Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Satoshi Takaki

Atsushi Yamagami

Koji Teranishi

Nobuyuki Okamura

Hiroshi Echizen

Yasuyoshi Takai

Kazuyoshi Akiyama

Hitoshi Murayama

Hiroyuki Katagiri

Yoshio Segi

There are provided a method and an apparatus for forming a fluoride thin film having a desired refractive index and no absorption throughout a range including the ultraviolet region and the visible region, using a sputtering method. The method of forming a fluoride thin film according to the present invention is a method of forming a metal fluoride thin film on a substrate by performing reactive sputtering with a gas comprising fluorine by use of a metal target, which comprises irradiating a gas comprising fluorine with electrons having an energy less than the ionization energy of the gas comprising fluorine to activate the gas and introducing the activated gas into a reaction apace, thereby performing sputtering.

Method and apparatus for forming fluoride thin film

A plasma processing apparatus has a substrate holder, arranged in a vessel which can be reduced in pressure, for placing a substrate to be processed there on, a process gas fed into the reaction vessel, and a cathode electrode for supplying a high-frequency wave power from a high-frequency wave power source to an interior of the reaction vessel through a matching circuit, and is characterized in that at least a part of the reaction vessel is constituted by a dielectric member, and the cathode electrode is arranged outside the reaction vessel, so that a plasma distribution in the reaction vessel is made uniform and a uniform plasma process for a substrate to be processed is made possible. The plasma process includes CVD, sputtering, etching or ashing.

Plasma processing apparatus

Plasma CVD apparatus and plasma processing method

Plasma CVD process

To improve the processing rate and uniformity in a plasma processing for a substrate having a relatively large area, a plasma processing apparatus includes a reaction vessel which has a portion made of a dielectric member, which accommodates a film formation substrate, and which can be evacuated, an evacuating means and a gas supply means for supplying a predetermined gas into the reaction vessel, a cathode electrode arranged in a position outside the reaction vessel where the cathode electrode opposes the film formation substrate accommodated in the reaction vessel via the dielectric member, and a high frequency power supply means (a matching circuit and a high frequency power supply) for supplying high frequency power of 30 MHz to 300 MHz to the cathode electrode. The high frequency power of 30 MHz to 300 MHz is supplied to the cathode electrode to generate a plasma between the dielectric member and the film formation substrate.

Plasma processing method

A plasma CVD system has a reactor which can be evacuated, a substrate holding means in the reactor, a material gas feed means for feeding into the reactor a material gas for plasma CVD, a high-frequency power supply means for supplying an electrode high-frequency power of 30 MHz to 600 MHz, generated by a high-frequency power source, and means for exhausting gas remaining in the reactor after the reaction. The high-frequency power is supplied to produce a plasma across a substrate in the reactor to form a deposited film on the substrate, and the phase of reflected power is adjusted on the electrode at a side opposite the feeding point. High-quality deposited films having very uniform film thickness and homogeneous film quality can be formed at a high rate and stably on large-area substrates having any shapes.

Plasma CVD system

A microwave plasma CVD apparatus comprising a hermetically sealed vacuum vessel, an evacuating means for evacuating the vacuum vessel, and microwave introducing means for introducing a microwave through a microwave transmission circuit into the vacuum vessel to produce a plasma within the vacuum vessel. The microwave transmission circuit includes a cavity resonator integrally provided with two matching circuits. The microwave plasma CVD apparatus solves all the problems in the conventional microwave plasma CVD apparatus, operates at a high rate of operation, improves working efficiency, reduces the manufacturing cost of a-Si devices, and reduces variance in performance between devices employing films deposited by the microwave plasma CVD apparatus. Since the microwave plasma CVD apparatus does not employ any large electromagnet, a film can be formed on a surface having a large area simply by selectively deciding a microwave propagation mode. Since the distance between the cavity resonator and the coupling hole can be varied, the microwave impedance can always be matched regardless of the sectional area of ionization, so that microwave power is used effectively and the gases are used at a very high efficiency.

