Tokyo Electron Limited

Tohoku University

Tokyo Electron Limi Ted

Tokyo Electronics Limited

Tokyo Electrcn Limited

Taro Ikeda

Eiki Kamata

Yuki Osada

Shigeru Kasai

Mikio Sato

Satoru Kawakami

Tomohito Komatsu

Yutaka Fujino

Hiroyuki Miyashita

Tatsuo Hatano

Nobuhiko Yamamoto

Masaki Hirayama

Yasuhiko Kojima

Sumi Tanaka

Yasushi Mizusawa

Mitsutoshi Ashida

Jun Nakagomi

Toshifumi Kitahara

Tadahiro Ishizaka

Masamichi Hara

Tsukasa Matsuda

Takashi Sakuma

Osamu Yokoyama

Atsushi Kubo

Haruhiko Furuya

Akira Tanihara

Susumu Saito

Hiroyuki Yamamoto

Yumiko Kawano

Kenji Suzuki

Hideaki Yamasaki

Shigenori Ozaki

Hachishiro Iizuka

Mitsuhiro Tachibana

Hirokazu Ueda

Toshihiko Iwao

Jun Yamashita

Kaoru Yamamoto

Isao Gunji

Hikaru Adachi

Masakazu Ban

Kazuhito Nakamura

Masashi Imanaka

Satoshi Itoh

Hiroyuki Onoda

Koumei Matsuzawa

Yoshiyuki Kondo

Kazuhiro Furuki

Soudai Emori

Takumi Kabe

Kenta Kato

Kei Nagayosi

Emiko Hara

Takeo Wakutsu

There is provided a plasma source comprising a first chamber configured to form a flat first plasma generation space, and having a first wall and a second wall, a gas supply configured to supply gas into the first chamber, an electromagnetic wave supply having a dielectric window that is provided in an opening provided in the first wall to face the first plasma generation space, and configured to supply an electromagnetic wave through the dielectric window into the first chamber. The plasma source comprises a plasma supply configured to supply radicals contained in plasma that is generated from the gas supplied into the first chamber by the electromagnetic wave to an outside of the first chamber, and a plasma ignition source provided in the first chamber to protrude from an inner wall of the second wall facing the dielectric window and to be separated from the dielectric window.

Plasma source and plasma processing apparatus

A plasma processing apparatus includes: a processing container; a resonator configured to resonate electromagnetic waves to be supplied; a slot antenna connected to the resonator; and a transmission window configured to transmit the electromagnetic waves radiated from the slot antenna and supply the electromagnetic waves into the processing container, wherein the resonator includes: an input port including an inner shaft and an outer cylinder; an output port including an inner shaft and an outer cylinder; a power supply fin connecting the inner shaft of the input port and the inner shaft of the output port and provided in the resonator; and a ground fin connected to the outer cylinder of the input port and the outer cylinder of the output port at a same potential and provided to protrude within the resonator so as to be inserted between fins of the power supply fin.

Plasma processing apparatus

A plasma processing apparatus includes: a processing container including a substrate support; a shower head that supplies active species of a first gas into the processing container; a first dissociation space through which the active species is supplied to the shower head; and a resonator that supplies electromagnetic waves in a VHF band or higher to the first dissociation space. The resonator includes: a cylindrical body; a gas pipe which passes through an interior of the cylindrical body, is provided along a central axis direction of the cylindrical body, and includes gas holes through which the first gas is supplied into the first dissociation space; and a dielectric window including a central portion through which the end portion of the gas pipe passes, and configured to seal a space between the gas pipe and the cylindrical body and cause the electromagnetic waves to transmit through the first dissociation space.

In a plasma processing apparatus and a plasma processing method, improvement of the in-plane uniformity of plasma on a stage is required. The plasma processing apparatus includes a processing container, a stage, and a dielectric plate. The stage is provided within the processing container, the dielectric plate includes a plurality of through-holes for gas injection, and an upper surface of the dielectric plate is provided with a conductive film. A space between the conductive film and the stage within the processing container is used as a plasma processing space. The dielectric plate has a central portion and an outer peripheral portion, upper surfaces of the central portion and the outer peripheral portion include flat portions, and the central portion is larger in thickness than the outer peripheral portion.

Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method

There is provided a plasma processing apparatus comprising: a processing container configured such that a substrate is subjected to plasma processing; a dielectric top plate which is quadrangular and which is provided to close an upper opening of the processing container; and a conductor plate supporting the dielectric top plate and having four electromagnetic wave emitting ports for emitting electromagnetic waves to the dielectric top plate. Each of the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports has a rectangular shape having long side and short side, the electromagnetic wave emitting ports are arranged such that the long side of each of the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports are parallel to the closest side among four sides of the dielectric top plate forming the quadrangular shape, and the long sides of the two electromagnetic wave emitting ports oriented in a same direction do not overlap each other in the same direction.

Plasma processing apparatus, and plasma processing method

There is provided a tuner that forms a part of an electromagnetic wave transmission path for supplying electromagnetic waves from a power supply to a load, and that matches an impedance on a power supply side and an impedance on a load side, comprising: a coaxial line including a cylindrical inner conductor and a cylindrical outer conductor disposed coaxially outside the inner conductor; an annular first dielectric constant changing material disposed in a space between the inner conductor and the outer conductor of the coaxial line, and having a variable dielectric constant; an annular second dielectric constant changing material spaced apart from the first dielectric constant changing material in a line length direction of the coaxial line, disposed in the space between the inner conductor and the outer conductor of the coaxial line, and having a variable dielectric constant; a first power supply portion configured to supply power to the first dielectric constant changing material; and a second power supply portion configured to supply power to the second dielectric constant changing material.

