JP4717478B2 - Plasma processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to plasma processing equipment for plasma processing an object such as a substrate.

  Plasma treatment is known as a surface treatment method for the purpose of cleaning or etching a substrate on which an electronic component is mounted. In this plasma treatment, a desired surface treatment is performed by causing the plasma generated in the treatment chamber to act on the surface of the object. In order to ensure good processing quality in this plasma processing, it is important to stably generate plasma with a strength suitable for the processing purpose, so various conditions of plasma discharge generation such as processing pressure and discharge voltage are important. Is required to be maintained under proper conditions.

For this reason, conventionally, the plasma processing apparatus always monitors factors (for example, the degree of vacuum, gas flow rate, high-frequency power supply output, etc.) that define these conditions in the operating state of the apparatus, and outputs them as sampling data as necessary. One having a monitoring function is known (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). When a trouble such as an abnormality in plasma processing quality occurs, the sampling data is referred to and used as data for investigating the cause of the trouble.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-197609 JP 2003-264180 A

  However, since the sampling data is merely output as numerical data in the above-described conventional apparatus, when these data are used for the above-described analysis, these data are arranged and graphed according to the purpose. I needed work. For this reason, it takes time and effort to analyze the data at the time of trouble occurrence, making timely investigation of the cause of the trouble difficult.

The present invention, by effectively using the sampling data of the operating state during operation of the apparatus, and an object thereof is to provide a plasma processing equipment that enables timely investigation of failure cause.

The plasma processing apparatus of the present invention is a plasma processing apparatus that generates a plasma under a desired operating condition to process an object, and an operating condition data storage unit that stores operating condition data as operating conditions of the plasma processing apparatus A monitor that displays an input screen for operating instructions and operation buttons, a sampling unit that samples information indicating the operating state of the plasma processing apparatus, and a graphic image that graphs the sampling data from the sampling unit A graph creation unit; a drawing processing unit for displaying information indicating a set value input in the graphic image and the plasma processing condition setting which is the operation condition; and an operation button on the monitor as a one-screen display screen; and a drawing processing unit An image file showing the one-screen display screen displayed on the monitor by And the image file creation unit for creating, comprising an image file output unit that outputs the image file created by the image file creation unit to the outside.

  According to the present invention, the sampling data obtained by sampling information indicating the operating state of the plasma processing apparatus is graphed and displayed on the monitor, and the image file of the display screen displayed on the monitor is created and output to the outside. When trouble occurs, this image file can be referred to as necessary, and the cause of the failure can be investigated in a timely manner by effectively using the sampling data of the operation state in the operation state of the apparatus.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a plasma processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a sampling data processing function of an operating state in the plasma processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of sampling data of an operation state in the plasma processing apparatus of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is an operation flow diagram of the plasma processing apparatus of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. It is a figure which shows the display screen of the plasma processing apparatus of one embodiment of invention.

  First, the configuration of the plasma processing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, a high-frequency electrode 2 is disposed in a horizontal posture inside a processing chamber 1 formed in a vacuum-tight manner, and a substrate 3 that is an object of plasma processing is placed on the upper surface of the high-frequency electrode 2. Is done. Inside the processing chamber 1, a counter electrode 4 is disposed in parallel with the high-frequency electrode 2 so as to face the high-frequency electrode 2, and the counter electrode 4 is electrically connected to the ground portion 5.

  The processing chamber 1 is connected to a vacuum pump 6 via a vacuum opening / closing valve 7. By driving the vacuum pump 6, the inside of the processing chamber 1 is evacuated. The processing chamber 1 is connected to a vacuum gauge 11 through an opening / closing valve 12, and the degree of vacuum in the processing chamber 1 can be measured by operating the vacuum gauge 11 with the opening / closing valve 12 opened.

  The plasma generating gas supply pipe 8 is connected to a plasma gas supply device (not shown), and the plasma generating gas supply pipe 8 is connected to the processing chamber 1 via a flow rate control valve 9 and an opening / closing valve 10. By opening the opening / closing valve 10, a plasma generating gas such as argon gas is supplied into the processing chamber 1. At this time, the flow rate of the plasma generating gas supplied into the processing chamber 1 can be arbitrarily set by the flow rate control valve 9.

