Lam Research Corporation

Novellus Systems Incorporated

Douglas L Keil

Edward J Augustyniak

Karl Frederick Leeser

Eric A Hudson

Yukinori Sakiyama

Jean-Paul Booth

Adrien Lavoie

Alexei Marakhtanov

Ramesh Chandrasekharan

Yaswanth Rangineni

Ishtak Karim

Mohamed Sabri

Christopher Kimball

Reza Sadjadi

Chunguang Xia

Rajinder Dhindsa

Eric H Lenz

Shankar Swaminathan

Hu Kang

Frank Loren Pasquale

Jun Qian

David Charles Smith

Lumin Li

Chloe Baldasseroni

Jennifer Leigh Petraglia

Sesha Varadarajan

Andrew Duvall

Wan-Lin Chen

Ted Minshall

Chunhai Ji

Andrew D Bailey, Iii

S M Reza Sadjadi

Sunil Kapoor

Mark Henry Wilcoxson

Ji Soo Kim

Jeremy Tucker

Eric D Wagganer

Mikio Nagai

Andreas Fischer

Pramod Subramonium

Luc Albarede

Peter Cirigliano

Rao Annapragada

Graham W Hills

Thomas D Nguyen

Ramkishan Rao Lingampalli

Daxing Ren

Bin Luo

Joseph Lindsey Womack

Christopher Thorgrimsson

Cody Barnett

Chris Kimball

Bryan A Helmer

Tri Le

Keyvan Khajehnouri

Jung Kim

Jim Bowers

Chengzhu Qi

A system includes an electrode. The electrode includes a showerhead having a first stem portion and a head portion. A plurality of dielectric layers is vertically stacked between the electrode and a first surface of a conducting structure. The plurality of dielectric layers includes M dielectric layers arranged adjacent to the head portion and P dielectric portions arranged around the first stem portion. The plurality of dielectric layers defines a first gap between the electrode and one of the plurality of dielectric layers, a second gap between adjacent ones of the plurality of dielectric layers, and a third gap between a last one of the plurality of dielectric layers and the first surface. A number of the plurality of dielectric layers and sizes of the first gap, the second gap, and the third gap are selected to prevent parasitic plasma between the first surface and the electrode.

Mechanical suppression of parasitic plasma in substrate processing chamber

A method for operating a substrate processing system includes delivering precursor gas to a chamber using a showerhead that includes a head portion and a stem portion. The head portion includes an upper surface, a sidewall, a lower planar surface, and a cylindrical cavity and extends radially outwardly from one end of the stem portion towards sidewalls of the chamber. The showerhead is connected, using a collar, to an upper surface of the chamber. The collar is arranged around the stem portion. Process gas is flowed into the cylindrical cavity via the stem portion and through a plurality of holes in the lower planar surface to distribute the process gas into the chamber. A purge gas is supplied through slots of the collar into a cavity defined between the head portion and an upper surface of the chamber.

Suppression of parasitic deposition in a substrate processing system by suppressing precursor flow and plasma outside of substrate region

An apparatus for supporting a wafer during a plasma processing operation includes a pedestal configured to have bottom surface and a top surface and a column configured to support the pedestal at a central region of the bottom surface of the pedestal. An electrical insulating layer is disposed over the top surface of the pedestal. An electrically conductive layer is disposed over the top surface of the electrical insulating layer. At least three electrically conductive support structures are distributed on the electrically conductive layer. The at least three support structures are configured to interface with a bottom surface of a wafer to physically support the wafer and electrically connect to the wafer. An electrical connection extends from the electrically conductive layer to connect with a positive terminal of a direct current power supply at a location outside of the pedestal.

Systems and methods for controlling plasma instability in semiconductor fabrication

A substrate processing system includes: a processing chamber defining a reaction volume; a showerhead including: a stem portion having one end connected adjacent to an upper surface of the processing chamber; and a base portion connected to an opposite end of the stem portion and extending radially outwardly from the stem portion, where the showerhead is configured to introduce gas into the reaction volume; a plasma generator configured to selectively generate RF plasma in the reaction volume; and a collar arranged around the stem portion of the showerhead between the base portion of the showerhead and the upper surface of the processing chamber. The collar includes one or more holes to supply purge gas from an inner cavity of the collar to between the base portion of the showerhead and the upper surface of the processing chamber.