Tuner, and impedance matching method

A plasma processing apparatus includes a stage provided in a processing container, and an upper electrode. The upper electrode includes a dielectric plate facing the stage, and a conductor formed on a surface of the dielectric plate opposite to a surface of the dielectric plate facing the stage. The dielectric plate includes a central portion, an outer peripheral portion, and an intermediate portion between the central portion and the outer peripheral portion. The intermediate portion has a thickness larger than the thicknesses of the central portion and the outer peripheral portion.

Embodiments of this application discloses a plasma processing method performed in a plasma processing apparatus having a plurality of plasma sources, the plasma processing method comprising: controlling each of the plasma sources so that at least one plasma source of the plurality of plasma sources is in a first state referring an OFF-state or a power state of a first level and the remaining plasma sources are in a second state referring an ON-state or a power state of a second level higher than the power state of the first level; and generating plasma from a processing gas with power output from the plurality of plasma sources, and processing a substrate, wherein said controlling of each of the plasma sources includes repeatedly controlling so that the plasma source of the first state among the plurality of plasma sources is sequentially transitioned.

Plasma processing method and plasma processing apparatus

A plasma source comprising: a plasma generator including a first wall having an opening and a second wall facing the first wall, and forming a plasma generating space; a dielectric window disposed on the first wall to block the opening and configured to transmit electromagnetic waves to the plasma generating space; and a protruding portion disposed on the second wall, protruding from the second wall to be close to the dielectric window, and containing a conductor at least partially. The protruding portion has a gas hole that opens toward the dielectric window.

There is provided a plasma processing apparatus that converts a gas supplied into a processing container into a plasma to process a substrate, the plasma processing apparatus including: a microwave introduction window disposed in each of a plurality of openings formed in a ceiling wall of the processing container, the microwave introduction window being configured to supply power of microwaves into the processing container; and a plurality of grooves formed on the ceiling wall to surround the openings respectively, wherein widths between the grooves and the openings are not uniform with respect to circumferential directions of the openings.

Plasma processing apparatus and ceiling wall

This plasma processing apparatus for performing plasma processing on an end part of a substrate includes a processing container, a substrate supporting member configured to support a portion of the substrate and to which a high frequency power is applied, at least a side of the substrate supporting member being composed of a dielectric, an opposing dielectric member composed of a dielectric and disposed to oppose the substrate supporting member, and a gas supply configured to supply a processing gas for generating plasma on at least the end part of the substrate. The plasma processing apparatus further includes a side ground electrode provided at a side of the substrate so as to be close to the substrate to such an extent that an electrical coupling is formed between an end surface of the substrate and the side ground electrode, the side ground electrode having a ground potential.

A plasma processing apparatus includes: a shower head provided above a substrate supporter; a gas supply pipe extending vertically above a chamber to be connected to an upper center of the shower head; an introducer through which the gas supply pipe passes and into which an electromagnetic wave of a VHF or higher is introduced to activate a gas; and an electromagnetic-wave supply path connected to the gas supply pipe. The introducer has a first dissociation space arranged upstream of the shower head and to which a first gas is supplied. The chamber has a second dissociation space between the substrate supporter and the shower head. The first gas dissociated in the first dissociation space and a second gas from the gas supply pipe are joined in the second dissociation space where they are dissociated by a radio-frequency wave having a frequency lower than that of the electromagnetic wave.

A plasma processing apparatus includes: a coaxial tube that extends in a vertical direction and forms a portion of a radio frequency waveguide; a substrate support configured to support a substrate; an electrode including a gas flow path connected to a gas ejection port opened toward a space above the substrate support, wherein the electrode is provided above the substrate support and an inner conductor of the coaxial tube is connected to a center of the electrode; an enlarged diameter portion forming a part of the radio frequency waveguide together with the electrode and connected to an outer conductor of the coaxial tube; and dielectric tubes formed of a dielectric material, wherein each of the dielectric tubes is connected to the electrode and penetrates a space between the electrode and the enlarged diameter portion to supply a gas to the electrode, wherein the dielectric tubes is scatteredly provided.

There is provided a plasma processing method in a plasma processing apparatus including a chamber, a stage on which a substrate is placed in the chamber, a plurality of radiating devices configured to radiate a plurality of electromagnetic waves, and a dielectric window disposed between the plurality of radiating devices and the stage. The method comprises: preparing the substrate on the stage; controlling a phase of at least one of the plurality of electromagnetic waves radiated from the plurality of radiating devices; radiating the plurality of electromagnetic waves into the chamber from the plurality of radiating devices; and processing the substrate using localized plasma generated from a gas supplied between the dielectric window and the stage.

Measuring a plasma state using a probe device in the case of performing plasma processing on a substrate by introducing process gas into a processing container accommodating the substrate and by producing pulsed plasma using an electromagnetic wave pulse obtained by processing an electromagnetic wave generated from an electromagnetic wave oscillator using a pulsing device. An AC voltage to the pulsed plasma is applied via the probe device; transmitting a signal from the pulsed plasma based on the AC voltage via the probe device and measuring data including a current value; and obtaining a state of the pulsed plasma by analyzing the measured data. The frequency of the AC voltage deviates from a frequency of the electromagnetic wave pulse so that the number of data required for the measurement of the pulsed plasma within one cycle of the electromagnetic wave pulse is obtained within allowable time.

Plasma measurement method

Growing community of inventors

Nirasaki, Japan

Taro Ikeda