Surface Technology Systems Plc

Oxford Instruments Nanotechnology Tools Limited

Leslie Michael Lea

Jyoti Kiron Bhardwaj

Edward Guibarra

Nicholas Shepherd

Mark Edward McNie

Huma Ashraf

Graham Hodgson

Janet Hopkins

Michael Cooke

Alan Michael Hynes

Ian Ronald Johnston

Michael Joseph Cooke

Mark Edward Mcnie

Methods are disclosed for depositing material onto and/or etching material from a substrate in a surface processing tool having a processing chamber, a controller and one or more devices for adjusting the process parameters within the chamber. The method comprises: the controller instructing the one or more devices according to a series of control steps, each control step specifying a defined set of process parameters that the one or more devices are instructed to implement, wherein at least one of the control steps comprises the controller instructing the one or more devices to implement a defined set of constant process parameters for the duration of the step, including at least a chamber pressure and gas flow rate through the chamber, which duration is less than the corresponding gas residence time (T) of the processing chamber for the step.

Methods and apparatus for depositing and/or etching material on a substrate

A plasma processing apparatus includes a chamber having a support for a substrate, and at least one gas inlet into the chamber. The apparatus is configured to alternately introduce an etch gas and a deposition gas into the chamber through the at least on gas inlet, and to strike a plasma into the etch gas and the deposition gas alternately introduced into the chamber. The apparatus is further equipped with an attenuation device for reducing and/or homogenizing the ion flux from the plasma substantially without affecting the neutral radical number density.

Plasma processing apparatus

A workpiece is processed in a chamber by striking a plasma in the chamber, treating the workpiece by cyclically adjusting the processing parameters between at least a first step having a first set of processing parameters and a second step having a second set of process parameters, wherein the plasma is stabilized during the transition between the first and second steps. These steps may comprise cyclic etch and deposition steps. One possibility for stabilizing the plasma is by matching the impedance of the plasma to the impedance of the power supply which provides energy to the plasma, by means of a matching unit which can be controlled in a variety of ways depending upon the step type or time during the step. Another possibility is to prevent or reduce substantially variation in the pressure in the chamber between the first and second steps.

Method and apparatus for stabilizing a plasma

A ClFgas generation system is provided with supply sources of chlorine () (for example a cylinder of compressed chlorine) and fluorine () (for example a fluorine generator) connected into a gas reaction chamber () enabling generation of ClFgas. The reaction chamber has a valved outlet (C) for the supply of the ClFgas to a process chamber for immediate local use.

Chlorotrifuorine gas generator system

A substrate is treated by supplying an etchant and/or deposition gas into a chamber in which the substrate is situated. In order to avoid the problems associated with transportation of toxic gases, the gases required for such processes are delivered directly from a gas generation and delivery system positioned locally to the chamber.

Gas delivery system

A workpiece support includes a support body having a surface for supporting a workpiece thereon, and at least one Langmuir probe embedded within the support body. The Langmuir probe is covered by a layer of semiconductor or insulator. The workpiece support further includes a mechanism for intermittently feeding RF power to Langmuir probe, and for measuring a discharge of a capacitor in series with the Langmuir probe while the RF power is not supplied to the Langmuir probe.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber having a working volume. A single Radio-Frequency (RF) plasma generating antenna is positioned outside the working volume for inducing an electric field in the working volume. A dielectric trough extends into a wall of the chamber. The antenna is non-planar and transfers power through at least one wall and the base of the trough.

A plurality of antennae generate a plasma in the chamber containing a workpiece, and the relative outputs of the antennae are varied as a detector detects a property or parameter of the resultant plasma or process. The relative outputs of the antennae are controlled in accordance with the property or parameter detected. The detector, which detects the property or parameter at or near the workpiece location, is a Langmuir probe which is shielded from the plasma by a semiconductor or insulating layer and is driven.

A wafer processing chamber,includes a wafer support,a dielectyric window,and coaxial coils,and,located outside the dielectric window,for inducing a plasma within the chamber. A variety of coil/dielectric windows are described together with protocols for their control.

Plasma processing apparatus with coils in dielectric windows

Plasma processing apparatus frequently incorporates an antenna fed from a power supply and in this invention a power supply feeds a conventional matching circuit (,), which in turn is connected to the primary (,) of a transformer (,). The antenna (,) is coupled across the secondary winding (,) of the transformer (,) and that winding is tapped to ground at (,). This creates a virtual earth (,) near the mid point of the antenna (,) significantly reducing the variation, along the length of the antenna, in the power supplied to the plasma.

There is disclosed a method and apparatus for etching a substrate. The method comprises the steps of etching a substrate or alternately etching and depositing a passivation layer. A bias frequency, which may be pulsed, may be applied to the substrate and may be at or below the ion plasma frequency.

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Didcot, United Kingdom

Leslie Michael Lea