Etching apparatus, analysis apparatus, etching treatment method, and etching treatment program

1. An etching apparatus comprising:

a chamber configured to enclose a plasma etching treatment;

an electrode configured to generate plasma;

a gas supply/exhaust system;

a spectrometer configured to monitor optical emission of the plasma; and

a calculator system configured to process a signal monitored by the spectrometer, and configured to display, on a terminal, a result of a processing,

the calculator system including:

an optical-emission-intensity waveform acquiring unit configured to acquire a plurality of optical-emission-intensity waveforms along an etching-treatment time axis, in plasma emission data obtained during one or more etching treatments;

a waveform-change-existence judging unit configured to determine an existence, or lack thereof, of change amongst the plurality of optical emission intensity waveforms acquired by the optical-emission-intensity waveform acquiring unit;

a waveform-correlation-matrix calculating unit configured to calculate a correlation matrix between the optical emission intensity waveforms determined to have changed by the waveform-change-existence judging unit;

a waveform classifying unit configured to set each column or each row of the correlation matrix calculated by the waveform-correlation-matrix calculating unit to be a vector corresponding to an optical emission intensity waveform, configured to evaluate a similarity between optical emission intensity waveforms, based on values of the vectors, and configured to classify the optical emission intensity waveforms into groups; and

a representative-waveform selecting unit configured to select a representative optical emission intensity waveform from a group classified by the waveform classifying unit, configured to specify the selected representative optical emission intensity waveform as an optical emission intensity waveform affecting performance of etching on a wafer or treatment result of etching on a wafer, configured to determine a wavelength at which the optical emission intensity waveform is obtained as an optical emission wavelength to be monitored, and configured to display a determination result on the terminal.

2. The etching apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the optical emission intensity waveform acquired by the optical-emission-intensity waveform acquiring unit is an optical emission intensity waveform with a plurality of wavelengths which are arbitrarily specified.

3. The etching apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the optical emission intensity waveform acquired by the optical-emission-intensity waveform acquiring unit is a waveform at a wavelength which peaks on an optical emission spectrum.

4. The etching apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the optical emission intensity waveform acquired by the optical-emission-intensity waveform acquiring unit is an optical emission intensity waveform at the same wavelength in the one or more etching treatments.

5. The etching apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the waveform classifying unit is configured to evaluate the similarity between optical emission intensity waveforms, based on values of the vectors, by using: cluster analysis, a k-means method, or a self-organization map.

6. The etching apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein for an intensity of the optical emission intensity waveform, the waveform-change-existence judging unit is configured to obtain values of a skewness, a kurtosis, and an intensity change range with respect to variation of the intensity, and to determine whether or not the intensity is changed during etching treatment, based on the obtained values of the skewness, the kurtosis, and the intensity change range with respect to the variation of the intensity.

7. The etching apparatus according to claim 6 ,

wherein the variation is a square of root-mean-square of a difference between continuous intensities of the optical emission intensity waveform,

the intensity change range is a difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the intensities of the optical emission intensity waveform, and

the value of the intensity change range with respect to the variation is a value obtained by dividing the intensity change range by the variation and multiplying the divided value by square root of 2.

8. The etching apparatus according to claim 6 ,

wherein the waveform-change-existence judging unit is configured to determine that the optical emission intensity waveform is white noise and has no intensity change, when

the skewness has a value in the range between −1.0 to 1.0, inclusive,

the kurtosis has a value in the range between −1.0 to 1.0, inclusive, and

the value of the intensity change range with respect to the variation is between 4 to 8, inclusive.

9. An analysis apparatus comprising:

a spectrometer configured to monitor optical emission of plasma; and

a calculator system configured to process a signal monitored by the spectrometer, and configured to display, on a terminal, a result of a processing,

the calculator system including:

optical-emission-intensity waveform acquiring unit configured to acquire a plurality of optical-emission-intensity waveforms along an etching-treatment time axis, in plasma emission data obtained during one or more etching treatments;

a waveform-change-existence judging unit configured to determine an existence, or lack thereof, of change amongst the plurality of optical emission intensity waveforms acquired by the optical-emission-intensity waveform acquiring unit;

a waveform-correlation-matrix calculating unit configured to calculate a correlation matrix between the optical emission intensity waveforms determined to have changed by the waveform-change-existence judging unit;

