Applied Materials, Inc.

Junghoon Kim

Dmitry Lubomirsky

Soonam Park

Tae Seung Cho

Toan Q Tran

Soonwook Jung

Shankar Venkataraman

Sean S Kang

Kenneth David Schatz

Satoru Kobayashi

Tom K Choi

Jungmin Ko

Mang-Mang Ling

Nikolai Nikolaevich Kalnin

A method and apparatus for substrate etching are described herein. A processing chamber described herein includes a source module, a process module, a flow module, and an exhaust module. An RF source may be coupled to the chamber and a remote plasma may be generated in the source module and a direct plasma may be generated in the process module. Cyclic etching processes described may use alternating radical and direct plasmas to etch a substrate.

Process chamber for cyclic and selective material removal and etching

Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate are herein described. For example, a processing chamber for processing a substrate includes a chamber body defining a processing volume; a radio frequency (RF) power source configured to deliver RF energy to the processing volume for processing a substrate; a substrate support comprising an electrode; an AC power supply configured to supply power to the processing chamber; an RF filter circuit connected between the electrode and the AC power supply; and a controller configured to monitor an RF voltage at the RF filter circuit that is indirectly induced into the electrode by the RF power source during operation, and to determine a processing state in the processing volume based on the monitored RF voltage.

Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate

Methods of monitoring a plasma while processing a semiconductor substrate are described. In embodiments, the methods include determining the difference in power between the power delivered from the plasma power supply and the power received by the plasma in a substrate processing chamber. The power received may be determined using a V/I sensor positioned after the matching circuit. The power reflected or the power lost is the difference between the delivered power and the received power. The process may be terminated by removing the delivered power if the reflected power is above a setpoint. The Vmay further be fourier transformed into frequency space and compared to the stored fourier transform of a healthy plasma process. Missing frequencies from the Vfourier transform may independently or further indicate an out-of-tune plasma process and the process may be terminated.

Plasma health determination in semiconductor substrate processing reactors

Exemplary magnetic induction plasma systems for generating plasma products are provided. The magnetic induction plasma system may include a first plasma source including a plurality of first sections and a plurality of second sections arranged in an alternating manner and fluidly coupled with each other such that at least a portion of plasma products generated inside the first plasma source may circulate through at least one of the plurality of first sections and at least one of the plurality of second sections inside the first plasma source. Each of the plurality of second sections may include a dielectric material. The system may further include a plurality of first magnetic elements each of which may define a closed loop. Each of the plurality of second sections may define a plurality of recesses for receiving one of the plurality of first magnetic elements therein.

Magnetic induction plasma source for semiconductor processes and equipment

Processing methods may be performed to remove unwanted materials from a substrate. The methods may include forming a remote plasma of an inert precursor in a remote plasma region of a processing chamber. The methods may include forming a bias plasma of the inert precursor within a processing region of the processing chamber. The methods may include modifying a surface of an exposed material on a semiconductor substrate within the processing region of the processing chamber with plasma effluents of the inert precursor. The methods may include extinguishing the bias plasma while maintaining the remote plasma. The methods may include adding an etchant precursor to the remote plasma region to produce etchant plasma effluents. The methods may include flowing the etchant plasma effluents to the processing region of the processing chamber. The methods may also include removing the modified surface of the exposed material from the semiconductor substrate.

Atomic layer etching processes

Methods and systems for etching substrates using a remote plasma are described. Remotely excited etchants are formed in a remote plasma and flowed through a showerhead into a substrate processing region to etch the substrate. Optical emission spectra are acquired from the substrate processing region just above the substrate. The optical emission spectra may be used to determine an endpoint of the etch, determine the etch rate or otherwise characterize the etch process. A weak plasma may be present in the substrate processing region. The weak plasma may have much lower intensity than the remote plasma. In cases where no bias plasma is used above the substrate in an etch process, a weak plasma may be ignited near a viewport disposed near the side of the substrate processing region to characterize the etchants.

Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) for remote plasma monitoring

Implementations of the present disclosure relate to a plasma chamber having an optical device for measuring emission intensity of plasma species. In one implementation, the plasma chamber includes a chamber body defining a substrate processing region therein, the chamber body having a sidewall, a viewing window disposed in the sidewall, and a plasma monitoring device coupled to the viewing window. The plasma monitoring device includes an objective lens and an aperture member having a pinhole, wherein the aperture member is movable relative to the objective lens by an actuator to adjust the focal point in the plasma using principles of optics, allowing only the light rays from the focal point in the plasma to reach the pinhole. The plasma monitoring device therefore enables an existing OES (coupled to the plasma monitoring device through an optical fiber) to monitor emission intensity of the species at any specific locations of the plasma.

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Junghoon Kim