Balzers Aktiengesellschaft

Unaxis-balzers Aktiengesellschaft

Oerlikon Solar IP Ag, Trubbach

Mustapha Elyaakoubi

Jacques Schmitt

Jerome Perrin

The invention relates to a lifting and supporting device for handling and positioning particularly large-surface elements in the shape of panels, especially in plasma processing installations. Said lifting and supporting device comprises a particularly metallic base plate, on which a plurality of particularly dielectric pins are arranged. Said pins may be set in pin holes especially provided in the base plate. Said panel-shaped element may be positioned on the pin end for the handling thereof or during a plasma processing. Said panel-shaped element may present an electrostatic charge. A small diameter for the pins and pin holes is selected such that, in conformity with the panel-shaped element provided with the electrostatic charge, an undesired electrostatic charge on said panel-shaped element is essentially avoided or, in conformity with the panel-shaped element to be plasma processed, a plasma perturbation in the area of the pin holes or pins is essentially avoided.

Lifting and supporting device

A capacitively coupled RF plasma reactor allows treatment of large workpiece surfaces with an accurate control of ion bombardment onto the respective electrode surfaces and thus an adjacent workpiece, be it to a desired low or to a desired high level. The reactor includes a first and a second electrode arrangement mutually spaced and confining a plasma reaction volume, at lest one of the electrode arrangements comprising electrically mutually isolated sub-electrodes, a first group of the sub-electrodes being commonly connected to a first electric input, and a second group of the sub-electrodes being commonly connected to a second electric input. The reactor thus substitutes at least one of the two customarily used reactor electrodes by an array of sub-electrodes which, by way of their respective first and second electric inputs, may be independently and thus differently electrically operated, usually but not exclusively with RF voltages.

Capacitively coupled RF-plasma reactor

A capacitively coupled Rf plasma reactor and method in which first and second extended electrode arrangements are mutually and substantially constantly spaced and substantially enclose a plasma reaction volume within a reactor chamber. The first of the electrode arrangements is subdivided into electrically mutually isolated subelectrodes, and the second is a substrate carrier electrode for an extended substrate to be surface treated in the reactor. A first group of the subelectrodes is connected to a common first electric input, and a second group of the subelectrodes is commonly connected to a second electric input. The first and said second electric inputs being independent. Only one Rf signal generator providing an electric output is connected to both the first and second electric inputs via respective signal adjusting units to control ion bombardment on and along the flat substrate. Slits can be formed between subelectrodes of the first electrode arrangement with a width smaller than a dark space distance of a plasma generated in the reaction volume. A gas feed arrangement communicating with the bottom of the slits applies a gas between said subelectrodes defining said slits and into said reaction volume.

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Massy, France

Mustapha Elyaakoubi