Tokyo Electron Limited

Lam Research Corporation

Tokyo Electron Limi Ted

Other

Denki Kagaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Tokyo Electron Yamanashi Limited

Shin-etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.

Akira Koshiishi

Chishio Koshimizu

Naoki Matsumoto

Masaru Sugimoto

Noriyuki Kobayashi

Kunihiko Hinata

Yohei Yamazawa

Manabu Iwata

Masashi Saito

Ryuji Ohtani

Manabu Sato

Hiroki Yamazaki

Hidetoshi Hanaoka

Keizo Hirose

Toshihiro Hayami

Masayuki Tomoyasu

Kazuya Nagaseki

Jun Hirose

Peter L G Ventzek

Kohei Kawamura

Shigeru Tahara

Masahiro Ogasawara

Naoki Takayama

Kosuke Imafuku

Rajinder Dhindsa

John Patrick Holland

Lee Chen

Hiroshi Nishikawa

Yoshio Sakamoto

Mitsuaki Komino

Michishige Saito

Taichi Hirano

Jun Shinagawa

Harmeet Singh

Shinji Himori

Hideki Takeuchi

Koji Maruyama

Makoto Aoki

Daisuke Hayashi

Andreas Fischer

Koji Miyata

Takashi Suzuki

Masayuki Kojima

Junichi Arami

Kazuo Kibi

Daisuke Yano

Jun Ooyabu

Masahiko Matsudo

Yukio Naito

Shosuke Endo

Kazuhiro Tahara

Yoshinobu Ohya

Ikuo Sawada

Hiroyuki Ishihara

Shigeru Yoneda

Tetsuo Yoshida

Alexei Marakhatanov

Hiroto Takenaka

Hiromitsu Sasaki

Kohji Numata

Kenichi Hanawa

Hideaki Tanaka

Masato Horiguchi

Shoichiro Matsuyama

Kazuhiro Kubota

Yoshifumi Tahara

Yoshinobu Ooya

Shigeki Tozawa

Ryo Nonaka

Nobuyuki Okayama

Masaaki Miyagawa

Hidetoshi Kimura

Gregory R Bettencourt

Wataru Shimizu

Hiroo Ono

Yoshio Fukasawa

Toshio Haga

Gautam Bhattacharyya

Tomonori Miwa

Mitsuru Hashimoto

Sandy Chao

Makoto Kato

Hiroshi Tsuchiya

Kei Isozaki

Shunsuke Mizukami

Tomomi Kondo

Yutaka Hirashima

Toshikatsu Wakaki

Isao Kobayashi

Riki Tomoyoshi

Peter Lg Ventzek

Sathya Mani

Masatoshi Kitano

Tomomi Yamasaki

Tetsuri Matsuki

Ryuji Honda

An apparatus for confining plasma within a plasma processing chamber is provided. The plasma processing chamber includes a lower electrode for supporting a substrate and an upper electrode disposed over the lower electrode. The apparatus is a confinement ring that includes a lower horizontal section extending between an inner lower radius and an outer radius of the confinement ring. The lower horizontal section includes an extension section that bends vertically downward at the inner lower radius, and the lower horizontal section further includes a plurality of slots. The confinement ring further includes an upper horizontal section extending between an inner upper radius and the outer radius of the confinement ring and a vertical section that integrally connects the lower horizontal section with the upper horizontal section. The extension section of the lower horizontal section is configured to surround the lower electrode when installed in the plasma processing chamber.

Confinement ring for use in a plasma processing system

A plasma etching apparatus includes a second electrode configured to support a target substrate thereon, a second RF power supply unit configured to apply a second RF power for providing a bias for ion attraction to the second electrode, and a control system including and an RF controller. The RF controller is configured to switch the second RF power supply unit between a continuous mode that executes continuous supply of the second RF power at a constant power level and a power modulation mode that executes modulation of the second RF power between a first power and a second power larger than the first power. The RF controller is preset to control the second RF power supply unit such that the second RF power supply unit is first operated in the continuous mode for plasma ignition and then is switched into the power modulation mode.

Plasma etching apparatus and method

A plasma processing method includes executing an etching process that includes supplying an etching gas into a process container in which a target substrate is supported on a second electrode serving as a lower electrode, and applying an RF power for plasma generation and an RF power for ion attraction to turn the etching gas into plasma and to subject the target substrate to etching. The etching process includes applying a negative DC voltage to a first electrode serving as an upper electrode during the etching to increase an absolute value of self-bias on the first electrode. The etching process includes releasing DC electron current generated by the negative DC voltage to ground through plasma and a conductive member disposed as a ring around the first electrode, by using a first state where the conductive member is connected to a ground potential portion.

