The University of Texas System

Applied Materials, Inc.

Stmicroelectronics S.a.

Korea Institute of Industrial Technology

Lawrence J Overzet

Gil Sik Lee

Marwan H Khater

Jae Hak Kim

Kyung Hwan Lee

Yong-Seok Park

Mohamed Boufnichel

Joel Brad Bailey

Chun-Seong Park

Jong Ho Lee

Brian Ashley Smith

Byeong Jun Lee

Bum Ho Choi

Blake E Cherrington

Woo Sam Kim

John J Festa

Darryl Bennett

Siva K Kanakasabapathy

Sivananda K Kanakasabapathy

Thomas Tillocher

Pierre Ranson

Xavier Mellhaoui

Philippe Lefaucheux

Jung Chan Bae

Growing spin-capable multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) forests in a repeatable fashion will become possible through understanding the critical factors affecting the forest growth. Here we show that the spinning capability depends on the alignment of adjacent MWCNTs in the forest which in turn results from the synergistic combination of a high areal density of MWCNTs and short distance between the MWCNTs. This can be realized by starting with both the proper Fe nanoparticle size and density which strongly depend on the sheet resistance of the catalyst film. Simple measurement of the sheet resistance can allow one to reliably predict the growth of spin-capable forests. The properties of pulled MWCNTs sheets reflect that there is a relationship between their electrical resistance and optical transmittance. Overlaying either 3, 5, or 10 sheets pulled out from a single forest produces much more repeatable characteristics.

Method of manufacturing electrodes using carbon nanotube sheets

Tuning of Fe catalysts for growth of spin-capable carbon nanotubes

Disclosed is an atmospheric pressure plasma apparatus for enhancing and or controlling the dissociation of a secondary gas by converting a source gas into a plasma state at atmospheric pressure and controlling the interaction between that plasma and the secondary gas using porous metal, and ceramic tubes to create a path having controllable isolation from the region where plasma is generated.

Atmospheric pressure plasma apparatus

A method of anisotropic plasma etching of a silicon wafer, maintained at a temperature from &#x2212;40&#xb0; C. to &#x2212;120&#xb0; C., comprising alternated and repeated steps of:

Deep anisotropic silicon etch method

A system for plasma processing using electron-free ion-ion plasmas, wherein the substrate bias waveform is synched to a pulsed RF drive. A delay is included between the end of an RF drive pulse and the start of a bias pulse, to allow the electron population to drop to approximately zero. By using a source gas mixture which has highly electronegative components, substrate bombardment with negative ions can be achieved.

Ion-Ion plasma processing with bias modulation synchronized to time-modulated discharges

A method and apparatus for cleaning semiconductor wafers, next generation lithography (NGL) masks, and optical photomasks as well as test wafers and in service NGL and optical masks is disclosed. The method and apparatus utilize reactive gases and gas mixtures and mechanical agitation to enhance particle removal. The addition of a reactive gas process to an inert gas feed enhances the plasma cleaning process by breaking chemical bonds which form between surface particles and a substrate, consequently improving cleaning efficiency.

Particle contamination cleaning from substrates using plasmas, reactive gases, and mechanical agitation

A properly designed and positioned Faraday shield/dielectric spacer/source-coil assembly is used to nearly fix the input impedance of an Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) source-coil, making a variable matching network almost unnecessary, and allowing for pulsed plasma processing with very little reflected power. Further, the nearly constant input-impedance also means a nearly constant standing wave pattern on the ICP source-coil and constant power deposition symmetry as well as plasma uniformity independent of RF power, gas pressure and gas composition. This is not possible without a properly designed and positioned Faraday shield because the source-coil impedance is coupled to that of the plasma and changes significantly with the plasma conditions. The ICP source-coil/dielectric spacer/Faraday shield assembly can then be designed to optimize the symmetry of the plasma generation independent of plasma conditions by varying the source coil structure, dielectric spacer material, dielectric spacer structure, and Faraday shield structure. An appropriately positioned aperture in the Faraday shield can allow enough capacitive coupling between the vacuum and ICP source coil to ignite the plasma while preventing any significant capacitive coupling during the subsequent high-density ICP phase.

Transmission line based inductively coupled plasma source with stable impedance

An apparatus and method for controlling the plasma potential of a plasma within a plasma chamber (50) is disclosed. The apparatus and method utilize a Faraday shielded inductive source antenna (60) to generate the plasma within the plasma chamber (50) and an electrically conductive probe (100) that is inserted into the plasma chamber (50) to regulate the plasma potential. By independent biasing of the conductive probe (100), which regulates the plasma potential, the ion energy distribution at a conductive substrate (150) within the plasma chamber (50) may be controlled.

System for ion energy control during plasma processing

An apparatus for producing a plasma (70) within a vacuum chamber (50) comprising a high density plasma source (10) is disclosed wherein the source (10) comprises a top layer (13) and a bottom layer (11) electrically connected to and spaced apart from each other, in a manner to adjust the fields generated by the source (10), hence the uniformity of the plasma (70), wherein the top and bottom layers (13, 11) are formed by a plurality of conductive loops.

High density plasma source for semiconductor processing

Growing community of inventors

Plano, TX, United States of America

Lawrence J Overzet