Applied Materials, Inc.

Lawrence Wong

Kartik Ramaswamy

Kenneth S Collins

Yang Yang

Andrew Nguyen

Steven Lane

Hiroji Hanawa

Shahid Rauf

Kallol Bera

Douglas A Buchberger, Jr

Steven C Shannon

James P Cruse

Troy S Detrick

Jennifer Y Sun

James D Carducci

Matthew L Miller

Walter R Merry

Subhash Deshmukh

Richard Charles Fovell

Satoru Kobayashi

Roger Alan Lindley

Srinivas D Nemani

Praburam Gopalraja

Samer Banna

Keiji Horioka

Joseph F AuBuchon

Chunlei Zhang

Hong Sheng Yang

Haitao Wang

Travis Koh

Nipun Misra

Martin Jeff Salinas

Chinh Dinh

Jonathan Liu

A plasma reactor includes a processing chamber having a lower processing portion having an axis of symmetry and an array of cavities extending upwardly from the lower processing portion. A gas distributor couples plural gas sources to a plurality of gas inlets of the cavities, and the gas distributor includes a plurality of valves with each valve selectively connecting a respective gas inlet to one of the plural gas sources. Power is applied by an array of conductors that includes a respective conductor for each respective cavity with each conductor adjacent and surrounding a cavity. A power distributor couples a power source and the array of conductors, and the power distributor includes a plurality of switches with a switch for each respective conductor.

Chamber with individually controllable plasma generation regions for a reactor for processing a workpiece

An external magnetic filter to trap electrons surrounds a reactor chamber and has multiple magnets arranged in a circle, the magnetic orientation of each individual magnet being rotated relative to the orientation of the adjacent individual magnet by a difference angle that is a function of the arc subtended by the individual magnet.

Plasma processing reactor with a magnetic electron-blocking filter external of the chamber and uniform field within the chamber

Methods and apparatus for measurement of a surface charge profile of an electrostatic chuck are provided herein. In some embodiments, an apparatus for measurement of a surface charge profile of an electrostatic chuck includes: an electrostatic charge sensor disposed on a substrate to obtain data indicative of an electrostatic charge on an electrostatic chuck; and a transmitter disposed on the substrate and having an input in communication with an output of the electrostatic charge sensor to transmit the data.

Real-time measurement of a surface charge profile of an electrostatic chuck

Plural sensors on an interior surface of a reactor chamber are linked by respective RF communication channels to a hub inside the reactor chamber, which in turn is linked to a process controller outside of the chamber.

Method of real time in-situ chamber condition monitoring using sensors and RF communication

Implementations described herein provide a substrate support assembly which enables tuning of a plasma within a plasma chamber. In one embodiment, a method for tuning a plasma in a chamber is provided. The method includes providing a first radio frequency power and a direct current power to a first electrode in a substrate support assembly, providing a second radio frequency power to a second electrode in the substrate support assembly at a different location than the first electrode, monitoring parameters of the first and second radio frequency power, and adjusting one or both of the first and second radio frequency power based on the monitored parameters.

Multiple electrode substrate support assembly and phase control system

Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, an apparatus for processing a substrate includes a process chamber having an internal processing volume disposed beneath a dielectric lid of the process chamber; a substrate support disposed in the process chamber and having a support surface to support a substrate; an inductive coil disposed above the dielectric lid to inductively couple RF energy into the internal processing volume to form a plasma above the substrate support; and a first inductive applicator ring coupled to a lift mechanism to position the first inductive applicator ring within the internal processing volume.

Method and apparatus for controlling plasma near the edge of a substrate

Spatial distribution of RF power delivered to plasma in a processing chamber is controlled using an arrangement of primary and secondary inductors, wherein the current through the secondary inductors affects the spatial distribution of the plasma. The secondary inductors are configured to resonate at respectively different frequencies. A first secondary inductor is selectively excited to resonance, during a first time period within a duty cycle, by delivering power to a primary inductor at the resonant frequency of the first secondary inductor. A second secondary inductor is selectively excited to resonance, during a second time period within a duty cycle, by delivering power to a primary inductor at the resonant frequency of the second secondary inductor. The secondary inductors are isolated from one another and terminated such that substantially all current that passes through them and into the plasma results from mutual inductance with a primary inductor.

