Plasma-Therm Nes LLC

Sarpangala Hariharakeshava Hegde

Vincent Lee

Wei-Hua Hsiao

Armin Baur

Russell Westerman

Peter Goglia

Joseph Barraco

Jerome Michael Buckley

The present disclosure provides several methods for processing a substrate within a shutterless ion beam etching (IBE) system or shutterless ion assist ion beam deposition (IBD) system while preventing electrostatic damage to the substrate. In the IBE, at an etch completion, the ion energy to the ion source is reduced to less than 20 electron volts while at least one of the devices of the plurality of devices on the top surface of the substrate is exposed to a portion of the ion beam. In the IBD, at a deposition ion assist completion, the ion energy from the second ion source is reduced to less than 20 electron volts while at least one of the devices of the plurality of devices on the top surface of the substrate is exposed to the second ion beam.

Electrostatic discharge prevention in ion beam system

The present disclosure provides a method to adjust asymmetric velocity of a scan in a scanning ion beam deposition or etch process to correct asymmetry of depositing or etching between the inboard side and the outboard side of device structures on a wafer, while maintaining the overall uniformity of the respective deposition or etch across the full wafer.

Scanning ion beam deposition and etch

The present disclosure provides a method for increased target utilization within a sputtering system. A plurality of targets are provided wherein each target is operatively connected to a central axis. An ion beam is generated within the sputtering system. The generated ion beam is directed at a first location of a first target for a first time period. Each target is moved by rotating the central axis. The generated ion beam is directed at a second location of the first target for a second time period.

Ion beam deposition target life enhancement

The present disclosure provides a method of achieving an integral number of sweeps within an ion beam. A substrate having a fiducial is placed on a wafer stage within the ion beam system. An energetic particle beam is generated within the ion beam system. The substrate is exposed to the energetic particle beam while the wafer stage with the substrate is rotated clockwise so that the fiducial of the substrate travels a sweep distance in a clockwise direction at a first speed and the fiducial of the substrate travels the same sweep distance in a counterclockwise direction at a second speed. The exposure of the substrate to the energetic particle beam is discontinued when the number of complete/full sweeps in the clockwise direction equals the number of complete/full sweeps in the counterclockwise direction.

Integral sweep in ion beam system

The present disclosure provides a method to adjust asymmetric velocity of a scan in a scanning ion beam etch process to correct asymmetry of etching between the inboard side and the outboard side of device structures on a wafer, while maintaining the overall uniformity of etch across the full wafer.

Scanning ion beam etch

The present invention provides a charged particle source comprising a plasma processing chamber that has a plasma source, a gas supply and an ion extraction grid that are each operatively connected to the processing chamber. A conducting plate is located adjacent to a wall of the plasma source. The conducting plate has a surface with a plurality of grooves that face the wall of the plasma source. A substrate support is disposed within an interior portion of the processing chamber for supporting a substrate.

Powered anode for ion source for DLC and reactive processes

A planetary arm coupled to a tilt actuator moves a wafer in oscillatory motion along an arcuate path to expose a surface of the wafer to an incident ion beam for deposition and/or etching processing of thin film structures on the surface of the wafer. A wafer holder on an end of the planetary arm may be driven in rotation while the planetary arm executes oscillatory motion at a selected tilt angle relative to an incident ion beam. A slit support plate provides controllable exposure of the wafer to the incident beam. Embodiments are suitable for use in wafer deposition machines and/or wafer etching machines.

Growing community of inventors

Fremont, CA, United States of America

Sarpangala Hariharakeshava Hegde