The Research Of Si₃N₄ Process Surface Particle Defect

Particle is a serious defect type in semiconductor manufacture which could lead to short-circuit or open-circuit issue in device. Particularly in the sub-micron technology, particle defect gets greater lethality. It costs more man power, material resources and financial capacity.LPCVD process could provide Si3N4 film with good stage coverage and uniformity. As an important step in semiconductor manufacture process, Si3N4 film process is always applied to STI and spacer process. Since Si3N4 film has great stress and its process is under continuous variation in pressure and temperature, LPCVD Si3N4 process has the worst particle performance. So, there is more space for us to improve the Particle performance.This paper focuses on the TEL Alpha-8SE vertical LPCVD equipment as research object. Based on the research of hardware and process, this paper finds out the source and form mechanism of particle defect. This paper provides solutions for all kinds of particle defect:adding 450℃ purge periodically, changing the pumping line tape heater temperature setting, optimizing the parameter setting when boat unload from tube and so on. These solutions help to reduce particle, prolong PM cycle and improve tool up time.