| 摘要 |
The invention described here relates to a gas injector for use in a semiconductor etching process or other processes involving aggressive gases or gas plasmas, and more particularly to a gas injector and gas conduits having extended usage life, and exhibiting less etching and particle generation with usage. In most semiconductor manufacturing processes for the etching of a semiconductor wafer, the uppermost portion of a wafer is selectively removed through holes formed in a photoresist layer in the processes' etching step. The etching process is carried out in a sealed chamber into which gases or gas plasmas such as, for example, CF4, CHF3, O2, NF3, He, and argon gas are injected. Commonly, a gas supplying device and a gas injector are required to provide the gas(es) to the reaction chambers and to exhaust the gas(es) from the chamber once the process is completed. In addition to being exposed to the gases, these components may be exposed to the plasma etch process. Conventional gas supplying components are made of quartz. However, after repeated use (repeated injection/passage of process gases to chamber) the component parts through which the gas is passed (such as the gas injector tube) may become etched, thereby reducing their structural integrity, and, more significantly, generating particulates that can affect the integrity of the wafer etching process. Either outcome may result in costly defects in the wafers and/or inefficiency of the process. To avoid these and other problems, conventional quartz gas injector tubes are typically replaced frequently (or, typically have a PM lifetime of about 500 Radio Frequency (“RF”) Hrs). |
