In situ photoresist hot bake in loading chamber of dry etch

摘要

An apparatus and method for the hot bake to remove moisture from photoresist that has been deposited on semiconductor wafers prior to a dry plasma etch process. A wafer carrier containing semiconductor wafers on which a photoresist has been deposited is placed in a load lock chamber having a source of heat such as a heating plate or a high intensity light source. The source of the heat is activated and the semiconductor wafers are brought to a temperature sufficiently high and of a sufficient duration as to eliminate any moisture present in the photoresist mask. The load lock chamber is evacuated to eliminate any moisture or contaminants, filled with nitrogen to eliminate any residual of moisture or contaminants, and then evacuated to prepare the chamber to exposed to the atmosphere present in a dry plasma etch chamber. An exit lock of the load lock chamber is opened and the wafer carrier is placed in the dry plasma etch chamber for the execution of the dry plasma etch process.