Applied Materials, Inc.

Advanced Thermal Sciences Corporation

Williams W Cowans

Daniel John Hoffman

Douglas A Buchberger, Jr

Kallol Bera

Paul Brillhart

Richard Charles Fovell

Kenneth Wesley Cowans

Hamid Tavassoli

Glenn Zubillaga

Douglas H Burns

Isaac Millian

A method of processing a workpiece in a plasma reactor having an electrostatic chuck for holding a workpiece in a chamber of the reactor includes providing a thermally conductive gas under pressure between a backside of the workpiece and a top surface of the electrostatic chuck, controlling the temperature of the electrostatic chuck, defining a desired workpiece temperature, measuring a current workpiece temperature or temperature related to the workpiece temperature and inputting the measured temperature to a thermal model representative of the electrostatic chuck. The method further includes determining from the thermal model a change in the pressure of the thermally conductive gas that would at least reduce the difference between the measured temperature and the desired temperature, and changing the pressure of the thermally conductive gas in accordance with the change determined from the thermal model.

Method for agile workpiece temperature control in a plasma reactor using a thermal model

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Fullerton, CA, United States of America

Williams W Cowans