Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.

Aes Global Holdings Pte Ltd.

Randy L Heckman

Victor Brouk

Daniel John Hoffman

Daniel Carter

Victor L Brouk

An apparatus and method to produce a waveform. The apparatus includes a first node, at least one switch that couples a second node to the first node, and responsive to the at least one switch being closed, a peak voltage is produced at the first node before a voltage at the first node drops by a voltage step. A power supply is coupled to the first node to produce, after the voltage step, a ramped voltage at the first node.

Apparatus to produce a waveform

An apparatus and method to produce a waveform. The apparatus includes a first node to couple to a substrate support and a power supply coupled to a second node wherein the power supply is configured to provide a DC voltage to set an ion-energy at a surface of the substrate. The apparatus also includes a first switch that couples the second node to the first node, and responsive to the first switch being closed, a first voltage is applied at the first node. A second switch of the power supply couples a third node to the first node, and responsive to the second switch being closed, a second voltage is applied at the first node to effectuate a negative voltage at the surface of the substrate.

Apparatus to control ion energy

Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) RF power delivery systems are disclosed that include at least two ICP coils. At least one of the ICP coils is directly driven by an RF resonant power amplifier that includes a resonant tank comprising the ICP coil. A controller is configured to control the power into the direct driven ICP coil by varying a corresponding DC voltage source and simultaneously varying operating frequency into the ICP coil by allowing a resonant voltage waveform across a corresponding open switch network to rise and then fall to substantially zero volts before closing the corresponding switch network for a remainder of an RF cycle. Some variations comprise at least one passive ICP coil that is arranged and configured to be inductively coupled to the first ICP coil, and the passive ICP coil is terminated by an independently adjustable impedance.

Power delivery to a plasma via inductive coupling

An apparatus and method to produce a waveform. The apparatus includes a first node, a first power supply coupled to a second node, a first switch that couples the second node to the first node, and responsive to the first switch being closed, a peak voltage is applied at the first node. The apparatus also includes a second switch that couples a third node to the first node, and responsive to the second switch being closed, a voltage step is applied at the first node. In addition, a second power supply is coupled to the first node to produce a ramped voltage at the first node.

Apparatus with switches to produce a waveform

Systems, methods and apparatus for regulating ion energies in a plasma chamber are disclosed. An exemplary system includes an ion-energy control portion, and the ion-energy control portion provides at least one ion-energy control signal responsive to at least one ion-energy setting that is indicative of a desired distribution of energies of ions bombarding a surface of a substrate. A controller is coupled to the switch-mode power supply, and the controller provides at least two drive-control signals. In addition, a switch-mode power supply is coupled to the substrate support, the ion-energy control portion and the controller. The switch-mode power supply includes switching components configured to apply power to the substrate responsive to the drive signals and the ion-energy control signal so as to effectuate the desired distribution of the energies of ions bombarding the surface of the substrate.

Method and apparatus for controlling ion energy distribution

Systems, methods and apparatus for regulating ion energies in a plasma chamber are disclosed. An exemplary method includes placing a substrate in a plasma chamber, forming a plasma in the plasma chamber, controllably switching power to the substrate so as to apply a periodic voltage function to the substrate, and modulating, over multiple cycles of the periodic voltage function, the periodic voltage function responsive to a desired distribution of energies of ions at the surface of the substrate so as to effectuate the desired distribution of ion energies on a time-averaged basis.

System, method and apparatus for controlling ion energy distribution

Methods for regulating ion energies in a plasma chamber are disclosed. An exemplary method includes placing a substrate in a plasma chamber, forming a plasma in the plasma chamber, controllably switching power to the substrate so as to apply a periodic voltage function to the substrate, and modulating, over multiple cycles of the periodic voltage function, the periodic voltage function responsive to a desired distribution of energies of ions at the surface of the substrate so as to effectuate the desired distribution of ion energies on a time-averaged basis.

Method for controlling ion energy distribution

An approach for stabilizing the interactions between a plasma and the generator powering the plasma is provided. Reactive elements disposed between the power generator and plasma operate to modify the apparent impedance characteristics of the plasma such that the trajectory of the plasma load impedance as a function of power is substantially aligned locally with the contours of constant power output in impedance space. In this way, instabilities in the generator and plasma system are avoided because reinforcement or amplification of fluctuations in plasma impedance due to interactions between the generator and the plasma are reduced or eliminated. The reactive elements may be variable in order to align plasma trajectories and generator power contours under a range of process conditions.

Stabilizing plasma and generator interactions

A probe to be inserted in-line in an AC plasma processing system allows accurate, real time determination of plasma parameters such as power and complex impedance over a broad dynamic range. Any need to know power output from a source is avoided and signals are selected to optimize accuracy such that only two alternating signals need be sensed for many applications. Signals are selected such that magnitudes of simple alternating signals can be easily measured as scalar values in a fashion that affords the use of these values to completely characterize the power actually delivered to the processing plasma and its complex impedance in real time. Plasma characterization can be limited to only specific frequencies for more accurate determination. Microstrip directional couplers are used to sense signals from the power transmission. These signals are then utilized to derive simple alternating signals representative of power or voltage. Three or more scalar values representative of the magnitude of the alternating signals and their combination serve as the variable inputs to determine complex reflection coefficient or impedance using known formulas. Use of a sign bit detector or assumptions with respect to the processing plasma is disclosed for complete characterization of the plasma in an efficient manner.

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Fort Collins, CO, United States of America

Randy L Heckman