Canon Anelva Corporation

Naoko Matsui

Hiroshi Akasaka

Atsushi Sekiguchi

Yoshimitsu Kodaira

Eiji Ozaki

Ryo Matsuhashi

The present invention provides a plasma processing apparatus which reduces damage from plasma generated in a discharge vessel and lengthens the replacement cycle of the discharge vessel. A plasma processing apparatusis provided with a processing chamberpartitioning a processing space, a discharge vesselwhose one end opens facing inside the processing chamberand the other end is closed, an antennawhich is disposed around the discharge vesseland generates an induced electric field to generate plasma in the discharge vesselunder reduced pressure, and an electromagnetwhich is arranged around the discharge vesseland forms a divergent magnetic field in the discharge vessel. The discharge vesselhas at its closed end portion a protrusionprojecting toward the processing chamber

Plasma processing apparatus and device manufacturing method

The present invention provides a manufacturing method of a magneto-resistance effect element, in which the step coverage of a formed film can be enlarged and also the film can be deposited in a low temperature range. In an embodiment of the present invention, an insulating protective layer is formed on a multilayered structure by a plasma CVD apparatus in which a plasma source and a film deposition chamber are separated from each other by a partition wall plate. According to the present method, it is possible to deposit the protective layer without inviting the degradation of a magnetic characteristic and also to perform low temperature film deposition even at a temperature lower than 150&#xb0; C. Hence, it is possible to deposit the protective layer while leaving resist and also to reduce the number of steps in the manufacturing of the magneto-resistance effect element having a multilayered structure.

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Machida, Japan

Naoko Matsui