Applied Materials, Inc.

Axcelis Technologies, Inc.

Mahmoud Dahimene

Siamak Salimian

Ivan Berry

Richard Raymond Mett

Bryan Y Pu

Stuart Rounds

Li-Qun Xia

Yan Ye

Ananda H Kumar

Shamouil Shamouilian

Yunsang Kim

Keiji Horioka

Chun Yan

Dennis Stanley Grimard

Gerardo Delgadino

Paul E Luscher

Hongqing Shan

Evans Yip Lee

Xiaoye Zhao

Roger Alan Lindley

Douglas H Burns

Kenny Linh Doan

Jingbao Liu

Michael G Chafin

Kang-Lie Chiang

Qingyuan Han

Robert Douglas Mohondro

Michael Owens

Hoiman Raymond Hung

Palani Sakthivel

John Scott Hallock

Taeho Shin

Ricky Ruffin

Giuseppina Conti

Panyin Hughes

Qi Li

Qingyan Han

Mark Steven Contreras

Don Curry

A method and apparatus for controlling a magnetic field gradient within a magnetically enhanced plasma reactor. The apparatus comprises a cathode pedestal supporting a wafer within an enclosure, a plurality of electromagnets positioned proximate the enclosure for producing a magnetic field in the enclosure and a magnetic field control element, positioned proximate the electromagnets, for controlling the magnetic field proximate a specific region of the wafer.

Method and apparatus for providing uniform plasma in a magnetic field enhanced plasma reactor

Apparatus for plasma etching a layer of material upon a substrate comprising an anode having a first region protruding from a second region, wherein the second region defines a plane and the first region extends from said plane. In one embodiment, at least one solenoid is disposed near the apparatus to magnetize the plasma.

Apparatus for uniformly etching a dielectric layer

A method of treating a dielectric layer having a low dielectric constant, where the dielectric layer has been processed in a manner that causes a change in the dielectric constant of an affected region of the layer. The treatment of the affected region may comprise etching, sputtering, annealing, or combinations thereof. The treatment returns the dielectric constant of the dielectric layer to substantially the dielectric constant that existed before processing.

Method for modifying dielectric characteristics of dielectric layers

A method of enabling the removal of fluorine containing residue from a semiconductor substrate comprising applying a gas and/or vapor to which the residue is reactive to the residue while the temperature of the substrate is at an elevated level with respect to ambient temperature and the residue is exposed to ultraviolet radiation, for a time period which is sufficient to effect at least one of volatilizing the residue or rendering the residue hydrophilic enough to be removable with deionized water.

Method of photoresist ash residue removal

A method for stripping photoresist and/or removing post etch residues from an exposed low k dielectric layer of a semiconductor wafer in the presence or absence of copper. The method comprises creating an oxygen free plasma by subjecting an oxygen free gas to an energy source to generate the plasma having electrically neutral and charged particles. The charged particles are then selectively removed from the plasma. The electrically neutral particles react with the photoresist and/or post etch residues to form volatile gases which are then removed from the wafer by a gas stream. The oxygen free, plasma gas composition for stripping photoresist and/or post etch residues comprises a hydrogen bearing gas and a fluorine bearing wherein the fluorine bearing gas is less than about 10 percent by volume of the total gas composition.

Oxygen free plasma stripping process

A method of stripping a photoresist layer comprising applying a re-coating material on the photoresist layer which extends through and fills openings in a first layer on which the photoresist layer is disposed, ashing the stack comprised of the photoresist layer and the re-coating material, and removing such re-coating material as remains in the openings in the first layer after the ashing.

Method of stripping photoresist using re-coating material

A support,comprises a dielectric,covering a primary electrode,the dielectric,having a surface,adapted to receive a substrate,and a conduit,that extends through the dielectric,The thickness of a portion of the dielectric,between an edge,of the primary electrode,and a surface,of the conduit,is sufficiently large to reduce the incidence of plasma formation in the conduit,when the primary electrode,is charged by an RF voltage to form a plasma of gas in the chamber,during processing of the substrate

Substrate support for plasma processing

A method and apparatus for retaining a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, upon an electrostatic chuck within a semiconductor wafer processing system. Specifically, the invention contains high voltage, DC power supply that is capable of both sourcing and sinking current at any polarity of output voltage level. This power supply is coupled to at least one electrode of an electrostatic chuck. Consequently, the power supply can be used to dynamically control the chucking voltage in response to any indicia of optimal chucking including leakage current, wafer-to-chuck potential, backside gas leakage rate, and the like.

Method and apparatus for supplying a chucking voltage to an electrostatic chuck within a semiconductor wafer processing system

A DC power supply having a pair of 'piggybacked' voltage supplies, where a reference voltage supply provides a reference voltage for a variable voltage supply and each voltage supply is coupled to a current sink. The power supply is capable of sourcing and sinking current through a single output terminal when supplying a positive or negative output voltage with respect to ground.

DC power supply

A method and apparatus for actively controlling the DC cathode potential of a wafer support pedestal within a semiconductor wafer processing system. The apparatus contains a variable DC power supply coupled through an RF filter to a cathode pedestal. The variable DC power supply is actively controlled by a control signal generated by a cathode bias control unit, e.g., a computer or other control circuitry. The cathode bias control unit can be as simple as an operator adjustable control signal, e.g., a rheostat. However, for more accurate control of the DC power supply, a feedback circuit is used that generates a control signal that is proportional to the peak-to-peak voltage on a cathode pedestal. The application of the DC bias to the pedestal reduces the DC potential difference between the wafer and the cathode and, thereby avoids arcing from the wafer to the pedestal.

Apparatus and method for actively controlling the DC potential of a

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Mahmoud Dahimene