Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc.

Applied Materials, Inc.

Peter F Kurunczi

Joseph C Olson

Morgan Evans

Alexandre Likhanskii

Rutger Meyer Timmerman Thijssen

Bon-Woong Koo

Svetlana Radovanov

Costel Biloiu

Jay Thomas Scheuer

Christopher J Leavitt

Frank Sinclair

Timothy J Miller

Wilhelm P Platow

William Davis Lee

Anthony Renau

Alexander S Perel

Kevin R Anglin

Christopher A Rowland

William M Holber

Nicholas P T Bateman

Christopher W Campbell

Vikram M Bhosle

John A Frontiero

Robert Masci

Ryan Downey

Ludovic Godet

Victor M Benveniste

Vikram Singh

Neil J Bassom

Russell J Low

John W Graff

Christopher R Hatem

Kevin M Daniels

Graham Wright

Tyler Burton Rockwell

Nicholas Pt Bateman

Rajesh Dorai

Oliver V Naumovski

Min-Sung Jeon

James Buonodono

John J Hautala

Benjamin B Riordon

Craig Richard Chaney

Paul J Murphy

Eric D Hermanson

David T Blahnik

Richard John Hertel

Tristan Yonghui Ma

Jay R Wallace

D Jeffrey Lischer

Robert C Lindberg

Piotr R Lubicki

George Gammel

Shardul Patel

Eric R Cobb

Daniel Distaso

Ernest E Allen

Donna Smatlak

Brant S Binns

Alan V Hayes

Kevin T Ryan

William T Levay

John (Bon-Woong) Koo

Minab B Teferi

Kurt Deckerlucke

Provided herein are approaches for providing a more uniform ion flux and ion angular distribution across a wafer to minimize etch yield loss resulting from etch profile variations. In some embodiments, a system may include a plasma source operable to generate a plasma within a plasma chamber enclosed by a chamber housing, wherein the plasma source comprises a plasma shaper extending into the plasma chamber from a wall of the chamber housing. The plasma shaper may include a shaper wall coupled to the wall of the chamber housing, and a shaper end wall connected to the shaper wall, the shaper end wall defining an indentation extending towards the wall of the chamber housing.

Plasma shaper to control ion flux distribution of plasma source

A ribbon beam plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system comprising a process chamber containing a platen for supporting a substrate, and a plasma source disposed adjacent the process chamber and adapted to produce free radicals in a plasma chamber, the plasma chamber having an aperture associated therewith for allowing a beam of the free radicals to exit the plasma chamber, wherein the process chamber is maintained at a first pressure and the plasma chamber is maintained at a second pressure greater than the first pressure for driving the free radicals from the plasma chamber into the process chamber.

Ribbon beam plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system for anisotropic deposition of thin films

An ion source capable of extracting a ribbon ion beam with improved uniformity is disclosed. One of the walls of the ion source has a protrusion on its interior surface facing the chamber. The protrusion creates a loss area that serves as a sink for free electrons and ions. This causes a reduction in plasma density near the protrusion, and may improve the uniformity of the ribbon ion beam that is extracted from the ion source by modifying the beam current near the protrusion. The shape of the protrusion may be modified to achieve the desired uniformity. The protrusion may also be utilized with a cylindrical ion source. In certain embodiments, the protrusion is created by a plurality of mechanically adjustable protrusion elements.

Device to control uniformity of extracted ion beam

A system may include a substrate stage, configured to support a substrate, where a main surface of the substrate defines a substrate plane. The system may include an ion source, including an extraction assembly that is oriented to direct an ion beam to the substrate along a trajectory defining a non-zero angle of incidence with respect to a perpendicular to the substrate plane. The system may include a radical source oriented to direct a radical beam to the substrate along a trajectory defining the non-zero angle of incidence with respect to a perpendicular to the substrate plane. The substrate stage may be further configured to scan the substrate along a first direction, lying with the substrate plane, while the main surface of the substrate is oriented within the substrate plane.

Scanned angled etching apparatus and techniques providing separate co-linear radicals and ions

A method for forming a device structure is disclosed. The method of forming a device structure includes forming a variable-depth structure in a device material layer using a laser ablation. A plurality of device structures is formed in the variable-depth structure to define slanted device structures therein. The variable-depth structure and the slanted device structures are formed using an etch process.

Forming variable depth structures with laser ablation

A system may include a substrate stage to support a substrate, and a plurality of beam sources. The plurality of beam sources may include an ion beam source, the ion beam source arranged to direct an ion beam to the substrate, and a radical beam source, the radical beam source arranged to direct a radical beam to the substrate. The system may include a controller configured to control the ion beam source and the radical beam source to operate independently of one another, in at least one aspect, wherein the at least one aspect includes beam composition, beam angle of incidence, and relative scanning of a beam source with respect to the substrate.

