Lam Research Corporation

Novellus Systems Incorporated

George Thomas

Edward J Augustyniak

Sunil Kapoor

Yaswanth Rangineni

David Michael French

Yukinori Sakiyama

Panya Wongsenakhum

Francisco J Juarez

Stephen E Hilliker

Yan Rubin

Anthony E Sebastian

Systems and methods for adjusting impedances or power or a combination thereof across multiple plasma processing stations are described. One of the systems includes a first radio frequency (RF) generator that generates a first RF signal having a first frequency, a second RF generator that generates a second RF signal having a second frequency, and a first matching network coupled to the first RF generator to receive the first RF signal. The first impedance matching network outputs a first modified RF signal upon receiving the first RF signal. The system further includes a second matching network coupled to the second RF generator to receive the second RF signal. The second matching network outputs a second modified RF signal upon receiving the second RF signal. The system further includes a combiner and distributor coupled to an output of the first matching network and an output of the second matching network.

Combiner and distributor for adjusting impedances or power across multiple plasma processing stations

A system for controlling of wafer bow in plasma processing stations is described. The system includes a circuit that provides a low frequency RF signal and another circuit that provides a high frequency RF signal. The system includes an output circuit and the stations. The output circuit combines the low frequency RF signal and the high frequency RF signal to generate a plurality of combined RF signals for the stations. Amount of low frequency power delivered to one of the stations depends on wafer bow, such as non-flatness of a wafer. A bowed wafer decreases low frequency power delivered to the station in a multi-station chamber with a common RF source. A shunt inductor is coupled in parallel to each of the stations to increase an amount of current to the station with a bowed wafer. Hence, station power becomes less sensitive to wafer bow to minimize wafer bowing.

Control of wafer bow in multiple stations

Control of water bow in multiple stations

In one aspect, a system includes a generator configured to generate and tune a frequency of a supply signal. The system includes an auto-matching network configured to receive the supply signal and to generate an impedance-matched signal for use in powering a plasma system. In some implementations, during a first stage of an impedance matching operation, the generator is configured to tune the frequency of the supply signal until the generator identifies a frequency for which the reactance of the generator and the reactance of the load are best matched. In some implementations, during a second stage of the impedance matching operation, the auto-matching network is configured to tune a tuning element within the auto-matching network until the auto-matching network identifies a tuning of the tuning element for which the resistance of the generator and the resistance of the load are best matched.

Hybrid impedance matching for inductively coupled plasma system

In one embodiment, a system for delivering radio frequency (RF) power to a plasma processing system includes an automatic impedance matching network configured to receive RF power from an RF generator, and a fixed impedance matching network coupled between the automatic impedance matching network and the plasma processing chamber. The fixed impedance matching network may be configured to transform a first impedance presented by the chamber to a second impedance that allows the automatic impedance matching network to operate within a tuning range.

RF delivery configuration in a plasma processing system

In one embodiment, a radio frequency (RF) configuration in a plasma processing system includes an RF electrode driven by an RF signal source and a non-RF electrode coupled to an electronic module. A filter coupled to the non-RF electrode is configured to provide maximum attenuation at or near an RF signal frequency, while allowing signals associated with the electronic module to pass. The filter may be placed as close to the non-RF electrode as possible. The filter may be, for example, a band stop filter such as a parallel resonant circuit having a resonant frequency at or near an RF signal frequency.

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

George Thomas