of concepts of a programmable factory, based on a new generation of flexible multifunctional equipment implemented in a smaller flexible factory. This approach is demonstrated through the development of a novel single wafer Rapid Thermal Multiprocessing (RTM) reactor with extensive integration of sensors, computers and related technology for specification, communication, execution, monitoring, control, and diagnosis to demonstrate the programmable nature of the RTM. The RTM combines rapid thermal processing and several other process environments in a single chamber, with applications for multilayer in-situ growth and deposition of dielectrics, semiconductors and metals. Because it is highly instrumented, the RTM is very flexible for in-situ multiprocessing, allowing rapid cycling of ambient gases, temperature, pressure, etc. It allows several processing steps to be executed sequentially in-situ, while providing sufficient flexibility to allow optimization of each processing step. This flexibility is partially the result of a new lamp system with three concentric rings each of which is independently and dynamically controlled to provide for better control over the spatial and temporal optical flux profile resulting in excellent temperature uniformity over a wide range of process conditions namely temperatures, pressures and gas flow rates. The lamp system has been optimally designed through the use of a newly developed thermal simulator. For equipment and process control, a variety of sensors for real-time measurements and a model based control system have been developed. The acoustic sensors noninvasively allow a complete wafer temperature tomography under all process conditioncritically important measurement never obtained before. In an exemplary demonstration of multiprocessing, we have integrated three different processes with disparate process conditions-cleaning, thermal oxidation and CVD of silicon-sequentially in-situ. This technology integrates an entire MOS capacitor stack into one process chamber as opposed to three stand alone pieces of equipment needed in conventional technology. This will result in reduced cost of the factory, reduction in cycle time and may provide better device characteristics, since the interfaces between the semiconductor, gate dielectric and gate electrode are free of contamination from the room ambient. In general, adaptable
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