Apparatus and techniques for substrate processing using independent ion source and radical source

A plasma source may include a plasma chamber, where the plasma chamber has a first side, defining a first plane and an extraction assembly, disposed adjacent to the side of the plasma chamber, where the extraction assembly includes at least two electrodes. A first electrode may be disposed immediately adjacent the side of the plasma chamber, wherein a second electrode defines a vertical displacement from the first electrode along a first direction, perpendicular to the first plane, wherein the first electrode comprises a first aperture, and the second electrode comprises a second aperture. The first aperture may define a lateral displacement from the second aperture along a second direction, parallel to the first plane, wherein the vertical displacement and the lateral displacement define a non-zero angle of inclination with respect to a perpendicular to the first plane.

Apparatus and techniques for angled etching using multielectrode extraction source

A processing system may include a plasma chamber operable to generate a plasma, and an extraction assembly, arranged along a side of the plasma chamber. The extraction assembly may include an extraction plate including an extraction aperture, the extraction plate having a non-planar shape, and generating an extracted ion beam at a high angle of incidence with respect to a perpendicular to a plane of a substrate, when the plane of the substrate is arranged parallel to the side of the plasma chamber.

Apparatus and system including high angle extraction optics

A system having an auxiliary plasma source, disposed proximate the workpiece, for use with an ion beam is disclosed. The auxiliary plasma source is used to create ions and radicals which drift toward the workpiece and may form a film. The ion beam is then used to provide energy so that the ions and radicals can process the workpiece. Further, various applications of the system are also disclosed. For example, the system can be used for various processes including deposition, implantation, etching, pre-treatment and post-treatment. By locating an auxiliary plasma source close to the workpiece, processes that were previously not possible may be performed. Further, two dissimilar processes, such as cleaning and implanting or implanting and passivating can be performed without removing the workpiece from the end station.

System and methods using an inline surface engineering source

An ion source having an extraction plate with a variable thickness is disclosed. The extraction plate has a protrusion on its interior or exterior surface proximate the extraction aperture. The protrusion increases the thickness of the extraction aperture in certain regions. This increases the loss area in those regions, which serves as a sink for ions and electrons. In this way, the plasma density is decreased more significantly in the regions where the extraction aperture has a greater thickness. The shape of the protrusion may be modified to achieve the desired plasma uniformity. Thus, it may be possible to create an extracted ion beam having a more uniform ion density. In some tests, the uniformity of the beam current along the width direction was improved by between 20% and 50%.

Variable thickness ion source extraction plate

Provided herein are approaches for performing electrodynamic mass analysis with a radio frequency (RF) biased ion source to reduce ion beam energy spread. In some embodiments, a system may include an ion source including a power supply, the ion source operable to generate a plasma within a chamber housing, and an extraction power assembly including a first power supply and a second power supply electrically coupled with the chamber housing of the ion source, wherein the first power supply and the second power supply are operable to bias the chamber housing of the ion source with a time modulated voltage to extract an ion beam from the ion source. The system may further include an electrodynamic mass analysis (EDMA) assembly operable to receive the ion beam and perform mass analysis on the ion beam.

Electrodynamic mass analysis with RF biased ion source

Provided herein are approaches for in-situ plasma cleaning of ion beam optics. In one approach, a system includes a component (e.g., a beam-line component) of an ion implanter processing chamber. The system further includes a power supply for supplying a first voltage and first current to the component during a processing mode and a second voltage and second current to the component during a cleaning mode. The second voltage and current are applied to one or more conductive beam optics of the component, individually, to selectively generate plasma around one or more of the one or more conductive beam optics. The system may further include a flow controller for adjusting an injection rate of an etchant gas supplied to the beam-line component, and a vacuum pump for adjusting pressure of an environment of the beam-line component.

In-situ plasma cleaning of process chamber components

Embodiments herein provide systems and methods for forming an optical component. A method may include providing a plurality of proximity masks between a plasma source and a workpiece, the workpiece including a plurality of substrates secured thereto. Each of the plurality of substrates may include first and second target areas. The method may further include delivering, from the plasma source, an angled ion beam towards the workpiece, wherein the angled ion beam is then received at one of the plurality of masks. A first proximity mask may include a first set of openings permitting the angled ion beam to pass therethrough to just the first target area of each of the plurality of substrates. A second proximity mask may include a second set of openings permitting the angled ion beam to pass therethrough just to the second target area of each of the plurality of substrates.

System and method for forming diffracted optical element having varied gratings

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Somerville, MA, United States of America

Peter F Kurunczi