Nihon Koshuha Co., Ltd.

Tokyo Electron Limited

Nichimen Kabushiki Kaisha

Nihon Kosyuha Kabushiki Kaisha

Other

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Ulvac, Inc.

Daihen Corporation

Nissin Ion Equipment Co., Ltd.

Makoto Ando

Nihon Koshuha Kabushiki Kaisha

Kibatsu Shinohara

Nobuo Ishii

Tsuku Umezawa

Yasuyoshi Yasaka

Shigetsugu Tsuruoka

Kozo Obara

Tomohiro Okumura

Ichiro Nakayama

Hideki Fujita

Kazuhiro Watanabe

Yukihiro Maegawa

Yoji Taguchi

Kenji Sumida

Minoru Kanda

Shuichi Aizawa

Shiniti Matamura

Hiroshi Hasunuma

Yutaka Arisumi

Shinriki Teii

Satoru Ishida

Hiroyuki Ueyama

Maiko Yoshida

Yutaka Arizumi

Kohta Kusaba

Munekazu Matsuo

Maiko c/o Ulvac Inc Yoshida

Kazuhiro c/o Ulvac Inc Watanabe

A waveguide type power combining/dividing unit W includes a plurality of rectangular waveguidesfor TE10 mode disposed in a radial pattern, a circular waveguidefor TM01 mode disposed at a center of the radial pattern, in which one ends of the plurality of the rectangular waveguidesare connected to a side surface of one end of the circular waveguide.

Waveguide type power combining/dividing unit

A power combiner/divider Wwhich includes: a body portion in which a cavity is formed; a center coaxial connector which is formed on an approximately center portion of the body portion; a plurality of peripheral coaxial connectorswhich are arranged concentrically about the center coaxial connectorand are formed on the body portion; a radial line which is formed in the cavity formed in the body portion; a center coaxial line which has one end thereof connected to the center coaxial connector and the other end thereof connected to a center portion of the radial line; and a peripheral coaxial line which has one end thereof connected to the peripheral coaxial connector and the other end thereof connected to an outer peripheral portion of the radial line, an impedance conversion part is provided to the radial line in one or plural stages.

Power combiner/divider of a radial line type impedance matched between a center connector and peripheral outer connectors

The plasma generating apparatus includes: an antenna chamber which is disposed adjacently to a plasma chamber that produces a plasma, and which is exhausted to vacuum; an antenna which is disposed in the antenna chamber, and which radiates a high-frequency wave; a partition plate which is made of an insulator, which separates the plasma chamber from the antenna chamber to block a gas from entering the antenna chamber, and which allows the high-frequency wave radiated from the antenna to pass through the partition plate; and a magnet device which is disposed outside the plasma chamber, and which generates a magnetic field for causing electron cyclotron resonance in the plasma chamber.

Plasma generating apparatus

In a ferrite phase shifter, a temperature rise at ferrites can be suppressed to maintain the characteristics of the frites even when used at high power. Thus, the phase shifter can stably demonstrate high performance. The ferrite phase shifter includes a rectangular waveguide, substantially sheet-like ferrites disposed to face each other with respective mounting surfaces kept in tight contact with inner walls of wide surfaces of the rectangular waveguide facing each other, and a coil which is wound around the periphery of the rectangular waveguide in a position substantially corresponding to the position of the ferrites and through which a current is passed.

Ferrite phase shifter and automatic matching apparatus

A magnetron (), a launcher () which extracts the output power of the magnetron (), an impedance generator () having one terminal connected to the output terminal of the launcher (), and a reference signal supplier () connected to the other terminal of the impedance generator () are included. The reference signal supplier () supplies, to the magnetron (), a reference signal lower in electric power and stabler in frequency than the output from the magnetron (). The oscillation frequency of the magnetron () is locked to the frequency of the reference signal by injection of the reference signal. The impedance generator () can reduce the change width of the oscillation frequency of the magnetron () by adjusting the load impedance of the magnetron (). This implements a magnetron oscillator () which has high frequency stability and does not fluctuate the frequency even when the output power is changed.

Magnetron oscillator

A first conductive plate (A) constituting the radiation surface of a slot antenna (A) inclines with respect to a first dielectric member () opposed to the radiation surface of the slot antenna (A). Consequently, a plasma generated by the electric field of an electromagnetic field entering directly from the slot antenna (A) can be set dominant over a plasma generated by the electric field of a standing wave formed in a processing vessel (). Since the former can be controlled more easily than the latter, the plasma distribution can be improved.

Plasma processing apparatus

A microwave-excited plasma processing apparatus shows a wide pressure range and a wide applicable electric power range for normal electric discharges as a result of using slits cut through a rectangular waveguide and having a profile that allows the electric field and the magnetic field of microwave to be formed uniformly right below the microwave introducing window below an microwave antenna. The microwave-excited plasma processing apparatus is characterized by having four elliptic slits cut through the wall of the rectangular waveguide that is held in contact with the microwave introducing window of the top wall of the vacuum chamber, the four elliptic slits being arranged respectively along the four sides of a substantial square.

