Applied Materials, Inc.

Yashaswini Pattar

Duy D Nguyen

Kartik Ramaswamy

Walter R Merry

Sergio Fukuda Shoji

Brad L Mays

Fernando Silveira

Chetan Mahadeswaraswamy

Shane C Nevil

Tina Tsong

Shahid Rauf

Douglas A Buchberger, Jr

Hamid Noorbakhsh

Ankur Agarwal

Chunlei Zhang

Douglas Buchberger

Hamid Tavassoli

Katsumasa Kawasaki

Xiaoping Zhou

Bryan Liao

Phillip Stout

Methods and systems for controlling temperatures in plasma processing chamber with reduced controller response times and increased stability. Temperature control is based at least in part on a feedforward control signal derived from a plasma power input into the processing chamber. A feedforward control signal compensating disturbances in the temperature attributable to the plasma power may be combined with a feedback control signal counteracting error between a measured and desired temperature.

Feedforward temperature control for plasma processing apparatus

Methods and systems for controlling temperatures in plasma processing chamber via pulsed application of heating power and pulsed application of cooling power. In an embodiment, temperature control is based at least in part on a feedforward control signal derived from a plasma power input into the processing chamber. In further embodiments, fluid levels in each of a hot and cold reservoir coupled to the temperature controlled component are maintained in part by a passive leveling pipe coupling the two reservoirs. In another embodiment, digital heat transfer fluid flow control valves are opened with pulse widths dependent on a heating/cooling duty cycle value and a proportioning cycle having a duration that has been found to provide good temperature control performance.

Temperature control in plasma processing apparatus using pulsed heat transfer fluid flow

Methods for processing a substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of etching a dielectric layer includes generating a plasma by pulsing a first RF source signal having a first duty cycle; applying a second RF bias signal having a second duty cycle to the plasma; applying a third RF bias signal having a third duty cycle to the plasma, wherein the first, second, and third signals are synchronized; adjusting a phase variance between the first RF source signal and at least one of the second or third RF bias signals to control at least one of plasma ion density non-uniformity in the plasma or charge build-up on the dielectric layer; and etching the dielectric layer with the plasma.

Synchronized radio frequency pulsing for plasma etching

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Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Yashaswini Pattar