Applied Materials, Inc.

Other

Stephen Yuen

Valentin Nikolov Todorow

Michael D Willwerth

David Palagashvili

Wei Liu

David S Mui

Scott M Williams

Thorsten B Lill

Jeffrey D Chinn

Tza-Jing Gung

Samer Banna

Dan A Marohl

Meihua Shen

Padmapani Nallan

Anisul Haque Khan

Shashank C Deshmukh

Vladimir Knyazik

Kyle Tantiwong

Tae Won Kim

Mohit Kumar Jain

Kyeong-Tae Lee

Embodiments of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) reactors are provided herein. In some embodiments, a dielectric window for an inductively coupled plasma reactor includes: a body including a first side, a second side opposite the first side, an edge, and a center, wherein the dielectric window has a dielectric coefficient that varies spatially. In some embodiments, an apparatus for processing a substrate includes: a process chamber having a processing volume disposed beneath a lid of the process chamber; and one or more inductive coils disposed above the lid to inductively couple RF energy into and to form a plasma in the processing volume above a substrate support disposed within the processing volume; wherein the lid is a dielectric window comprising a first side and an opposing second side that faces the processing volume, and wherein the lid has a dielectric coefficient that spatially varies to provide a varied power coupling of RF energy from the one or more inductive coils to the processing volume.

Power deposition control in inductively coupled plasma (ICP) reactors

A shielded lid heater lid heater suitable for use with a plasma processing chamber, a plasma processing chamber having a shielded lid heater and a method for plasma processing are provided. The method and apparatus enhances positional control of plasma location within a plasma processing chamber, and may be utilized in etch, deposition, implant, and thermal processing systems, among other applications where the control of plasma location is desirable. In one embodiment, a process for tuning a plasma processing chamber is provided that include determining a position of a plasma within the processing chamber, selecting an inductance and/or position of an inductor coil coupled to a lid heater that shifts the plasma location from the determined position to a target position, and plasma processing a substrate with the inductor coil having the selected inductance and/or position.

Shielded lid heater assembly

A shielded lid heater lid heater suitable for use with a plasma processing chamber, a plasma processing chamber having a shielded lid heater and a method for plasma processing are provided. The method and apparatus enhances positional control of plasma location within a plasma processing chamber, and may be utilized in etch, deposition, implant, and thermal processing systems, among other applications where the control of plasma location is desirable. In one embodiment, a shielded lid heater is provided that includes an aluminum base and RF shield sandwiching a heater element.

An inductively-coupled plasma processing chamber has a chamber with a ceiling. A first and second antenna are placed adjacent to the ceiling. The first antenna is concentric to the second antenna. A plasma source power supply is coupled to the first and second antenna. The plasma source power supply generates a first RF power to the first antenna, and a second RF power to the second antenna. A substrate support disposed within the chamber. The size of the first antenna and a distance between the substrate support are such that the etch rate of the substrate on the substrate support is substantially uniform.

Methods to eliminate 'M-shape' etch rate profile in inductively coupled plasma reactor

A substrate processing method comprises providing a substratecomprising etch resistant materialin a process zone, such as an energized gas zone in a process chamber. The etch resistant materialmay comprise a resist materialover mask material. The process may further comprise removing the etch resistant material, such as the resist material, in the process zonebefore etching underlying layers.

Etching a substrate in a process zone

A method for processing a silicon substrate disposed in a substrate process chamber includes transferring the substrate into the substrate process chamber. The substrate having a hard mask formed thereon and a patterned photoresist overlying the hard mask to expose portions of the hard mask. The chamber being the type having a source power system and a bias power system. The method further includes etching the exposed portions of the hard mask to expose portions of the silicon substrate underlying the hard mask. Thereafter, the patterned photoresist is exposed to a first plasma formed from a first process gas to remove the photoresist from the hard mask. Thereafter, the exposed silicon substrate is etched by exposing the substrate to a second plasma formed from a second process gas by applying RF energy from the source power system and biasing the plasma toward the substrate. The substrate is transferred out of the substrate processing chamber.

Integrated shallow trench isolation approach

A method for processing a substrate disposed in a substrate process chamber having a source power includes transferring the substrate into the substrate process chamber. A trench is etched on the substrate by exposing the substrate to a plasma formed from a first etchant gas by applying RF energy from the source power system and biasing the plasma toward the substrate. Byproducts adhering to inner surfaces of the substrate process chamber are removed by igniting a plasma formed from a second etchant gas including a halogen source in the substrate process chamber without applying bias power or applying minimal bias power. Thereafter, the substrate is removed from the chamber. At least 100 more substrates are processed with the etching-a-trench step and removing-etch-byproducts step before performing a dry clean or wet clean operation on the chamber.

Integration of silicon etch and chamber cleaning processes

A method of etching a silicon-containing layer,on a substrate,comprises the steps of placing the substrate,on a support,in a process chamber,. The substrate,is exposed to an energized process gas comprising a bromine-containing gas, a chlorine-containing gas, an inorganic fluorinated gas, and an oxygen gas. The volumetric flow ratio of the gas constituents is selected so that the energized process gas etches regions,having different concentrations of dopant in the polysilicon layer,at substantially the same etching rate. Optionally, the gas composition is also tailored to simultaneously clean off etch residue from the internal surfaces of a process chamber,during etching of the substrate

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Stephen Yuen