System and method for selective coil excitation in inductively coupled plasma processing reactors

Implementations described herein inject feedstock gases into multiple zones of an inductively coupled plasma processing reactor with minimal or no effect on process skew. In one embodiment, an integrated gas and coil assembly is provided that includes an upper surface and a lower surface, a first RF field applicator coil bounded at the upper surface and the lower surface, a second RF field applicator coil circumscribed by the first RF field applicator coil and bounded at the upper surface and the lower surface and an RF shield disposed between the first and second RF field generator wherein the RF shield extends from the lower surface and past the upper surface. The RF shield may have at least one gas channel disposed therethrough.

Method of multiple zone symmetric gas injection for inductively coupled plasma

An RF plasma source has a resonator with its shorted end joined to the processing chamber ceiling and inductively coupled to two arrays of radial toroidal channels in the ceiling, the resonator having two radial zones and the two arrays of toroidal channels lying in respective ones of the radial zones.

Spatially discrete multi-loop RF-driven plasma source having plural independent zones

Plasma distribution is controlled in a plasma reactor by controlling the phase differences between different RF coil antennas, in accordance with a desired or user-selected phase difference, by a phase-lock feedback control loop.

Independent control of RF phases of separate coils of an inductively coupled plasma reactor

A method of controlling distribution of a plasma parameter in a plasma reactor having an RF-driven electrode and two (or more) counter electrodes opposite the RF driven electrode and facing different portions of the process zones. The method includes providing two (or more) variable reactances connected between respective ones of the counter electrodes and ground, and governing the variable reactances to change distribution of a plasma parameter such as plasma ion density or ion energy.

Method of differential counter electrode tuning in an RF plasma reactor

Embodiments of impedance matching networks are provided herein. In some embodiments, an impedance matching network may include a coaxial resonator having an inner and an outer conductor. A tuning capacitor may be provided for variably controlling a resonance frequency of the coaxial resonator. The tuning capacitor may be formed by a first tuning electrode and a second tuning electrode and an intervening dielectric, wherein the first tuning electrode is formed by a portion of the inner conductor. A load capacitor may be provided for variably coupling energy from the inner conductor to a load. The load capacitor may be formed by the inner conductor, an adjustable load electrode, and an intervening dielectric.

Apparatus for VHF impedance match tuning

Embodiments of sensor devices for characterizing magnetic fields formed in substrate processing systems and methods of use thereof are provided herein. In some embodiments, an apparatus for characterizing a magnetic field in a substrate processing system may include a carrier having a form substantially similar to a substrate to be processed in the substrate processing system. One or more magnetic sensors are disposed on the carrier for measuring a magnitude of a magnetic field formed in the processing system in an x-, y-, and z-direction. A microprocessor is coupled to the one or more magnetic sensors to sample data representative of the magnitude of the magnetic field in the x-, y-, and z-directions proximate a position of each sensor. A memory device is coupled to the microprocessor for storing the sampled data. A power source is provided to supply power to each magnetic sensor and the microprocessor.

Apparatus for characterizing a magnetic field in a magnetically enhanced substrate processing system

A method of processing a workpiece in a plasma reactor chamber includes coupling RF power via an electrode to plasma in the chamber, the RF power being of a variable frequency in a frequency range that includes a fundamental frequency f. The method also includes coupling the electrode to a resonator having a resonant VHF frequency F which is a harmonic of the fundamental frequency f, so as to produce VHF power at the harmonic. The method controls the ratio of power near the fundamental f to power at harmonic F, by controlling the proportion of power from the generator that is up-converted from f to F, so as to control plasma ion density distribution.

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Lawrence Wong