Hitachi-high-technologies Corporation

Hitachi, Ltd.

Tadamitsu Kanekiyo

Kenetsu Yokogawa

Ryoji Nishio

Kenji Maeda

Hiroyuki Kobayashi

Hideki Kihara

Saburou Kanai

Masaru Izawa

Ken Yoshioka

Tsuyoshi Matsumoto

Koji Okuda

Yoshiyuki Oota

Tomoyuki Tamura

Tsunehiko Tsubone

Yoshiaki Sato

Tetsuo Ono

Masayuki Kojima

Takeshi Shimada

Hironobu Kawahara

Saburo Kanai

Michikazu Morimoto

Katsuya Watanabe

Shigeru Shirayone

Tooru Aramaki

Mamoru Yakushiji

Youji Takahashi

Katsuyoshi Kudo

Tadayoshi Kawaguchi

Takazumi Ishizu

Yoshiharu Inoue

Yutaka Omoto

Kotaro Fujimoto

Masakazu Miyaji

Tsuyoshi Yoshida

Ryoji Hamasaki

Tsuyoshi Umemoto

Yoshiaki Satou

Akihiko Mitsuda

Yasuo Oogoshi

Syunji Sasabe

The object of the invention is to provide a plasma processing apparatus having enhanced plasma processing uniformity. The plasma processing apparatus comprises a processing chamber, meansandfor supplying processing gas into the processing chamber, evacuation meansandfor decompressing the processing chamber, an electrodeon which an objectto be processed such as a wafer is placed, and an electromagnetic radiation power supplyA, wherein at least two kinds of processing gases having different composition ratios of Oor Nare introduced into the processing chamber through different gas inlets so as to control the in-plane uniformity of the critical dimension while maintaining the in-plane uniformity of the process depth.

Plasma processing apparatus

In a plasma processing method for conducting etching on an object to be processed by generating plasma from depositional gas introduced into a processing chamber and exposing the object to be processed to the plasma in a state in which radio frequency power is applied, the object to be processed is etched under etching conditions that a deposit film on an inner wall of the processing chamber becomes amorphous by repeating a first period during which the object to be processed is exposed to plasma and a second period during which the object to be processed is exposed to plasma and an etching rate is lower as compared with the first period. Consequently, particles due to increase in the number of processed sheets of the object to be processed can be suppressed.

Plasma processing method

A plasma processing apparatus includes a sample stage disposed at a lower part of a processing chamber, a bell jar made of an insulative material constituting an upper portion of a vacuum vessel, a coil antenna disposed outside and around the bell jar to which electric power is supplied so as to generate the plasma in a plasma generating space inside of the bell jar, and a Faraday shield mounted on the bell jar and disposed between an external surface of the bell jar and the coil antenna. A ring shaped member made of an electric conductive material is disposed inside of an inner surface of a ring portion of the processing chamber located below a skirt portion of the bell jar and constitutes a part of the processing chamber. The ring shaped member extends upwardly so as to cover a portion of an inner surface of the bell jar.

Plasma processing apparatus and method

A plasma processing apparatus is disclosed for minimizing the non-uniformity of potential distribution around wafer circumference. The apparatus includes a focus ring formed of a dielectric, and a conductor or a semiconductor having RF applied thereto. A surface voltage of the focus ring is determined to be not less than a minimum voltage for preventing reaction products caused by wafer processing from depositing thereon. The surface height, surface voltage, material, and structure of the focus ring are optimized so that the height of an ion sheath formed on the focus ring surface is either equal or has a height difference within an appropriate tolerance range to the height of the ion sheath formed on the wafer surface.

Method and apparatus for plasma processing

The invention provides a plasma processing apparatus capable of minimizing the non-uniformity of potential distribution around wafer circumference, and providing a uniform process across the wafer surface. The apparatus is equipped with a focus ring formed of a dielectric, a conductor or a semiconductor and having RF applied thereto, the design of which is optimized for processing based on a design technique clarifying physical conditions for flattening a sheath-plasma interface above a wafer and the sheath-plasma interface above the focus ring. A surface voltage of the focus ring is determined to be not less than a minimum voltage for preventing reaction products caused by wafer processing from depositing thereon. The surface height, surface voltage, material and structure of the focus ring are optimized so that the height of an ion sheath formed on the focus ring surface is either equal or has a height difference within an appropriate tolerance range to the height of the ion sheath formed on the wafer surface. Optimization of the structure is realized by setting up an appropriate tolerance range taking into consideration the variation caused by consumption of the focus ring.