The high frequency electrode 2 is electrically connected to a matching circuit 13, and the matching circuit 13 is further connected to a high frequency power supply unit 14. By operating the high frequency power supply unit 14, a high frequency voltage is applied to the high frequency electrode 2. In the plasma processing operation, after the inside of the processing chamber 1 is evacuated by the vacuum pump 6, the high-frequency power source unit 14 is operated to supply the high-frequency electrode 2 to the processing chamber 1 while supplying a predetermined flow rate of plasma generating gas. A high frequency voltage is applied between the counter electrode 4. As a result, plasma discharge is generated between the high-frequency electrode 2 and the counter electrode 4, and plasma processing for the substrate 3 is performed by the action of the generated plasma. The matching circuit 13 matches the impedance of the plasma discharge circuit that generates plasma in the processing chamber 1 and the high-frequency power supply unit 14.

  When the plasma processing apparatus is in operation, signals described below are output from the flow control valve 9, vacuum gauge 11, matching circuit 13, and high frequency power supply unit 14 to the processing unit 15. . These signals are used as index data indicating the operating state of each component described above. As will be described later, by sampling these index data at predetermined intervals, sampling data indicating the operating state of the plasma processing apparatus is acquired. The

  A flow rate signal [7] indicating the flow rate value of the plasma generating gas is supplied from the flow rate control valve 9, and a vacuum level signal [6] indicating the degree of vacuum in the processing chamber 1 is supplied to the processing unit 15 from the vacuum gauge 11. Respectively. An RF incident signal [1] and an RF reflected signal [2] are output from the high frequency power supply unit 14 to the processing unit 15. The PF incident signal indicates the value of electric power input for plasma generation, and the RF reflection signal indicates the value of electric power reflected without being consumed by plasma discharge among the input electric power.

  From the matching circuit 13, three signals of the LOAD signal [3], the VDC signal [4], and the PHASE signal [5] are output to the processing unit 15. The LOAD signal [3] and the PHASE signal [5] are setting instruction values of a variable capacitor for impedance matching built in the matching circuit 13, and a ratio (0 to 100) of the distance between the electrode plates to the distance variable allowance in this state. %). The VDC signal [4] indicates a self-bias voltage, that is, a voltage value (V) at which the interelectrode voltage is biased to the negative side when plasma discharge occurs.

  The operation / input unit 16 is input means such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a touch panel, and performs input operations such as operation instructions and data input. The monitor 17 is a display panel such as a liquid crystal panel, and displays an input screen for operating instructions and a graphic display of acquired sampling data. The removable storage device interface 18 is a memory card slot, a CD-R drive, or the like, and writes data to a removable storage device 19 such as a memory card or a CD-R. The printing apparatus 20 is a printer, and can print out the same screen as the display screen displayed on the monitor 17 as necessary.

  Next, the processing function of the processing unit 15 will be described with reference to FIG. RF incident signal [1], RF reflection signal [2], LOAD signal [3], VDC signal [4], PHASE signal [5], vacuum degree signal [6], and flow rate signal [7] captured by the processing unit 15. ] Are A / D converted by the A / D converter 21. The sampling processing unit 22 performs sampling processing on these A / D converted signals. That is, the above-described data that is continuously captured is captured as discrete values at preset sampling intervals. The acquired sampling data is temporarily stored in the sampling data temporary storage unit 23. The A / D conversion unit 21, the sampling processing unit 22, and the sampling data temporary storage unit 23 constitute a sampling unit that samples information indicating the operating state of the plasma processing apparatus.

The sampling file creation unit 24 edits the sampling data stored in the sampling data temporary storage unit 23 to create a sampling data file. As shown in FIG. 3, the sampling data file includes a data group (sampling data 37) consisting of data [1] to [7] sampled at the same timing and arranged in chronological order for each processing cycle. For example, a CSV file is used. At this time, the operation condition data 38 stored in advance in the operation condition data storage unit 29, that is, the RF output [8], the discharge time [9], which are set and inputted as desired operation conditions at the time of setting the operation conditions before the start of operation, Each set value of the degree of vacuum [10] and the argon gas flow rate [11] is read and written to the sampling file as data of the same sampling number 36.

  That is, the sampling file shown in FIG. 3 is tabular data in which data groups composed of data [1] to [11] are arranged in time series. Here, by assigning a file name including the date of data acquisition and the sampling start time (for example, 15, 1306.CSV), the data and the device operation history can be associated with each other accurately. The operating condition data 38 may be saved in a separate file from the sampling data 37.

  The created sampling data is stored in the sampling file storage unit 25. The sampling file storage unit 25 includes a rewritable storage medium such as a hard disk capable of storing a predetermined amount of data, and a predetermined number (for example, the past 100 cycles) of files is stored as past operation history data. The operation history data is constantly updated, and the oldest file is replaced with the latest file.