Microwave-excited plasma processing apparatus

A plasma device includes a first conductive plate () in which a plurality of slots () are formed, a second conductive plate () having a microwave inlet () and disposed opposite to the first conductive plate (), a ring member () for connecting peripheral edges of the first and second conductive plates (), and a conductive adjusting member () provided on said second conductive plate () within a radial waveguide () formed by the first and second conductive plates () and serving to adjust a distance (d1, d2) up to the first conductive plate (). With this arrangement, a desired electric field radiation distribution can be obtained without inducing abnormal discharge.

Radial antenna and plasma device using it

A plasma processor includes a table on which a target object is to be placed, a vessel which accommodates the table and in which a plasma is to be generated by a high-frequency electromagnetic field, a high-frequency oscillator () which generates a high-frequency electromagnetic field, and a reference oscillator () which is lower in output power than the high-frequency oscillator () and stable in oscillation frequency. A reference signal generated by the reference oscillator () is injected into the high-frequency oscillator () to fix an oscillation frequency of the high-frequency oscillator () at a frequency of a reference signal. Therefore, accurate load matching is performed to improve an energy efficiency when an automatic matching device provided between the high-frequency oscillator () and vessel is designed based on the frequency of the reference signal.

Plasma processor and plasma processing method

A magnetron oscillating apparatus includes a magnetron, power supply unit, and switch circuit. The magnetron oscillates a microwave. The power supply unit applies a power to the magnetron. The switch circuit is connected between the power supply unit and the cathode of the magnetron and turned on/off on the basis of a control signal. When the switch circuit is turned on by the control signal, a voltage is applied between the cathode and the grounded anode of the magnetron to cause the magnetron to pulse-oscillate.

Magnetron oscillating apparatus

A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing container, a mounting tablearranged in the processing containerto support a wafer W, a sealing plateopposed to the wafer W supported by the mounting table, an annular antennaarranged on the sealing plateand consisting of an annular waveguide to introduce a microwave into the processing containerthrough the sealing plate, the annular antennabeing arranged so that a plane containing an annular waveguide path defined by the annular waveguide is generally parallel with the sealing plate, a directional couplerarranged on the periphery of the annular antenna, a propagation waveguideconnected to the directional couplerand a microwave oscillatorconnected to the propagation waveguide. 'Accordingly, it is possible to form an uniform microwave in the antenna, so that an uniform plasma can be produced in the processing container'.

A plasma processing apparatus that generates a uniform plasma, thus allowing uniform processing of large-diameter wafers. The cylindrical apparatus includes a wafer mounting table, a silica plate providing an airtight seal, a microwave supplier for propagating a microwave in TE11 mode, and a cylindrical waveguide connected at one end to the microwave supplier. A radial waveguide box is connected between the other end of the cylindrical waveguide and the silica plate. The radial waveguide box extends radially outward from the cylindrical waveguide, forming a flange and defining an interior waveguide space. A disc-shaped slot antenna is located at the lower end of the radial waveguide box, above the silica plate. A circularly-polarized wave converter disposed in the cylindrical waveguide rotates the TE11-mode microwave about the axis of the cylindrical waveguide, and sends the rotating microwave to the radial waveguide box.

Apparatus for plasma processing

A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing container, a mounting tablearranged in the processing containerto support a wafer W, a sealing plateopposed to the wafer W supported by the mounting table, an annular antennaarranged on the sealing plateand consisting of an annular waveguide to introduce a microwave into the processing containerthrough the sealing plate, the annular antennabeing arranged so that a plane containing an annular waveguide path defined by the annular waveguide is generally parallel with the sealing plate, a directional couplerarranged on the periphery of the annular antenna, a propagation waveguideconnected to the directional couplerand a microwave oscillatorconnected to the propagation waveguide. Accordingly, it is possible to form an uniform microwave in the antenna, so that an uniform plasma can be produced in the processing container.

The present invention provides a matching circuit which has a wide range in which matching can be achieved and the matched state of which is stabilized with respect to a change in the load state. To an input terminal ( ) of a matching circuit ( ), one terminal of a first variable reactance element ( ) is connected. The other terminal of the first variable reactance element ( ) is connected to a point between a first fixed reactance element ( ) and a second fixed reactance element ( ), which are connected in series. The first fixed reactance element ( ) is grounded, and the second fixed reactance element ( ) is connected to one terminal of a second variable reactance element ( ) and connected to one terminal of a stripline ( ). The other terminal of the second variable reactance element ( ) is grounded, and the other terminal of the stripline ( ) is connected to an output terminal ( ).

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Kibatsu Shinohara