US 12,142,494 B2
Small gas flow monitoring of dry etcher by OES signal
Po-Lung Hung, Baoshan Township (TW); Yi-Tsang Hsieh, Hsinchu (TW); Yu-Hsi Tang, Yunlin County (TW); Chih-Teng Liao, Hsinchu (TW); and Chih-Ching Cheng, Xizhou Township (TW)
Assigned to TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD., Hsinchu (TW)
Filed by TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD., Hsinchu (TW)
Filed on Jun. 7, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/341,367.
Prior Publication US 2022/0392785 A1, Dec. 8, 2022
Int. Cl. H01L 21/67 (2006.01); H01J 37/32 (2006.01)
CPC H01L 21/67069 (2013.01) [H01J 37/32449 (2013.01); H01J 37/32972 (2013.01); H01L 21/67253 (2013.01); H01J 2237/24507 (2013.01); H01J 2237/334 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including a plasma process, comprising:
setting a flow rate controller of a plasma etcher to generate one or more first flow rates of an etching gas corresponding to one or more plasma beams of the plasma etcher;
monitoring emitted light generated by plasma discharge corresponding to the one or more plasma beams of the plasma etcher by:
transmitting the emitted light through an optical grating to diffract at least a portion of the emitted light to generate a beam of light at a first angle corresponding to a characteristic wavelength of the etching gas; and
detecting an intensity of the beam of light at the first angle, wherein the intensity of the beam of light at the first angle is the intensity of the emitted light from the plasma discharge at the characteristic wavelength of the etching gas versus a background signal related to a characteristic wavelength of a metal element; and
calibrating the flow rate controller based on the one or more first flow rates and a corresponding emitted light of the plasma discharge.
 
8. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising:
directing one or more plasma beams to a first location of a semiconductor substrate inside an etching chamber of a plasma etcher;
setting a flow rate controller of the plasma etcher to generate one or more flow rates of an etching gas to generate the one or more plasma beams;
monitoring emitted light generated by plasma discharge at the first location of the semiconductor substrate by:
transmitting the emitted light through an optical grating to diffract a first portion of the emitted light to generate a first beam of light at a first angle corresponding to a characteristic wavelength of the etching gas and to generate a second portion of the emitted light to generate a second beam of light at a second angle corresponding a background light related to a characteristic wavelength of nickel (Ni); and
detecting an intensity of the first beam of light at the first angle and the second beam of light at the second angle;
calibrating the flow rate controller based on the one or more flow rates and a corresponding detected emitted light generated by the plasma discharge; and
etching a via in the semiconductor substrate using a calibrated one or more plasma beams.
 
14. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising:
calculating at least one etching gas flow rate of an etching gas to provide plasma to a substrate disposed in a chamber;
detecting emitted light generated by plasma discharge at the substrate by:
transmitting the emitted light through an optical grating to diffract at least a portion of the emitted light to generate a beam of light at a first angle corresponding to a characteristic wavelength of the etching gas; and
detecting an intensity of the beam of light at the first angle, wherein the intensity of the beam of light at the first angle is the intensity of the emitted light from the plasma discharge at the characteristic wavelength of the etching gas versus a background signal related to a characteristic wavelength of a metal element;
calibrating a flow rate controller based on the at least one etching gas flow rate and a corresponding detected emitted light generated by plasma discharge; and
processing the substrate using a calibrated one or more beams of plasma.