  The graph creation unit 26 reads the sampling data stored in the sampling file storage unit 25 and creates a graphic image obtained by graphing these sampling data. In this graphing, a graph (see graph display section (A) shown in FIG. 5) is created by taking the time course on the horizontal axis and the data values [1] to [7] on the vertical axis. The unit 26 calculates a coordinate value of a curve indicating a change with time of each data in these graphs. The drawing processing unit 27 performs drawing processing for displaying these graphs on the monitor 17 based on the calculated coordinate values. The graph creation unit 26 and the drawing processing unit 27 constitute a monitor signal output unit 28 that displays on the monitor a graphic image obtained by graphing the sampling data obtained by the sampling unit.

  FIG. 5 shows a display screen displayed on the monitor 17. In the graph display part (A) of this display screen, as described above, a graphic image composed of a plurality of curves each representing a temporal change in the data values [1] to [7] is displayed. At this time, by inputting a check mark in each data frame of the drawing data selection frame (F), the data type to be drawn can be selected and limited. In the operation display field (B), set values of RF output [8], discharge time [9], degree of vacuum [10], and argon gas flow rate [11] that are set and input are displayed as default values.

  On the display screen of the monitor 17, operation buttons such as a screen save button (C), a screen print button (D), and a read button (E) are set. By operating the screen save button (C), the image file output means 33 can be activated to output the image file corresponding to the display image at that time to the removable storage device 19. Further, by operating the screen print button (D), the image file output means 33 can be similarly activated, and the display image at that time can be printed by the printing apparatus 20.

  By operating the read button (E), the past driving history can be read. That is, by this operation, a list of file names stored in the sampling file storage unit 25 is displayed, and by selecting a desired file name (that is, data acquisition date, sampling start time) from the list, each data of the sampling file is selected. A display screen including a graphic image obtained by graphing is displayed.

The image file creation unit 30 creates an image file indicating the display screen displayed on the monitor 17 in a file format such as the BMP format based on the image data rendered by the rendering processing unit 27. That is, the image file creation unit 30 performs sampling data ([1]
To [7]) are generated, and an image file of a display screen displayed on the monitor 17 by the monitor signal output unit 28 is created. Thereby, the image data of the image displayed on the operation panel surface of the plasma processing apparatus is created as an image file of a predetermined format with the display content as it is.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, in addition to the graphic image of the sampling data, the image file creation unit 30 includes information indicating the operating condition, that is, the set value input in the plasma processing condition setting. An image file of a screen displayed on one screen is created. Thus, as will be described later, when a waveform indicating an abnormal state of operation is displayed on the graphic image, the difference between the setting value of the data item in which the abnormality has occurred and the waveform is obvious and the cause of the problem can be determined accurately. Can be done.

  The image file temporary storage unit 31 temporarily stores the image file created by the image file creation unit 30. The image file output unit 32 performs a process of reading the image file created by the image file creation unit 30 and temporarily stored in the image file temporary storage unit 31 and outputting it to the outside. As an output destination at this time, either the removable storage device 19 or the printing device 20 can be selected.

  The error information storage unit 34 stores these image files as an error history each time an image file indicating sampling data at the time of failure is output from the image file output unit 32. By storing the error information in this manner, a failure case that occurs can be saved in the form of sampling data, and can be used as reference data for determining a failure occurrence tendency in the apparatus.

  In the above configuration, the image file creation unit 30, the image file temporary storage unit 31, and the image file output unit 32 create an image file of the display screen that includes the graphic image and is displayed on the monitor 17 by the monitor signal output unit 28. The image file output means 33 for outputting to. The output destination by the image file output means 33 can be selected from either the removable storage device 19 or the printing device 20.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 4, the plasma processing performed by this plasma processing apparatus will be described. First, evacuation by the vacuum pump 6 is started and sampling is started (ST1). That is, sampling data ([1] to [7]) output from each unit is taken into the processing unit 15 and the processing described in FIG. 2 is executed. Then, it is monitored whether or not the inside of the processing chamber 1 has been reduced to a predetermined pressure and has reached a specified degree of vacuum (ST2). If the specified degree of vacuum has been reached, gas supply is started (ST3).

  Then, it is monitored whether or not the discharge start pressure has been reached (ST4). If the discharge start pressure has been reached, the high frequency power supply unit 14 is activated to start high frequency output, and plasma discharge is generated in the processing chamber 1. (ST5). Then, it is monitored whether or not a predetermined time set as a prescribed plasma processing time has passed (ST6), and when the predetermined time has passed, sampling is stopped together with high-frequency stop, gas supply stop, and vacuum exhaust stop ( ST7). Thereafter, air is introduced into the processing chamber 1 to release the atmosphere (ST8), thereby completing one cycle of the plasma processing.

