Tokyo Electron Limited

Mitsutoshi Ashida

Taro Ikeda

Eiki Kamata

Shigeru Kasai

Mitsuya Inoue

Yuki Osada

Sumi Tanaka

Hirokazu Ueda

Hiroyuki Miyashita

Mikio Sato

Isao Gunji

Yuji Obata

Ryoji Yamazaki

Isao Takahashi

There is provided a plasma processing apparatus comprising: a processing container configured such that a substrate is subjected to plasma processing; a dielectric top plate which is quadrangular and which is provided to close an upper opening of the processing container; and a conductor plate supporting the dielectric top plate and having four electromagnetic wave emitting ports for emitting electromagnetic waves to the dielectric top plate. Each of the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports has a rectangular shape having long side and short side, the electromagnetic wave emitting ports are arranged such that the long side of each of the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports are parallel to the closest side among four sides of the dielectric top plate forming the quadrangular shape, and the long sides of the two electromagnetic wave emitting ports oriented in a same direction do not overlap each other in the same direction.

Plasma processing apparatus, and plasma processing method

Measuring a plasma state using a probe device in the case of performing plasma processing on a substrate by introducing process gas into a processing container accommodating the substrate and by producing pulsed plasma using an electromagnetic wave pulse obtained by processing an electromagnetic wave generated from an electromagnetic wave oscillator using a pulsing device. An AC voltage to the pulsed plasma is applied via the probe device; transmitting a signal from the pulsed plasma based on the AC voltage via the probe device and measuring data including a current value; and obtaining a state of the pulsed plasma by analyzing the measured data. The frequency of the AC voltage deviates from a frequency of the electromagnetic wave pulse so that the number of data required for the measurement of the pulsed plasma within one cycle of the electromagnetic wave pulse is obtained within allowable time.

Plasma measurement method

A plasma processing method includes: supplying a gas into a processing container; and intermittently supplying microwave powers output from a plurality of microwave introducing modules into the processing container. In the intermittently supplying the microwave powers, the supply of all the microwave powers from the plurality of microwave introducing modules is periodically in an OFF state for a given time.

Plasma processing method and plasma processing apparatus

A directional coupler includes: a hollow coaxial line including a central conductor forming a main line and an outer conductor surrounding the central conductor and having an opening formed therein; a dielectric substrate covering the opening and provided with film-shaped ground conductors, wherein a film-shaped ground conductor covers a rear surface of the dielectric substrate facing the central conductor via the opening and a film-shaped ground conductor covers a front surface of the dielectric substrate, respectively, and are grounded; and a coupling line provided on the rear surface of the dielectric substrate in a region surrounded by the ground conductor formed on the rear surface and serving as an auxiliary line, wherein the ground conductor formed on the front surface is provided with a conductor-removed portion in which a portion of a conductor film in a region facing the coupling line via the dielectric substrate is removed.

Directional coupler for use in a substrate processing apparatus, where the directional coupler includes a coaxial line coupled to a conductor on a substrate

A device includes an amplifier for amplifying and supplying a high frequency power supplied to a load, a parameter detector for detecting a parameter of a current, a voltage, or a power from the amplifier to the load, a current supply unit for supplying a driving current for the amplifier, and an output unit for outputting a command signal for changing an amplification degree of the amplifier based on the detected parameter such that the parameter becomes a target value. The device further includes a first abnormality detector for detecting an abnormality by monitoring the command signal, and/or a current detector for detecting the driving current, a current data storage unit storing an upper and a lower limit value of the driving current, and a second abnormality detector for detecting the abnormality based on at least one of the upper limit value or the lower limit value.

High frequency power supply device and high frequency power supply method

In a high frequency generator, a high frequency generated by an IQ modulation of a vector multiplier and a amplification of an amplifier is outputted through an output unit. An directional coupler outputs a first high frequency including a part of traveling waves and a second high frequency including a part of reflected waves. A control units obtains an estimated value of each of an in-phase component and an orthogonal component of the traveling waves in the output unit, and an in-phase component and an orthogonal component of the reflected waves in the output unit by performing a first matrix operation that is an operation of four polynomials, each including as multi-variables an in-phase component and an orthogonal component of a first high frequency and an in-phase component and an orthogonal component of the second high frequency.

High frequency generator and plasma processing apparatus

In an automatic matching unit, a controller includes a first and a second matching algorithm. The operating point Zis moved stepwise toward the matching point Zwith a relatively large pitch by using the first matching algorithm. Further, when the operating point Zis within the outer proximity range, the operating point Zis moved stepwise toward the matching point Zwith a relatively small pitch by using the second matching algorithm. In the second matching algorithm, the operating point Zis moved close to the third reference line TCor TCperpendicular to the first or second reference line Cor Calong, e.g., the route Z(7)&#x2192;Z(8)&#x2192;Z(9) on the impedance coordinates. The coordinates of the operating point Z(9) reaches an available quasi-matching point Zextremely close to the origin O (the matching point Z).

Automatic matching unit and plasma processing apparatus

A microwave processing apparatus includes: a processing chamber; a microwave introducing unit for generating microwaves and introducing the microwaves into the chamber; and a control unit for controlling the microwave introducing unit. The microwave introducing unit has microwave sources for generating the microwaves and transmission lines for transmitting the microwaves into the chamber and introduces parts of the microwaves into the chamber simultaneously, and the control unit switches a first state of introducing said parts of the microwaves into the chamber to a second state of generating a microwave by one of the microwave sources and introducing into the chamber.

Microwave processing apparatus and control method thereof

There is provided a microwave irradiation apparatus capable of independently controlling a temperature of a target object while irradiating microwave to the target object. The microwave irradiation apparatusincludes a processing chamberconfigured to be vacuum-evacuated; a supporting tableconfigured to support the target object; a processing gas introduction unitconfigured to introduce a processing gas into the processing chamber; a microwave introduction unitconfigured to introduce the microwave into the processing chamber; a heating unitconfigured to heat the target object; a gas cooling unitconfigured to cool the target object by a cooling gas; a radiation thermometerconfigured to measure a temperature of the target object; and a temperature control unitconfigured to adjust the temperature of the target object by controlling the heating unit and the gas cooling unit based on the temperature measured by the radiation thermometer.

Microwave irradiation apparatus

A controllerof an automatic matching unit includes a first and a second matching control unitfor respectively variably controlling the electrostatic capacitances of a first and a second variable capacitorsthrough a first and a second stepping motorsuch that a measured absolute value ZMand a measured phase Z&#x3b8;of a load impedance obtained by an impedance measuring unitbecome close to a predetermined reference absolute value ZMand a predetermined reference phase Z&#x3b8;, respectively; and a gain control unit. The gain control unitvariably controls a proportional gain of at least one of the first and the second matching unit based on current electrostatic capacitances NCand NCof the first and the second variable capacitorsobtained by a first and a second electrostatic capacitance monitoring unit, respectively.

Automatic matching method, computer-readable storage medium, automatic matching unit, and plasma processing apparatus

A microwave irradiation device includes a chamber for accommodating an object to be processed; a plurality of magnetrons for generating microwaves and irradiating the microwaves to the object to be processed in the chamber; and a power supply unit for supplying a pulse-shaped voltage to each magnetron. The power supply unit supplies the pulse-shaped voltage to the magnetrons while preventing temporal overlap of voltage pulses of the pulse-shaped voltage supplied to the respective magnetrons with each other.

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Nirasaki, Japan

Mitsutoshi Ashida