Coronus Product Family
Products
Plasma Bevel Etch and Deposition
Bevel etch removes unwanted masks, residues, and films from the edge of a wafer between manufacturing steps. If not removed, these materials become defect sources. For instance, they can flake off and re-deposit on the device area during subsequent processes. Even a single particle that lands on a critical part of a device can ruin the entire chip. By inserting bevel etch processes at strategic points, these potential defect sources can be eliminated, and more good chips produced.
Alternatively, bevel deposition provides a protective film to cover this area. For example, in advanced memory devices like 3D NAND, very long etch processes are required. These long process steps can cause severe damage to the substrate, so extreme that without this protective barrier, the wafer would not yield at all. In the case of wafer bonding for 3D packaging, this bevel deposition layer provides mechanical support between the carrier and the device, preventing chipping, leveling films and ensuring a quality bond.
By combining the precise control and flexibility of plasma with technology that protects the active die area, Lam’s Coronus® bevel etch and deposition family protects the wafer edge to enhance die yield.
Industry Challenges
Chip makers are increasingly focused on reducing edge exclusion as an important strategy to increase the number of good die at the perimeter of the wafer, making bevel engineering a high priority for development teams. Mechanical abrasion or stress of the film stack at the wafer’s edge can result in film delamination and subsequent re-deposition on the front side of the wafer, potentially impacting yield. For immersion lithography, edge integrity is critical since defects that exist on the edge can be carried onto the wafer. To address these issues, cleaning or deposition steps that target the bevel region can help eliminate the wafer edge as a source of yield-limiting defects.
Key Customer Benefits
- Improved yield by selective removal of unwanted materials from wafer edge
- Active die area protection by using plasma processing with proprietary confinement technology
- In situ removal of multi-material film stacks and residues to ensure high productivity
- The industry’s only bevel clean product that removes α-carbon films and carbon-rich residues
- Metal film removal to prevent arcing during plasma etch or deposition steps
- Eliminates wafer bonding issues such as edge chipping and profile roll off
- Prevents substrate damage at the bevel during long wet etches
Product Offerings
- Coronus®
- Coronus® HP
- Coronus® DX
Key Applications
- Post-etch for shallow trench isolation (STI), gate, middle-of-line (MOL), and back-end-of-line (BEOL)
- Pre- and post-deposition
- Pre-lithography
- Metal film removal
- Wafer to wafer bonding gap fill
- Wet and dry etch bevel protection