Abstract
Reducing both pump-down time and particle contamination in load lock chambers is important for the vacuum apparatus to improve productivity in semiconductor device manufacturing. In this study, particles that became detached from the chamber wall and flew up in the chamber during pump-down were observed with an in-situ particle monitor. Particles attached to a wafer surface were also counted using a wafer inspection system. The dependence of the number of flying particles on pump-down time constant τ agreed with the dependence of the number of particles attached to the wafer surface on τ. Thus, it was deduced that the in-situ particle monitor was useful for determining a suitable pump-down speed. Furthermore, when the pump-down speed was increased, fast particles were generated, which damaged the fine photoresist patterns.
