Applied Materials, Inc.

Dmitry A Dzilno

Tsutomu Tanaka

Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez

Jian Li

Zheng John Ye

Alexander Viktorovich Garachtchenko

John C Forster

Kallol Bera

Edward P Hammond

Philip Allan Kraus

Anantha K Subramani

Todd J Egan

Thai Cheng Chua

Hari K Ponnekanti

Jared Ahmad Lee

Abraham Ravid

Mario Dave Silvetti

Daemian Raj Benjamin Raj

Shailendra Srivastava

Christian Amormino

Alex Minkovich

Rakesh Ramadas

Michael Robert Rice

Jeffrey C Hudgens

Sanjeev Baluja

Joseph Yudovsky

Gregory J Wilson

Paul Brillhart

Mandyam Sriram

Nir Merry

Kevin Griffin

Kaushal Gangakhedkar

Jozef Kudela

Edward W Budiarto

Sanjay G Kamath

Juan Carlos Rocha

Robert B Moore

Keiichi Tanaka

Nikhil Sudhindrarao Jorapur

Xiaopu Li

Ndanka O Mukuti

Sriharish Srinivasan

Li-Qun Xia

Vijay D Parkhe

Deenesh Padhi

Charles T Carlson

Kwangduk Douglas Lee

Jason M Schaller

Farhad K Moghadam

Benjamin B Riordon

Xinhai Han

Paul Zachary Wirth

Leon Volfovski

Wendell Glenn Boyd, Jr

Matthew James Busche

John William Lane

Mariusch Gregor

Mayur G Kulkarni

Quoc Truong

Kenichi Ohno

Paul Forderhase

Gary Wyka

Kiyki-Shiy N Shang

Kristopher R Enslow

Marc David Shull

Abhigyan Keshri

Michael Carrell

Mitchell DiSanto

Zongbin Wang

Akshay Gunaji

Siva Chandrasekar

Venkata Raghavaiah Chowdhary Kode

Avinash Ishwar Shervegar

Rana Howlader

Mike Murtagh

Uwe P Haller

Robert O Miller

Keith Brian Porthouse

Hongbin Li

Wenhao Zhang

Sandeep Bindgi

Yong Xiang Lim

Yubin Zhang

Yury Trachuk

A plasma source assembly for use with a substrate processing chamber is described. The assembly includes a spring which is disposed between electrodes and a dielectric ring.

Plasma source with floating electrodes

A method of providing power to a plurality of heaters in multiple zones for wafer-processing equipment may include causing a voltage to be supplied to a plurality of power leads configured to supply the voltage to a plurality of different heating zones in a pedestal, causing current to be received from the plurality of different heating zones through a return lead that is shared by the plurality of power leads, and causing a polarity of the voltage provided to the plurality of power leads to switch. The switching frequency may be configured such that a DC chucking operation can be active at the same time to hold a substrate to the pedestal. Duty cycling the heating zones that share the return lead may minimize the current through the shared return lead.

Multi-zone heater control for wafer processing equipment

The disclosure describes a plasma source assemblies comprising a differential screw assembly, an RF hot electrode, a top cover, an upper housing and a lower housing. The differential screw assembly is configured to provide force to align the plasma source assembly vertically matching planarity of a susceptor. More particularly, the differential screw assembly increases a distance between the top cover and the upper housing to align the gap with the susceptor. The disclosure also provides a better thermal management by cooling fins. A temperature capacity of the plasma source assemblies is extended by using titanium electrode. The disclosure provides a cladding material covering a portion of a first surface of RF hot electrode, a second surface of RF hot electrode, a bottom surface of RF hot electrode, a portion of a surface of the showerhead and a portion of lower housing surface.

Vertically adjustable plasma source

Plasma source assemblies, gas distribution assemblies including the plasma source assembly and methods of generating a plasma are described. The plasma source assemblies include a powered electrode with a ground electrode adjacent a first side and a dielectric adjacent a second side. A first microwave generator is electrically coupled to the first end of the powered electrode through a first feed and a second microwave generator is electrically coupled to the second end of the powered electrode through a second feed.

Microwave plasma source for spatial plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) processing tool

A semiconductor processing chamber for processing semiconductor substrates may include a pedestal to support a substrate with a heater zones and a wire mesh configured to deliver a Radio Frequency (RF) signal to a plasma. The chamber may also include heater zone controls that deliver current to the heater zones and a filter circuit between the heater zone controls and the heater zones. The filter circuit may include inductors on leads from the heater zones and a resonant circuit with a resonant inductor that is magnetically coupled to the lead inductors. The resonant circuit may produce a resonant peak that filters the RF signal delivered to the wire mesh from the leads from the heater zones to prevent the RF signal from reaching the heater zone controls.

Magnetically coupled RF filter for substrate processing chambers

Exemplary substrate processing systems may include a chamber body defining a transfer region. The systems may include a lid plate seated on the chamber body. The lid plate may define a plurality of apertures. The systems may include a plurality of lid stacks equal to a number of the plurality of apertures. The systems may include a plurality of substrate support assemblies equal to the number of apertures defined through the lid plate. Each assembly may be disposed in one of the processing regions and may include an electrostatic chuck body defining a substrate support surface that defines a substrate seat. Each assembly may include a heater embedded within the chuck body. Each assembly may include bipolar electrodes between the heater and the substrate support surface. Each assembly may include a conductive mesh embedded within the body between the heater and bipolar electrodes.