Microwave chemical vapor deposition apparatus

A high frequency introducing means is provided which comprises a high frequency electrode having a shape of a bar or plate for generating plasma by high frequency power, and an adjustment mechanism for adjusting an absolute value of reactance between an end of the electrode opposite to a high frequency power introducing point of the electrode and a grounded portion. A plasma treatment apparatus and a plasma treatment method are also provided employing the above high frequency introducing means. A deposition film of high quality is formed stably and efficiently in an extremely uniform thickness and an extremely uniform quality at a high speed on a base member of a large area by adjusting the absolute value of the reactance.

High-frequency introducing means, plasma treatment apparatus, and plasma

A plasma processing apparatus has a substrate holder, arranged in a reaction vessel which can be reduced in pressure, for placing a substrate to be processed thereon, means for feeding a process gas into the reaction vessel, and a cathode electrode for supplying a high-frequency wave power from a high-frequency wave power source to an interior of the reaction vessel through a matching circuit, and is characterized in that at least a part of the reaction vessel is constituted by a dielectric member, and the cathode electrode is arranged outside the reaction vessel, so that a plasma distribution in the reaction vessel is made uniform, and a uniform plasma process for a substrate to be processed is made possible. The plasma process includes CVD, sputtering, etching or ashing.

Plasma processing apparatus and processing method

One or more mismatching portions in which a characteristic impedance of a high frequency transmission cable of a cathode electrode is changed in a traveling direction of an incident wave of the high frequency are provided on the cathode electrode for use in plasma processing, whereby the plasma processing can form a high-quality deposited film having an extremely uniform film thickness and a homogeneous film quality on a substrate at high speed, can effectively form a semiconductor device, can also form the high-quality deposited film having the extremely uniform film thickness and the homogeneous film quality in the axial direction and the circumferential direction of the cylindrical substrate on the surfaces of a plurality of cylindrical substrates at high speed, and can effectively form the semiconductor device.

Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method

In order to effect a plasma process at a high rate, such as formation of a high-quality deposit film having very uniform thickness and quality over a large-area substrate, (1) an oscillation frequency of an RF generator is used in the range of 30 to 600 MHz, (2) a matching circuit and a cathode electrode are connected through a transmission line and RF power is supplied through the transmission line, (3) the cathode electrode is of an electrically conductive structure of a rod shape and at a connection part between the cathode electrode and an inner conductor of the transmission line, an external shape of a cross section of the cathode electrode is the same as an external shape of a cross section of the inner conductor, and (4) at least the connection part between the cathode electrode and the inner conductor of the transmission line is covered by a dielectric member having the same external shape as an external shape of a transmission medium in the cross section of the transmission line.

Plasma process apparatus and plasma process method

Provided is a process for efficiently forming a high-quality deposited film at a high deposition rate in the quality equivalent to or higher than that of films formed by the RF plasma CVD process. A stock gas is introduced under a reduced pressure into a reaction container provided with a cathode electrode inside and a high-frequency power in the range of 50 to 300 MHz is supplied to the cathode electrode, whereby ions of the stock gas with energy of 40 or more eV are made to hit against a substrate, thereby forming a deposited film thereon.

Process for forming high-quality deposited film utilizing plasma CVD

Plasma CVD process using a very-high-frequency and plasma CVD apparatus

A process for forming a deposited film on a substrate by microwave plasma CVD comprises holding a substrate in a pressure-reducible reactor vessel, introducing microwave energy into the reactor vessel from at least three microwave-introducing means attached thereto for introducing the microwave energy into the reactor vessel while introducing a raw material gas into the reactor vessel, and forming plasma in the reactor vessel by the microwave energy, thereby forming a deposited film on the surface of the substrate.

Growing community of inventors

Komae, Japan

Satoshi Takaki