Apparatus for electro chemical deposition of copper metallization with the capability of in-situ thermal annealing

Abstract

The present invention generally provides an electro-chemical deposition system that is designed with a flexible architecture that is expandable to accommodate future designs rules and gap fill requirements and provides satisfactory throughput to meet the demands of other processing systems. The electro-chemical deposition system generally comprises a mainframe having a mainframe wafer transfer robot, a loading station disposed in connection with the mainframe, a rapid thermal anneal chamber disposed adjacent the loading station, one or more processing cells disposed in connection with the mainframe, and an electrolyte supply fluidly connected to the one or more electrical processing cells. One aspect of the invention provides a post electrochemical deposition treatment, such as a rapid thermal anneal treatment, for enhancing deposition results. Preferably, the electro-chemical deposition system includes a system controller adapted to control the electro-chemical deposition process and the components of the electro-chemical deposition system, including the rapid thermal anneal chamber disposed adjacent the loading station.

1 . An electro-chemical deposition system, comprising: 
 a) a mainframe having a mainframe wafer transfer robot;    b) a loading station disposed in connection with the mainframe;    c) one or more processing cells disposed in connection with the mainframe;    d) an electrolyte supply fluidly connected to the one or more electrical processing cells;    e) a spin-rinse-dry (SRD) chamber disposed between the loading station and the mainframe; and    f) a thermal anneal chamber disposed adjacent the loading station.    
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the thermal anneal chamber comprises a rapid thermal anneal chamber having a heater plate.  
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the heater plate comprises an atmospheric pressure heater plate.  
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 e) a system controller adapted to control operations of one or more components of the electro-chemical deposition system.    
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the thermal anneal chamber further comprises a gas inlet adapted to introduce one or more gases into the thermal anneal chamber.  
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5  wherein the system controller controls the gas inlet to the chamber to provide a chamber environment having an oxygen content of less than 100 parts per million.  
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6  wherein the gas inlet is connected to a nitrogen gas source to introduce nitrogen into the chamber.  
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 6  wherein the gas inlet is connected to a nitrogen gas source and a hydrogen gas source to introduce nitrogen and hydrogen into the chamber, wherein the hydrogen content is maintained at less than about 4%.  
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the loading station comprises: 
 i) one or more wafer cassette receiving areas;  
 ii) one or more loading station wafer transfer robots for transferring a wafer between the loading station and the SRD station and between the loading station and the thermal anneal chamber; and  
 iii) a wafer orientor.