Plasma processing apparatus and method

A plasma etching apparatus includes an upper electrode and a lower electrode, between which plasma of a process gas is generated to perform plasma etching on a wafer W. The apparatus further comprises a cooling ring disposed around the wafer, a correction ring disposed around the cooling ring, and a variable DC power supply directly connected to the correction ring, the DC voltage being preset to provide the correction ring with a negative bias, relative to ground potential, for attracting ions in the plasma and to increase temperature of the correction ring to compensate for a decrease in temperature of a space near the edge of the target substrate due to the cooling ring.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a process container configured to accommodate a target substrate and to be vacuum-exhausted. A first electrode and a second electrode are disposed opposite each other within the process container. The first electrode includes an outer portion and an inner portion both facing the second electrode such that the outer portion surrounds the inner portion. An RF power supply is configured to apply an RF power to the outer portion of the first electrode. A DC power supply is configured to apply a DC voltage to the inner portion of the first electrode. A process gas supply unit is configured to supply a process gas into the process container, wherein plasma of the process gas is generated between the first electrode and the second electrode.

Capacitive coupling plasma processing apparatus and method for using the same

An apparatus includes an upper electrode and a lower electrode for supporting a wafer disposed opposite each other within a process chamber. A first RF power supply configured to apply a first RF power having a relatively higher frequency, and a second RF power supply configured to apply a second RF power having a relatively lower frequency is connected to the lower electrode. A variable DC power supply is connected to the upper electrode. A process gas is supplied into the process chamber to generate plasma of the process gas so as to perform plasma etching.

In a method of an embodiment, radicals, which are generated from a processing gas, is adsorbed to a layer to be etched without applying a high-frequency bias to a lower electrode, in an adsorption step. In the subsequent etching step, ions, which are generated from the processing gas, are drawn into the layer to be etched by applying a high-frequency bias to the lower electrode. The adsorption step and the etching step are alternately repeated. In the adsorption step, a density of radicals is 200 or greater times a density of ions. In the etching step, RF energy having a power density of 0.07 W/cmor less is supplied to the lower electrode or a high-frequency bias having a power density of 0.14 W/cmor less is supplied to the lower electrode for a period of 0.5 seconds or less.

Method for etching layer to be etched

A plasma etching apparatus includes a first RF power supply unit configured to apply a first RF power for plasma generation to a first electrode or a second electrode disposed opposite to each other in a process container configured to be vacuum-exhausted, a second RF power supply unit configured to apply a second RF power for ion attraction to the second electrode, and a controller configured to control the second RF power supply unit. The second RF power supply unit includes a second RF power supply and a second matching unit. The controller is preset to control the second RF power supply unit to operate in a power modulation mode that executes power modulation in predetermined cycles between a first power and a second power, while controlling the second matching unit to switch a matching operation in synchronism with the power modulation.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a dielectric member having communication holes through which an internal space communicates with a processing space; a first electrode and a second electrode; a first gas supply device which supplies a first processing gas; a first high frequency power supply which supplies a first high frequency power to at least one of the electrodes to generate a first plasma of the first processing gas; a depressurizing device which introduces the first processing gas and radicals in the first plasma; a second high frequency power supply which supplies a second high frequency power to generate a second plasma of the first processing gas and to attract ions; and a control unit which adjusts, by controlling a total amount of the first high frequency powers, the radical amount in the second plasma and adjusts, by controlling a ratio therebetween, the ion amount therein.

Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method

A plasma processing apparatus includes a first and second electrodes disposed on upper and lower sides and opposite each other within a process container, a first RF power application unit and a DC power supply both connected to the first electrode, and second and third radio frequency power application units both connected to the second electrode. A conductive member is disposed within the process container and grounded to release through plasma a current caused by a DC voltage applied from the DC power supply. The conductive member is supported by a first shield part around the second electrode and laterally protruding therefrom at a position between the mount face of the second electrode and an exhaust plate for the conductive member to be exposed to the plasma. The conductive member is grounded through a conductive internal body of the first shield part.

A semiconductor substrate processing system includes a processing chamber and a substrate support defined to support a substrate in the processing chamber. The system also includes a plasma chamber defined separate from the processing chamber. The plasma chamber is defined to generate a plasma. The system also includes a plurality of fluid transmission pathways fluidly connecting the plasma chamber to the processing chamber. The plurality of fluid transmission pathways are defined to supply reactive constituents of the plasma from the plasma chamber to the processing chamber. The system further includes an electrode disposed within the processing chamber separate from the substrate support. The system also includes a power supply electrically connected to the electrode. The power supply is defined to supply electrical power to the electrode so as to liberate electrons from the electrode into the processing chamber.

E-beam enhanced decoupled source for semiconductor processing

A semiconductor substrate processing system includes a processing chamber and a substrate support defined to support a substrate in the processing chamber. The system also includes a plasma chamber defined separate from the processing chamber. The plasma chamber is defined to generate a plasma. The system also includes a plurality of fluid transmission pathways fluidly connecting the plasma chamber to the processing chamber. The plurality of fluid transmission pathways are defined to supply reactive constituents of the plasma from the plasma chamber to the processing chamber. The system further includes an electron injection device for injecting electrons into the processing chamber to control an electron energy distribution within the processing chamber so as to in turn control an ion-to-radical density ratio within the processing chamber. In one embodiment, an electron beam source is defined to transmit an electron beam through the processing chamber above and across the substrate support.

Growing community of inventors

Nirasaki, Japan

Akira Koshiishi