Tokyo Electron Limited

Shimadzu Corporation

Jun Yamawaku

Chishio Koshimizu

Tatsuo Matsudo

Yohei Yamazawa

Tsuyoshi Moriya

Masashi Saito

Kazuki Denpoh

Hiroyuki Nakayama

Junji Oikawa

Hitoshi Kato

Shigehiro Miura

Takafumi Kimura

Eiichi Nishimura

Takeshi Kobayashi

Satoru Kawakami

Mitsuhiro Tachibana

Kenji Nagai

Munehito Kagaya

Osamu Akiyama

Hiroyuki Onoda

Hachishiro Iizuka

Hidefumi Matsui

Hideaki Yakushiji

Kunio Miyauchi

Chie Kato

Shinichi Kawaguchi

Kazumasa Abe

Takayuki Kokubo

Masashi Akimoto

A dividing plate has insulating properties, and divides the inside of a processing vessel into a reaction chamber in which a body to be processed is placed, and a plasma generating chamber for generating plasma. Further, the dividing plate is provided, on a surface thereof on the side of the plasma generating chamber, with a first electrode, and a plurality of through holes for supplying active species included in the plasma generated in the plasma generating chamber to the reaction chamber. The second electrode is disposed facing the first electrode in the plasma generating chamber. When plasma is to be generated in the plasma generating chamber, an electric power supply unit supplies either the first electrode or the second electrode with high-frequency electric power in which high-frequency electric power in a plurality of frequencies is superimposed by phase control.

Plasma processing device, and plasma processing method

There is provided a plasma processing device. The plasma processing device comprises: a processing chamber; a partition plate that has an insulating property, and configured to partition a space in the processing chamber into a reaction chamber in which an object to be processed is mounted and a plasma generating chamber in which plasma is generated, wherein a first electrode is provided on a surface of the partition plate on the side of the plasma generating chamber, and the partition plate has a plurality of through holes formed for supplying active species contained in the plasma generated in the plasma generating chamber to the reaction chamber; a second electrode disposed in the plasma generating chamber so as to face the first electrode; and a power supply configured to supply high-frequency power obtained by phase-controlling and superimposing high-frequency powers of a plurality of frequencies to one of the first electrode and the second electrode when the plasma is generated in the plasma generating chamber.

There is provided a focus ring that is capable of preventing deposits from adhering to a member having a lower temperature in a gap between two members having different temperatures. A focus ringis disposed to surround a peripheral portion of a wafer W in a chamberof a substrate processing apparatus. The focus ringincludes an inner focus ringand an outer focus ring. Here, the inner focus ringis placed adjacent to the wafer W and configured to be cooled; and the outer focus ringis placed so as to surround the inner focus ringand configured not to be cooled. Further, a block memberis provided in a gap between the inner focus ringand the outer focus ring

Substrate processing method

A film-forming apparatus for forming a predetermined film on a substrate by plasma ALD includes a chamber, a stage, a shower head having an upper electrode and a shower plate insulated from the upper electrode, a first high-frequency power supply connected to the upper electrode, and a second high-frequency power supply connected to an electrode contained in the stage. A high-frequency power is supplied from the first high-frequency power supply to the upper electrode, thereby forming a high-frequency electric field between the upper electrode and the shower plate and generating a first capacitively coupled plasma. A high-frequency power is supplied from the second high-frequency power supply to the electrode, thereby forming a high-frequency electric field between the shower plate and the electrode in the stage and generating a second capacitively coupled plasma that is independent from the first capacitively coupled plasma.

Film-forming apparatus and film-forming method

A plasma processing apparatus includes a plasma generation unit for converting a processing gas into plasma by an inductive coupling. The plasma generation unit includes a first high frequency antenna formed of a vortex coil having open opposite ends and, at a central portion of a line between the open ends, a supply point of a high frequency power and a grounding point grounded through a capacitor; a second high frequency antenna formed of a planar vortex coil disposed between first and second high frequency antenna elements of the first high frequency antenna; and an impedance adjustment unit for adjusting a resonant frequency of a circuit viewed from a high frequency power supply toward the first high frequency antenna which is configured to have two resonant frequencies depending on adjustment of the impedance adjustment unit when the frequency of the high frequency power is changed.

Plasma processing apparatus

Disclosed is a plasma processing apparatus including a processing chamber configured to perform a processing on a wafer by plasma, a VF power supply configured to change a frequency of a high frequency power to be supplied into the chamber, a susceptor configured to mount the wafer thereon, and a focus ring disposed to surround the wafer. A first route, which passes through the plasma starting from the VF power supply, passes through the susceptor, the wafer and the plasma, and a second route, which passes through the plasma starting from the VF power supply, passes through the susceptor, the focus ring and the plasma. The reflection minimum frequency of the first route is different from the reflection minimum frequency of the second route, and the frequency range changeable by the VF power supply includes the reflection minimum frequencies of the first and second routes.

Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method

A plasma processing apparatus includes a high frequency antenna having first and second antenna elements. One end of the first antenna element is grounded and the other end thereof is connected to a high frequency power supply. One end of the second antenna element is an open end and the other end thereof is connected to either one of the one end and the other end of the first antenna element, a line length of the second antenna element having a value obtained by multiplying ((&#x3bb;/4)+n&#x3bb;/2) by a fractional shortening (&#x3bb; is a wavelength of high frequency in vacuum and n is a natural number). A circuit viewed from the high frequency power supply toward the high frequency antenna is configured to generate, when a frequency of a high frequency power is changed, two resonant frequencies by an adjustment of the impedance adjustment unit.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber including a dielectric window; a coil shaped RF antenna provided outside the dielectric window; a substrate supporting unit, provided in the processing chamber, for mounting thereon a target substrate to be processed; a processing gas supply unit for supplying a desired processing gas to the processing chamber to perform a desired plasma process on the target substrate; and an RF power supply unit for supplying an RF power to the RF antenna to generate a plasma of the processing gas by an inductive coupling in the processing chamber. The apparatus further includes a floating coil electrically floated and arranged at a position outside the processing chamber where the floating coil is to be coupled with the RF antenna by an electromagnetic induction; and a capacitor provided in a loop of the floating coil.

Substrate processing apparatus

A plasma processing apparatus includes a plasma generation unit configured to convert a processing gas supplied into a processing chamber into plasma by an inductive coupling. The plasma generation unit includes a first high frequency antenna formed of a vortex coil arranged adjacent to the processing chamber through a dielectric window, a second high frequency antenna having a natural resonant frequency and formed of a vortex coil arranged at an outer or inner peripheral side of the first high frequency antenna, and an impedance adjustment unit for adjusting a resonant frequency of a circuit viewed from the high frequency power supply toward the first high frequency antenna. The circuit viewed from the high frequency power supply toward the first high frequency antenna is configured to have two resonant frequencies depending on adjustment of the impedance adjustment unit when a frequency of high frequency power is changed.

Disclosed is a plasma processing apparatus including a chamber configured to perform a processing on a wafer by plasma, a VF power supply configured to change a frequency of a high frequency power to be supplied into the chamber, a susceptor configured to mount the wafer thereon, and a focus ring disposed to surround the wafer. A first route, which passes through the plasma starting from the VF power supply, passes through the susceptor, the wafer and the plasma, and a second route, which passes through the plasma starting from the VF power supply, passes through the susceptor, the focus ring and the plasma. The reflection minimum frequency of the first route is different from the reflection minimum frequency of the second route, and the frequency range changeable by the VF power supply includes the reflection minimum frequencies of the first and second routes.

Disclosed is a plasma processing method for generating plasma between an upper electrode connected with a VF power supply and a susceptor disposed to face the upper electrode to perform a plasma processing on a wafer by the plasma. The plasma processing method includes: providing an auxiliary circuit configured to reduce a difference between a reflection minimum frequency of a first route where a high frequency current generated from the VF power supply flows before ignition of the plasma and a reflection minimum frequency of a second route where the high frequency current generated from the VF power supply flows after the ignition of the plasma; igniting the plasma; and maintaining the plasma.

A transfer chamber is provided between a processing unit for performing a predetermined process on a target substrate to be processed in a depressurized environment and an atmospheric maintaining unit for maintaining the target substrate in an atmospheric environment to transfer the target substrate therebetween. The transfer chamber includes a chamber main body for accommodating the target substrate, a gas exhaust unit for exhausting the chamber main body to set the chamber main body to the depressurized environment, and a gas supply unit for supplying a predetermined gas to the chamber main body to set the chamber main body in the atmospheric environment. Further, in the transfer chamber, an ionization unit is provided outside the chamber main body, for ionizing the predetermined gas and an ionized gas supply unit is provided to supply the ionized gas generated by the ionization unit to the chamber main body.

Transfer chamber and method for preventing adhesion of particle

A plasma processing apparatus includes: an evacuable processing chamber including a dielectric window; a substrate supporting unit, provided in the processing chamber, for mounting thereon a target substrate; a processing gas supply unit for supplying a desired processing gas to the processing chamber to perform a plasma process on the target substrate; a first RF antenna, provided on the dielectric window, for generating a plasma by an inductive coupling in the processing chamber; and a first RF power supply unit for supplying an RF power to the first RF antenna. The first RF antenna includes a primary coil provided on or above the dielectric window and electrically connected to the first RF power supply unit; and a secondary coil provided such that the coils are coupled with each other by an electromagnetic induction therebetween while being arranged closer to a bottom surface of the dielectric window than the primary coil.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber including a dielectric window; a coil-shaped RF antenna, provided outside the dielectric window; a substrate supporting unit provided in the processing chamber; a processing gas supply unit; an RF power supply unit for supplying an RF power to the RF antenna to generate a plasma of the processing gas by an inductive coupling in the processing chamber, the RF power having an appropriate frequency for RF discharge of the processing gas; a correction coil, provided at a position outside the processing chamber where the correction coil is to be coupled with the RF antenna by an electromagnetic induction, for controlling a plasma density distribution on the substrate in the processing chamber; a switching device provided in a loop of the correction coil; and a switching control unit for on-off controlling the switching device at a desired duty ratio by pulse width modulation.

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Nirasaki, Japan

Jun Yamawaku