A plasma processing method using plasma includes steps of applying current to a coil and introducing gas into a processing chamber, applying a bias power that does not generate plasma, applying a source power to generate plasma so that a plasma density distribution is high above an outer circumference of a semiconductor wafer and low above a center of the semiconductor wafer, and forming a shape of a sheath layer having a positive ion space charge directly above the semiconductor wafer so as to be convex in an upper direction from the semiconductor wafer, thereby eliminating foreign particles trapped in a boundary of the sheath layer having a positive ion space charge directly above the semiconductor wafer, generating plasma for processing the semiconductor wafer under a condition different from the conditions of the previous steps.

Plasma processing method and plasma processing device

A plasma processing apparatus includes in a processing chamber, a sample stage, a bell jar, a coil antenna, a Faraday shield, and a gas ring member located below a skirt portion of the bell jar and above the sample stage. The gas ring member supplies a process gas to a plasma generating space inside the bell jar from a gas port disposed on an inner surface of the gas ring member. A ring shaped plate is disposed near a periphery of the Faraday shield and having an inner surface facing and covering along the inner surface of the gas ring member and being spaced from the inner surface of the gas ring member so as to delimit a gap therebetween.

A vacuum processing method includes mounting a sample to be processed on a sample mounting surface on a sample holder placed in a vacuum container whose inside can be depressurized, feeding a processing gas and electric field to a space above the sample holder inside of the vacuum container to generate plasma, and etching films of a plurality of layers laid over the surface of the sample into a predetermined shape. A heat conducting gas is fed between the sample mounting surface and the backside of the sample, and at the same time, the pressure of the heat conducting gas is changed stepwise in accordance with the progress of the processing of the films of a plurality of layers of the sample.

Vacuum processing apparatus and vacuum processing method of sample

A plasma processing method for a plasma processing apparatus which includes, a gas ring, a bell jar, an antenna, a sample table, a Faraday shield, and an RF power source circuit for supplying a power source voltage to the antenna and the Faraday shield. The RF power source circuit includes an RF power source, an antenna connected with the RF power source, a resonance circuit connected in series with the antenna and supplying a resonance voltage, a detection circuit for detecting the resonance voltage of the resonance circuit, and a comparator circuit for comparing the resonance voltage detected by the detection circuit with a predetermined set value. A RF bias voltage is adjusted based on the result of comparison by the comparison circuit.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a gas ring forming a portion of a vacuum processing chamber and having a blowing port for a processing gas, a bell jar to define a vacuum processing chamber, an antenna for supplying an RF electric field into the vacuum processing chamber to form plasmas, a sample table, a Faraday shield, and a deposition preventive plate attached detachably at least to the inner surface of the gas ring excluding the blowing port. An area of the inner surface of the gas ring including the deposition preventive plate that can be viewed from the sample surface is set to about &#xbd; or more of the area of the sample. A susceptor made of a dielectric material covers the outer surface and the outer lateral side of the sample table. A metal film is disposed with respect to the susceptor, and an RF voltage is applied to the metal film.

An antenna electrode having a substantially circular shape, is arranged on a plane of a processing vessel, which is located opposite to a stage for mounting a sample within the processing vessel, and positioned parallel to the stage. An emission monitor monitors emission intensity of plasma present in at least 3 different points along a radial direction of the antenna electrode. A control unit adjusts an energizing current supplied to an external coil for forming a magnetic field within the processing vessel. The control unit adjusts the energizing current supplied to the external coil based upon the monitoring result obtained from the emission monitor so as to control the emission intensity of the plasma to become uniform emission intensity.

Plasma processing apparatus capable of controlling plasma emission intensity

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Kudamatsu, Japan

Tadamitsu Kanekiyo