Bipolar esc with balanced RF impedance

A chucking system reduces differences in chucking forces that are applied by two electrodes of an electrostatic chuck, to a substrate disposed atop the chuck. Initial chucking voltages are applied to each of two electrodes, and an initial current provided to at least a first electrode of the two electrodes is measured. A process is initiated that affects a DC voltage of the substrate, then a modified current provided to at least the first electrode is measured. A modified chucking voltage for a selected one of the two electrodes is determined that will reduce chucking force imbalance across the substrate based at least on the initial current and the modified current. The modified chucking voltage is then provided to the selected one of the two electrodes.

Real time bias detection and correction for electrostatic chuck

Exemplary support assemblies may include an electrostatic chuck body defining a support surface that defines a substrate seat. The assemblies may include a support stem coupled with the chuck body. The assemblies may include a heater embedded within the chuck body. The assemblies may include a first bipolar electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body between the heater and support surface. The assemblies may include a second bipolar electrode embedded within the chuck body between the heater and support surface. Peripheral edges of one or both of the first and second bipolar electrodes may extend beyond an outer periphery of the seat. The assemblies may include an RF power supply coupled with the first and second bipolar electrodes. The assemblies may include a first floating DC power supply coupled with the first bipolar electrode. The assemblies may include a second floating DC power supply coupled with the second bipolar electrode.

Bipolar electrostatic chuck to limit DC discharge

Exemplary semiconductor processing systems include a processing chamber, a power supply, and a chuck disposed at least partially within the processing chamber. The chuck includes a chuck body defining a vacuum port. The chuck also includes first and second coplanar electrodes embedded in the chuck body and connected to the power supply. In some examples, coplanar electrodes include concentric electrodes defining a concentric gap in between. Exemplary semiconductor processing methods may include activating the power supply for the electrostatic chuck to secure a semiconductor substrate on the body of the chuck and/or activating the vacuum port defined by the body of the electrostatic chuck. Some processing can be carried out at increased pressure, while other processing can be carried out at reduced pressure with increased chucking voltage.

Multi-pressure bipolar electrostatic chucking

A method and apparatus for controlling RF plasma attributes is disclosed. Some embodiments of the disclosure provide RF sensors within processing chambers operable at high temperatures. Some embodiments provide methods of measuring RF plasma attributes using RF sensors within a processing chamber to provide feedback control for an RF generator.

Methods and apparatus for controlling RF parameters at multiple frequencies

Processing chambers with a plurality of processing stations and individual wafer support surfaces are described. The processing stations and wafer support surfaces are arranged so that there is an equal number of processing stations and heaters. An RF generator is connected to a first electrode in a first station and a second electrode in a second station. A bottom RF path is formed by a connection between a first support surface and a second support surface.

Paired dynamic parallel plate capacitively coupled plasmas

Exemplary support assemblies may include an electrostatic chuck body defining a substrate support surface. The substrate support assemblies may include a support stem coupled with the electrostatic chuck body. The substrate support assemblies may include a heater embedded within the electrostatic chuck body. The substrate support assemblies may include a first bipolar electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body between the heater and the substrate support surface. The first bipolar electrode may include at least two separated mesh sections, with each mesh section characterized by a circular sector shape. The substrate support assemblies may include a second bipolar electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body between the heater and the substrate support surface. The second bipolar electrode may include a continuous mesh extending through the at least two separated mesh sections of the first bipolar electrode.

High temperature bipolar electrostatic chuck

Plasma source assemblies, gas distribution assemblies including the plasma source assembly and methods of generating plasma are described. The plasma source assemblies include a powered electrode with a ground electrode adjacent a first side and a dielectric adjacent a second side. A first microwave generator is electrically coupled to the first end of the powered electrode through a first feed and a second microwave generator is electrically coupled to the second end of the powered electrode through a second feed.

A plasma source assembly for use with a substrate processing chamber is described. The assembly includes a ceramic lower plate with a plurality of apertures formed therein. A method of processing a substrate in a substrate processing chamber including the plasma source assembly is also described.

Plasma source with ceramic electrode plate

Exemplary semiconductor processing systems may include a processing chamber and an electrostatic chuck disposed at least partially within the processing chamber. The electrostatic chuck may include at least one electrode and a heater. A semiconductor processing system may include a power supply to provide a signal to the electrode to provide electrostatic force to secure a substrate to the electrostatic chuck. The system may also include a filter communicatively coupled between the power supply and the electrode. The filter is configured to remove or reduce noise introduced into the chucking signal by operating the heater while the electrostatic force on the substrate is maintained. The filter may include active circuitry, passive circuitry, or both, and may include an adjustment circuit to set the gain of the filter so that an output signal level from the filter corresponds to an input signal level for the filter.

Power supply signal conditioning for an electrostatic chuck

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Dmitry A Dzilno