Tokyo Electron Limited

Tokyo Electron Limi Ted

Tokyo Keiki Inc.

Kazushi Kaneko

Yohei Ishida

Kazunori Funazaki

Hideo Kato

Naoki Matsumoto

Merritt Funk

Satoru Kawakami

Kazuki Moyama

Toshihiko Iwao

Koji Koyama

Chelsea Dubose

Justin Moses

Yunosuke Hashimoto

Yukinori Hanada

Jun Yoshikawa

Hajime Tamura

Kiyotaka Ishibashi

Eiki Kamata

Eiji Takahashi

Shinji Kawada

Yuji Otsuka

Yuji Onuma

Takashi Hasegawa

Koichi Murai

A plasma processing apparatus comprises a processing chamber accommodating a substrate, and defining a processing space by an upper wall, a side wall, and a lower wall, a microwave generator configured to generate a microwave for generating plasma, a plurality of microwave radiators provided above the upper wall, and configured to radiate the microwave toward the processing chamber, a plurality of microwave transmission windows provided at positions corresponding to the plurality of microwave radiators in the upper wall, and formed of a dielectric, and a plurality of resonator array structures disposed on lower surfaces of the plurality of microwave transmission windows, respectively. The resonator array structures are formed by arranging a plurality of resonators that are capable of resonance with a magnetic field component of the microwave and are smaller in size than a wavelength of the microwave.

Plasma processing apparatus

A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber configured to accommodate a substrate, a gas supply configured to supply a processing gas into the processing chamber, a power supply configured to supply power to the processing chamber to generate plasma such that the substrate is processed by using the generated plasma, and a control device configured to control the power supply. The control device controls the power supply to perform a process of supplying a first power including a frequency component within a first band having a first bandwidth to the processing chamber when the plasma is generated from the processing gas, and a process of supplying a second power including a frequency component within a second band having a second bandwidth smaller than or equal to the first bandwidth to the processing chamber when the substrate is processed by using the generated plasma.

Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method

There is provided a plasma processing apparatus. The apparatus comprises: a chamber body; and a power supply unit configured to output power for exciting a gas supplied to an inside of the chamber body. The power supply unit supplies, as power having a center frequency, a bandwidth, and a carrier pitch respectively corresponding to a set frequency, a set bandwidth, and a set carrier pitch that are indicated by a controller, power which is pulse-modulated so as to be a pulse frequency, a duty ratio, a high level, and a low level respectively corresponding to a set pulse frequency, a set duty ratio, a high-level set power, and a low-level set power indicated by the controller, and in which a pulse on time determined by the set pulse frequency and the set duty ratio is longer than a power fluctuation cycle of the power having the bandwidth.

Embodiments are described herein for power generation systems and methods that use quadrature splitters and combiners to facilitate plasma stability and control. For one embodiment, a quadrature splitter receives an input signal and generates a first and second signals as outputs with the second signal being ninety degrees out of phase with respect to the first signal. Two amplifiers then generate a first and second amplified signals. A quadrature combiner receives the first and second amplified signals and generates a combined amplified signal that represents re-aligned versions of the first and second amplified signals. The power amplifiers can be combined into a system to generate a high power output to a processing chamber. Further, detectors can generate measurements used to monitor and control power generation. The power amplifiers, system, and methods provide significant advantages for high-power generation delivered to process chambers for plasma generation during plasma processing.

Power generation systems and methods for plasma stability and control

A device includes a microwave generator configured to generate a microwave having a bandwidth, an output unit, a directional coupler and a measurer. The microwave generator generates a microwave a power of which is pulse-modulated to be a High level and a Low level. A set carrier pitch is set to satisfy a preset condition. The preset condition includes a condition that a value obtained by dividing a set pulse frequency by the set carrier pitch or a value obtained by dividing the set carrier pitch by the set pulse frequency is not an integer and a condition that an ON-time of the High level is equal to or larger than 50%. The microwave generator averages a first High measurement value and a first Low measurement value in a preset moving average time longer than a sum of the ON-time of the High level at a preset sampling interval.

Microwave output device and plasma processing apparatus

A plasma processing apparatus includes a microwave output unit, a wave guide tube, a tuner, a demodulation unit, and a calculation unit. The microwave output unit outputs a microwave having power corresponding to setting power while frequency-modulating the microwave in a setting frequency range. The wave guide tube guides the microwave to an antenna of a chamber main body. The tuner is provided in the wave guide tube and adjusts a position of a movable plate. The demodulation unit is provided in the wave guide tube, and acquires travelling wave power and reflected wave power for each frequency. The calculation unit calculates a frequency at which a reflection coefficient, which is calculated on the basis of the travelling wave power and the reflected wave power, for each frequency becomes a minimum point as an absorption frequency.

