Substrate processing system

Abstract

An apparatus for performing contaminant sensitive processing on a substrate. A substrate load chamber receives the substrate from an ambient contaminant laden environment, and isolates the substrate from the ambient contaminant laden environment. The substrate load chamber further forms a first environment of intermediate cleanliness around the substrate. A substrate pass through chamber receives the substrate from the substrate load chamber, and isolates the substrate from the intermediate cleanliness of the first environment of the substrate load chamber. The substrate pass through chamber further forms a second environment of high cleanliness around the substrate. A substrate transfer chamber receives the substrate from the substrate pass through chamber, and isolates the substrate from the high cleanliness of the second environment of the substrate pass through chamber. The substrate transfer chamber maintains a third environment of high cleanliness around the substrate, and transfers the substrate into more than one substrate processing chambers, where the substrate is selectively transferred into and out of the more than one substrate processing chambers without leaving the high cleanliness of the third environment. The substrate transfer chamber also selectively passes the substrate to the substrate pass through chamber when the substrate pass through chamber has formed the high cleanliness of the second environment. The substrate pass through chamber also receives the substrate from the substrate transfer chamber, and selectively passes the substrate to the substrate load chamber when the substrate load chamber has formed the intermediate cleanliness of the first environment. The substrate load chamber receives the substrate from the substrate pass through chamber, and selectively passes the substrate out of the substrate load chamber and into the ambient contaminant laden environment when the substrate load chamber is not open to the substrate pass through chamber.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An apparatus for performing contaminant sensitive processing on a substrate, comprising: 
 a substrate load chamber for receiving the substrate from an ambient contaminant laden environment, for isolating the substrate from the ambient contaminant laden environment, and for forming a first environment of intermediate cleanliness around the substrate,    a substrate pass through chamber for receiving the substrate from the substrate load chamber, for isolating the substrate from the intermediate cleanliness of the first environment of the substrate load chamber, and for forming a second environment of high cleanliness around the substrate,    a substrate transfer chamber for receiving the substrate from the substrate pass through chamber, for isolating the substrate from the high cleanliness of the second environment of the substrate pass through chamber, for maintaining a third environment of high cleanliness around the substrate, and for transferring the substrate into more than one substrate processing chambers, where the substrate is selectively transferred into and out of the more than one substrate processing chambers without leaving the high cleanliness of the third environment,    the substrate transfer chamber also for selectively passing the substrate to the substrate pass through chamber when the substrate pass through chamber has formed the high cleanliness of the second environment,    the substrate pass through chamber also for receiving the substrate from the substrate transfer chamber, and for selectively passing the substrate to the substrate load chamber when the substrate load chamber has formed the intermediate cleanliness of the first environment, and    the substrate load chamber for receiving the substrate from the substrate pass through chamber, and for selectively passing the substrate out of the substrate load chamber into the ambient contaminant laden environment when the substrate load chamber is not open to the substrate pass through chamber.    
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the more than one substrate processing chambers include an etch chamber and a deposition chamber.  
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the more than one substrate processing chambers include an etch chamber, a titanium deposition chamber, a titanium nitride deposition chamber, and a tantalum deposition chamber.  
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the more than one substrate processing chambers include an etch chamber, a clean chamber, a tantalum deposition chamber, and a copper deposition chamber.  
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a first load lock for selectively isolating the substrate load chamber from the substrate pass through chamber.  
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a second load lock for selectively isolating the substrate pass through chamber from the substrate transfer chamber.  
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising at least one third load lock for selectively isolating the substrate transfer chamber from the more than one substrate processing chambers.  
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 a first pumping system for selectively forming the first environment of intermediate cleanliness in the substrate load chamber,  
 a second pumping system for selectively forming the second environment of high cleanliness in the substrate pass through chamber, and  
 a third pumping system for selectively forming the third environment of high cleanliness in the substrate transfer chamber.  
 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a first roughing pump for selectively forming the first environment of intermediate cleanliness in the substrate load chamber,  
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a first cryogenic pump for selectively forming the second environment of high cleanliness in the substrate pass through chamber,  
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a second cryogenic pump for selectively forming the third environment of high cleanliness in the substrate transfer chamber,  
     
