Daihen Corporation

Tokyo Electron Limited

Koji Itadani

Koichi Nagami

Satoru Hamaishi

Masakatsu Mito

Norikazu Yamada

Toshifumi Tachikawa

Kazuki Kondo

Takashi Shimomoto

Shigeki Amadatsu

Shuji Omae

Daisuke Matsuno

Yasuhiro Nishimori

Yuji Ishida

Akira Ishii

Hiroyuki Yoshiki

Yuya Nakamori

Takahiro Aoyama

Tatsuya Saijo

Katsuyuki Fukano

Tsuyoshi Komoda

Eiji Kaneko

A high-frequency power supply device generates a high-frequency signal, periodically controls the amplitude or phase of the generated high-frequency signal, and outputs high-frequency power, magnitude of which is controlled on the basis of the high-frequency signal, amplitude or phase of which has been controlled. The high-frequency power supply device controls the amplitude or phase of the high-frequency signal such that the magnitude of the high-frequency power is a first level in a first period of a control cycle and is a second level in a second period of the control cycle which is different from the first period. The second level is lower than the first level. The high-frequency power supply device gradually decreases or increases at least one of the second level and the ratio of the length of the first period to the length of the control cycle, and gradually increases or decreases the first level.

High-frequency power supply device and output method of high-frequency power

A plasma processing method for performing a plasma process on a substrate in a plasma processing apparatus is provided. The plasma processing method comprises: a sampling-average-value calculating process of sampling voltage detection signals and electric current detection signals and calculating an average value of these signals during a first monitoring time; a moving-average-value calculating process of calculating a moving average value of the voltage detection signals and the electric current detection signals; a load impedance-measurement-value calculating process of calculating a measurement value of a load impedance with respect to a first high frequency power supply; and a reactance control process of controlling a reactance of a variable reactance element such that the measurement value of the load impedance is equal or approximate to a preset matching point corresponding to impedance on the side of the first high frequency power supply.

Plasma processing method

A plasma processing apparatus performs a stable and accurate matching operation with high reproducibility in a power modulation process of modulating of a high frequency power to be supplied into a processing vessel in a pulse shape. In the plasma processing apparatus, an impedance sensorA provided in a matching device performs a dual sampling averaging process on a RF voltage measurement value and an electric current measurement value respectively obtained from a RF voltage detectorA of a voltage sensor system and a RF electric current detectorA of an electric current sensor system by sampling-average-value calculating circuitsA andA and by moving-average-value calculating circuitsA andA. Thus, an update speed of a load impedance measurement value outputted from the impedance sensorA can be matched well with a driving control speed of a motor in a matching controller.

Plasma processing apparatus

In a plasma processing apparatus, when pulse-modulating the high frequency power RFfor plasma generation and the high frequency power RFfor ion attraction with a first pulse PSand a second pulse PShaving different frequencies, respectively, an impedance sensorA in a matching deviceof a plasma generation system calculates an average value (primary moving average value ma) of an load impedance on a high frequency transmission linefor each cycle of the second pulse PShaving a lower frequency, and outputs a load impedance measurement value based on those average values of the load impedance. Then, a matching controllerA controls reactances of reactance elements Xand Xwithin a matching circuitA such that the load impedance measurement value is equal or approximate to a matching point (50&#x3a9;).

An impedance adjustment apparatus of the invention performs impedance matching using characteristic parameters, even where a high frequency power source of variable frequencies is used. The apparatus is applicable to a power supply system using a high frequency power source of variable frequencies. Characteristic parameters obtained by targeting a portion of combinations of position information (C) of a variable capacitor and output frequency information (F) of the power source are stored in a memory. A T-parameter acquisition unit acquires characteristic parameters corresponding to (C, F) at the current time. An output reflection coefficient calculation unit calculates a reflection coefficient of an output end. A target information specifying unit, based on the above information and a target input reflection coefficient, specifies target combination information in which a reflection coefficient of an output end approaches the target input reflection coefficient. Impedance matching is performed based on this information.

High frequency matching system

Impedance adjusting apparatus

An impedance matching device is provided, for which the electric characteristics at an output terminal are accurately analyzed. The matching device is provided with an input detector for detecting RF voltage and current at the input terminal, and an output detector for detecting RF voltage outputted from the output terminal. The matching device also includes a controller for achieving impedance matching between a high frequency power source connected to the input terminal and a load connected to the output terminal. The impedance matching is performed by adjusting variable capacitors based on the detection data supplied from the input detector. When the impedance of the power source is matched to that of the load, the controller calculates the output impedance, RF voltage and RF current at the output terminal, based on the adjusted capacitances of the capacitors, a pre-obtained reactance-impedance data and the detection data supplied from the output detector.

Impedance matching device provided with reactance-impedance table

In an impedance matching device having at least two stubs serially provided to a main coaxial tube so as to be separated from each other with a predetermined interval in a tube axial direction, each stub is composed of a variable capacity capacitor to be jointed to an inner conductor of the main coaxial tube, an electrically conductive capacitor cover to be jointed to an outer conductor of the main coaxial tube so as to cover a surrounding of the variable capacity capacitor, and a drive motor arranged on an outside of the capacitor cover so as to drive a movable side electrode of the variable capacity capacitor. The movable side electrode of the variable capacity capacitor is driven directly by the drive motor so that the impedance matching device is made to be compact and response of impedance matching to a fluctuation of a load impedance such as a behavior of a plasma load is improved, and the life is lengthened and degrees of freedom of installation is widened.

Impedance matching device

In a plasma processing apparatus including a plasma chamber having a narrow window, and a rectangular waveguide for coupling with the plasma chamber, the rectangular waveguide has a long slot disposed in an E-plane thereof so as to oppose the narrow window of the plasma chamber and to extend along a waveguide-axis direction of the rectangular waveguide. There is further provided at least two long slots disposed in at least one rectangular waveguide, and the longitudinal length of each long slot is set to 1/2 or more of a free-space wavelength of the microwave. Further, the long slots are disposed so as to be parallel to each other such that adjacent long slots are shifted from each other by (2n-1)/4 of the free-space wavelength of the microwave in the waveguide-axis direction of the rectangular waveguide, where n is a natural number.

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Osaka, Japan

Koji Itadani