a waveform classifying unit configured to set each column or each row of the correlation matrix calculated by the waveform-correlation-matrix calculating unit to be a vector corresponding to an optical emission intensity waveform, configured to evaluate a similarity between optical emission intensity waveforms, based on values of the vectors, and configured to classify the optical emission intensity waveforms into groups; and

a representative-waveform selecting unit configured to select a representative optical emission intensity waveform from a group classified by the waveform classifying unit, configured to specify the selected representative optical emission intensity waveform as an optical emission intensity waveform affecting performance of etching on a wafer or treatment result of etching on a wafer, configured to determine a wavelength at which the optical emission intensity waveform is obtained as an optical emission wavelength to be monitored, and configured to display a determination result on the terminal.

10. An etching treatment method, using a calculator system configured to control an etching apparatus or an analysis apparatus of the etching apparatus, the etching treatment method comprising:

acquiring a plurality of optical-emission-intensity waveforms along an etching-treatment time axis, in plasma emission data obtained during one or more etching treatments;

determining an existence or lack thereof of change amongst the acquired plurality of optical emission intensity waveforms;

calculating a correlation matrix between the optical emission intensity waveforms determined to have changed;

setting each column or each row of the correlation matrix to be a vector corresponding to an optical emission intensity waveform;

evaluating a similarity between optical emission intensity waveforms, based on values of the vectors;

classifying the optical emission intensity waveforms into groups;

selecting a representative optical emission intensity waveform from a group classified by waveform classifying unit,

corresponding an etching treatment to an optical emission intensity at a wavelength of the selected representative optical emission intensity waveform; and

monitoring the optical emission intensity at the wavelength of the representative optical emission intensity waveform while performing a subsequent etching treatment, by using optical emission intensity data during the etching treatment.

11. An etching treatment method, using a calculator system configured to control an etching apparatus or an analysis apparatus of the etching apparatus, the etching treatment method comprising:

acquiring, from a plurality of etching treatments, an etching treatment result and an optical-emission-intensity waveform along an etching-treatment time axis at the same wavelength in plasma emission data obtained during the etching treatments;

obtaining a correlation coefficient between the optical emission intensity waveform in an etching treatment and the optical emission intensity waveforms in all other etching treatments; and

corresponding a relationship between the etching treatment result and the correlation coefficient between the optical emission intensity waveforms, and

monitoring the etching treatment on a wafer based on a value of the correlation coefficient between optical emission intensity waveforms while performing the etching treatment.

12. The etching treatment method according to claim 11 ,

wherein while monitoring the etching treatment on the wafer based on the value of the correlation coefficient, by using the calculator system, a relationship between the etching treatment result and the correlation coefficient between the optical emission intensity waveforms is modeled by an algebraic equation, and the etching treatment result is evaluated by using the correlation coefficient between the optical emission intensity waveforms obtained by the etching treatment.

13. An etching treatment program for functioning a calculator system for an etching treatment as including:

an optical-emission-intensity waveform acquiring unit configured to acquire a plurality of optical-emission-intensity waveforms along an etching-treatment time axis, in plasma emission data obtained during one or more etching treatments;

a waveform-change-existence judging unit configured to determine an existence of change amongst the plurality of optical emission intensity waveforms acquired by the optical-emission-intensity waveform acquiring unit;

a waveform-correlation-matrix calculating unit configured to calculate a correlation matrix between the optical emission intensity waveforms determined to have changed by the waveform-change-existence judging unit;

a waveform classifying unit configured to set each column or each row of the correlation matrix calculated by the waveform-correlation-matrix calculating unit to be a vector corresponding to an optical emission intensity waveform, configured to evaluate a similarity between optical emission intensity waveforms, based on values of the vectors, and configured to classify the optical emission intensity waveforms into groups; and

a representative-waveform selecting unit configured to select a representative optical emission intensity waveform from a group classified by the waveform classifying unit, configured to specify the selected representative optical emission intensity waveform as an optical emission intensity waveform affecting performance of etching on a wafer or treatment result of etching on a wafer, configured to determine a wavelength at which the optical emission intensity waveform is obtained as an optical emission wavelength to be monitored, and configured to display a determination result on a terminal.