A microwave output device includes a microwave generator configured to generate a pulse-modulated microwave; an output unit; a first directional coupler configured to output a part of a progressive wave; and a measurement device configured to determine measurement values of High and Low levels of a power of the progressive wave. The microwave generator alternately generates a first microwave having a bandwidth and a second microwave having a single frequency peak in synchronization with switching of the High level and the Low level; averages the measurement value corresponding to the first microwave with a moving average time equal to or larger than a reciprocal of a carrier pitch; averages the measurement value corresponding to the second microwave with a moving average time less than the reciprocal of the carrier pitch; and controls the powers of High and Low levels based on the averaged measurement values and set powers.

A method includes measuring first travelling wave power of a microwave having a single frequency peak and second travelling wave power having a single frequency peak, acquiring duty ratios of the first travelling wave power and the second travelling wave power based on measured values and a first determination threshold value, measuring third travelling wave power of a microwave having a bandwidth and fourth travelling wave power having a bandwidth, acquiring duty ratios of the third travelling wave power and the fourth travelling wave power based on measured values and a second determination threshold value, approximating a pulse width error between the first travelling wave power and the third travelling wave power and a pulse width error between the second travelling wave power and the fourth travelling wave power with linear functions, and determining the correction function based on the linear functions.

Method of determining correction function

A method includes setting a setting duty ratio of a pulse to a predefined first setting duty ratio, detecting a measured value of power of a microwave, and calculating an error of the measured value of the power with respect to the setting power level for each setting power level, calculating a correction value for the power for each setting power level on the basis of the error, and determining a first function indicating a relationship between the setting power level and the correction value by logarithmically approximating the relationship between the setting power level and the correction value, and determining the correction function indicating a relationship among the setting duty ratio, the setting power level, and the correction value by approximating the correction value defined by the first function, and the predefined correction value at a setting duty ratio of 100%, with a linear function.

Embodiments are described for modules, multi-stage systems, and related methods for radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers with reduced size and weight requirements. Fluid cooling is incorporated directly into the power amplifier (PA) module design rather than requiring PA modules to be mounted on separate cooling devices. For one embodiment, a PA module includes a circuit board, RF circuit components, a ground plane, and a cooling plate having one or more cooling channels to receive a cooling fluid. The cooling channels are positioned to dissipate heat from the RF circuit components through the ground plane. For a further embodiment, the PA module also includes RF bias and power electronics within a housing for the PA module without requiring an external control board or power conversion electronics. Also disclosed are multi-stage PA systems having a plurality of PA modules that are similarly cooled using cooling channels.

Modules, multi-stage systems, and related methods for radio frequency power amplifiers

A device includes a microwave generation unit that averages the first measured values and the second measured values at a predetermined movement average time and a predetermined sampling interval, and controls the microwave such that a value obtained by subtracting the averaged second measured value from the averaged first measured value comes close to the setting power, and in which the predetermined movement average time is 60 &#x3bc;s or less, and a relationship of y&#x2265;78.178xis satisfied when the predetermined sampling interval is indicated by x, and the predetermined movement average time is indicated by y.

Microwave output device and plasma processing device

A device includes a microwave generation unit that generates a microwave having a bandwidth, an output unit, a directional coupler, and a measurement unit. The microwave generation unit generates a microwave of which power is pulse-modulated to have a high level and a low level. The measurement unit determines a first high measured value and a first low measured value respectively indicating a high level and a low level of power of travelling waves in the output unit on the basis of parts of the travelling waves output from the directional coupler. The microwave generation unit controls high level power of the pulse-modulated microwave on the basis of and averaged first high measured value and high level setting power, and controls low level power of the pulse-modulated microwave on the basis of an averaged first low measured value and low level setting power.

Detection accuracy of a power of a progressive wave and detection accuracy of a power of a reflection wave can be improved. In a plasma processing apparatus, a first directional coupler is provided in a first waveguide which is configured to connect a microwave generating unit and a first port of a circulator. A first detector is connected to the first directional coupler. A second port of the circulator is connected to a plasma generating unit via a second waveguide. Further, a second directional coupler is provided in a third waveguide which is configured to connect a third port of the circulator and a dummy load. A second detector is connected to the second directional coupler.

A device monitors a pulse frequency and a duty ratio of a microwave generated by a microwave output device provided in a plasma processing apparatus. The plasma processing apparatus includes a chamber main body, the microwave output device, a wave guide tube, and a tuner. The microwave output device generates the microwave of which power is pulse-modulated. The device includes a wave detection unit and an acquisition unit. The wave detection unit detects a measured value corresponding to travelling wave power of a microwave in the wave guide tube. The acquisition unit acquires a frequency and a duty ratio of the travelling wave power on the basis of the measured value detected by the wave detection unit.

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Miyagi, Japan

Kazushi Kaneko