Nihon Shinku Gijutsu Kabushiki Kaisha

Taijiro Uchida

Hideki Fujimoto

Masahiro Itoh

Wei Chen

Takeshi Sunada

A discharge plasma processing device comprising a chamber with an evacuation system, a magnetic field generation system and an electric field application system with which the feature of operation is first to form a magnetic neutral line in the vacuum chamber and second to produce a plasma along the magnetic neutral line by controlling the shape of the line, its position related to an object to be processed and the plasma parameters is presented as useful device for many kinds of plasma processing like as sputtering, etching and plasma enhanced CVD as freely programmed, for instance extremely in uniform on the surface of the object.

Discharge plasma processing device

An apparatus for generating magnetically neutral line discharge type plasma comprises a magnetic field generating coil for forming magnetically neutral lines defined by continuously connecting points of zero-intensity magnetic field that is arranged within the vacuum chamber so that a couple of lines of magnetic force crossing vertically at the magnetically neutral lines in the perpendicular plane where the center axis is located can be connected by surrounding the magnetic field generating coil without intersecting or touching the lateral wall of the vacuum chamber to reduce any possible loss of plasma and any possible damage to the lateral wall. As the neutral line discharge type plasma has a capability to generate a well thermalized Maxwellian distribution plasma, an apparatus for generating the magnetically neutral line discharge type plasma is arranged to be utilized to diminish damage of of the lateral wall of the vacuum vessel and to control the electric potential of the plasma to be generated for ion extraction use.

Apparatus for generating and utilizing magnetically neutral line

A surface cleaning apparatus using magnetic neutral line discharged plasma for the purpose of inner-wall surface cleaning of a vacuum vessel assembled in a semiconductor manufacturing machine, which comprises electromagnetic coils for producing a closed magnetic neutral line that is formed by circularly connecting points of zero-intensity magnetic field, rf electric field generator for continuously generating plasma by applying a rf electric field along the magnetic neutral line and a controller for controlling the size and position of the closed magnetic neutral line and the kind, temperature and density of the plasma being generated.

Growing community of inventors

Chigasaki, Japan

Taijiro Uchida