     
         12 . A method of performing contaminant sensitive processing on a substrate, comprising the steps of: 
 transferring the substrate from an ambient contaminant laden environment and into a substrate load chamber,    isolating the substrate from the ambient contaminant laden environment with the substrate load chamber,    forming a first environment of intermediate cleanliness around the substrate in the substrate load chamber,    transferring the substrate from the intermediate cleanliness of the first environment of the substrate load chamber and into a substrate pass through chamber,    isolating the substrate from the intermediate cleanliness of the first environment of the substrate load chamber with the substrate pass through chamber,    forming a second environment of high cleanliness around the substrate with the substrate pass through chamber,    transferring the substrate from the high cleanliness of the second environment of the substrate pass through chamber and into a substrate transfer chamber,    isolating the substrate from the high cleanliness of the second environment of the substrate pass through chamber with the substrate transfer chamber,    maintaining a third environment of high cleanliness around the substrate with the substrate transfer chamber,    selectively transferring the substrate into more than one substrate processing chambers, where the substrate is selectively transferred into and out of the more than one substrate processing chambers without leaving the high cleanliness of the third environment,    selectively processing the substrate in the more than one substrate processing chambers,    transferring the substrate to the substrate pass through chamber from the substrate transfer chamber when the substrate pass through chamber has formed the high cleanliness of the second environment and the substrate pass through chamber is not open to the substrate load chamber,    transferring the substrate to the substrate load chamber from the substrate pass through chamber when the substrate load chamber has formed the intermediate cleanliness of the first environment and the substrate pass through chamber is not open to the substrate transfer chamber, and    transferring the substrate out of the substrate load chamber and into the ambient contaminant laden environment when the substrate load chamber is not open to the substrate pass through chamber.    
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the step of processing the substrate in the more than one substrate processing chambers further comprises: 
 etching the substrate in an etch chamber,  
 cleaning the substrate in a clean chamber, and  
 depositing a layer in a deposition chamber.  
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the step of processing the substrate in the more than one substrate processing chambers further comprises: 
 etching the substrate in an etch chamber,  
 cleaning the substrate in a clean chamber, and  
 depositing a layer of titanium in a deposition chamber.  
 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the step of processing the substrate in the more than one processing chambers further comprises: 
 etching the substrate in an etch chamber,  
 cleaning the substrate in a clean chamber,  
 depositing a layer of tantalum in a first deposition chamber, and  
 depositing a layer of copper in a second deposition chamber.  
 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising the step of selectively isolating the substrate load chamber from the substrate pass through chamber with a first load lock.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising the step of selectively isolating the substrate pass through chamber from the substrate transfer chamber with a second load lock.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising the step of selectively isolating the substrate transfer chamber from the more than one substrate processing chambers with at least one third load lock.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 12  wherein: 
 the step of forming the first environment of intermediate cleanliness in the substrate load chamber further comprises using a first pumping system,  
 the step of forming the second environment of high cleanliness in the substrate pass through chamber further comprises using a second pumping system, and  
 the step of forming the third environment of high cleanliness in the substrate transfer chamber further comprises using a third pumping system.  
 
     
     
         20 . A method of forming a via on a substrate of a low dielectric constant material, comprising the steps of: 
 forming a first environment of intermediate cleanliness around the substrate with a substrate load chamber that receives the substrate from an ambient contaminant laden environment and isolates the substrate from the ambient contaminant laden environment,    forming a second environment of high cleanliness around the substrate with a substrate pass through chamber that receives the substrate from the substrate load chamber and isolates the substrate from the intermediate cleanliness of the first environment of the substrate load chamber,    maintaining a third environment of high cleanliness around the substrate with a substrate transfer chamber that receives the substrate from the substrate pass through chamber and isolates the substrate from the high cleanliness of the second environment of the substrate pass through chamber,    transferring the substrate into more than one substrate processing chambers, where the substrate is selectively transferred into and out of the more than one substrate processing chambers without leaving the high cleanliness of the third environment,    etching the substrate in an etch chamber to form a via recess,    depositing a titanium adhesion layer in a first deposition chamber,    depositing a titanium nitride diffusion barrier layer in a second deposition chamber,    selectively transferring the substrate to the substrate pass through chamber from the substrate transfer chamber when the substrate pass through chamber has formed the high cleanliness of the second environment,    selectively transferring the substrate to the substrate load chamber from the substrate pass through chamber at a time when the substrate load chamber has formed the intermediate cleanliness of the first environment, and    selectively transferring the substrate out of the substrate load chamber into the ambient contaminant laden environment at a time when the substrate load chamber is not open to the substrate pass through chamber.