In the plasma processing described above, when some machine trouble occurs and an abnormality is notified, the machine operator accesses the operation panel and observes the display screen of the monitor 17. Here, if the trouble content is related to the part to be monitored, a change corresponding to the trouble occurs in the sampling data and is displayed as an abnormal waveform on the graph display section (A) as shown in FIG. The In such a case, when the machine operator operates the screen save button (C), the image file including the graphic image of the abnormal waveform displayed on the monitor 17 is downloaded to the removable storage device 19. The same image file is written in the error information storage unit 34 as an error history.

  A data storage medium such as a memory card in which the image file is written is brought into a place such as a factory office equipped with a personal computer and a data transmission terminal, and the image file is transmitted to the service base of the manufacturer of the plasma processing apparatus. . Thereby, the sampling data which recorded the state which abnormality generate | occur | produced in real time can be transmitted in the form of graphic image data.

  As a result, the service engineer of the manufacturer can display an image on which these abnormal waveforms are displayed without performing the work of graphing the sampling data as in the conventional apparatus configured to output the sampling data of the operation state as a CSV format file. It is possible to observe the actual device monitor as if it were on-site, recognize the trouble content intuitively and in a pattern, and quickly and easily investigate the cause of the failure. Of course, it is also possible to output the image file to the printing apparatus and print out the display screen, and use the printed screen for investigation of the cause of the problem.

  That is, the above-mentioned image file output form is an operation state output method for outputting information indicating an operation state of a plasma processing apparatus that generates plasma under desired operation conditions and processes an object, and plasma processing is performed. A data acquisition step of sampling information indicating the operating state of the apparatus to acquire sampling data, an image display step of displaying a graphic image obtained by graphing the sampling data on a monitor, and an image file of a screen displayed on the monitor 17 The file creation step includes a file creation step and a file output step for outputting the created image file to the outside.

  In the file creation step, an image file of a display screen on which a graphic image and information indicating the operating condition are displayed on a single screen is created, and the output destination of the image file is a removable storage device or One of the printing devices can be selected.

  As described above, the sampling data obtained by sampling the information indicating the operating state of the plasma processing apparatus is graphed and displayed on the monitor, and the image file of the display screen displayed on the monitor is created and output to the outside. Thus, when a trouble occurs, the image file can be referred to as necessary, and the cause of the failure can be investigated in a timely manner by effectively using the sampling data of the operation state in the operation state of the apparatus.

The plasma processing equipment of the present invention, by effectively using the sampling data of the operation state of the apparatus operating state, has the advantage of being able to diagnose a problem caused in a timely manner, generating a plasma at the desired operating conditions This is useful for a plasma processing apparatus that processes an object.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the plasma processing apparatus of one embodiment of this invention The block diagram which shows the sampling data processing function of the driving | running state in the plasma processing apparatus of one embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the structure of the sampling data of the driving | running state in the plasma processing apparatus of one embodiment of this invention Operation flow diagram of plasma processing apparatus of one embodiment of the present invention The figure which shows the display screen of the plasma processing apparatus of one embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the display screen of the plasma processing apparatus of one embodiment of this invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vacuum chamber 2 High frequency electrode 3 Board | substrate 6 Vacuum pump 9 Flow control valve 11 Vacuum gauge 13 Matching circuit 14 High frequency power supply part 15 Processing part

Claims (3)

A plasma processing apparatus for generating a plasma under a desired operating condition to process an object, an operating condition data storage unit storing operating condition data as operating conditions of the plasma processing apparatus, and an input for operating instructions A monitor that displays a screen and operation buttons; a sampling unit that samples information indicating an operating state of the plasma processing apparatus; a graph creation unit that creates a graphic image obtained by graphing sampling data obtained by the sampling unit; and the graphic image And a drawing processing unit that displays information indicating a set value input in the plasma processing condition setting which is the operation condition and an operation button on the monitor as a one-screen display screen, and the display displayed on the monitor by the drawing processing unit Create an image file that creates an image file showing a single screen display When plasma processing apparatus characterized by comprising an image file output unit that outputs the image file created by the image file creation unit to the outside.   The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an output destination of the image file output unit is a removable storage device.   The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an output destination of the image file output unit is a printing apparatus.