Systems and methods for suppressing parasitic plasma and reducing within-wafer non-uniformity

A controller for a substrate processing chamber includes a film thickness estimating module configured to while a first RF power is provided to generate plasma in the substrate processing chamber, receive a first measurement of a second RF power supplied to a probe, receive a second measurement of a DC self-bias voltage associated with the probe, wherein the second measurement is indicative of a thickness of a film deposited within the substrate processing chamber, and calculate a thickness of the film using the first measurement of the second RF power and the second measurement of the DC self-bias voltage. An operating parameter adjustment module is configured to adjust at least one operating parameter of the substrate processing chamber based on the thickness of the film as calculated by the film thickness estimating module.

Systems and methods for determining film thickness using DC self-bias voltage

A substrate processing system for depositing film on a substrate includes a processing chamber defining a reaction volume. A showerhead includes a stem portion having one end connected adjacent to an upper surface of the processing chamber. A base portion is connected to an opposite end of the stem portion and extends radially outwardly from the stem portion. The showerhead is configured to introduce at least one of process gas and purge gas into the reaction volume. A plasma generator is configured to selectively generate RF plasma in the reaction volume. An edge tuning system includes a collar and a parasitic plasma reducing element that is located around the stem portion between the collar and an upper surface of the showerhead. The parasitic plasma reducing element is configured to reduce parasitic plasma between the showerhead and the upper surface of the processing chamber.

A carrier ring configured to support a substrate during transport to or from a pedestal of a process tool and surrounding the substrate during processing is defined by, an inner annular portion having a first thickness, the inner annular portion defined to be adjacent a substrate support region of the pedestal; a middle annular portion surrounding the inner annular portion, the middle annular portion having a second thickness greater than the first thickness, such that a transition from a top surface of the inner annular portion to a top surface of the middle annular portion defines a first step; an outer annular portion surrounding the middle annular portion, the outer annular portion having a third thickness greater than the second thickness, such that a transition from the top surface of the middle annular portion to a top surface of the outer annular portion defines a second step.

Carrier ring wall for reduction of back-diffusion of reactive species and suppression of local parasitic plasma ignition

A substrate processing system includes a processing chamber including a showerhead, a plasma power source and a pedestal spaced from the showerhead to support a substrate. A filter is connected between the showerhead and the pedestal. A variable bleed current circuit is connected between the filter and the pedestal to vary a bleed current. A controller is configured to adjust a value of the bleed current and configured to perform curve fitting based on the bleed current and DC self-bias voltage to estimate at least one of electrode area ratio, Bohm current, and radio frequency (RF) voltage at a powered electrode.

Diagnostic and control systems and methods for substrate processing systems using DC self-bias voltage

A system for reducing parasitic plasma in a semiconductor process comprises a first surface and a plurality of dielectric layers that are arranged between an electrode and the first surface. The first surface and the electrode have substantially different electrical potentials. The plurality of dielectric layers defines a first gap between the electrode and one of the plurality of dielectric layers, a second gap between adjacent ones of the plurality of dielectric layers, and a third gap between a last one of the plurality of dielectric layers and the first surface. A number of the plurality of dielectric layers and sizes of the first gap, the second gap and the third gap are selected to prevent parasitic plasma between the first surface and the electrode during the semiconductor process.

A wafer is positioned on a wafer support apparatus beneath an electrode such that a plasma generation region exists between the wafer and the electrode. Radiofrequency power is supplied to the electrode to generate a plasma within the plasma generation region during multiple sequential plasma processing cycles of a plasma processing operation. At least one electrical sensor connected to the electrode measures a radiofrequency parameter on the electrode during each of the multiple sequential plasma processing cycles. A value of the radiofrequency parameter as measured on the electrode is determined for each of the multiple sequential plasma processing cycles. A determination is made as to whether or not any indicatory trend or change exists in the values of the radiofrequency parameter as measured on the electrode over the multiple sequential plasma processing cycles, where the indicatory trend or change indicates formation of a plasma instability during the plasma processing operation.

Systems and methods for detection of plasma instability by electrical measurement

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Douglas L Keil