Anelva Corporation

Nec Corporation

Nihon Koshuha Co., Ltd.

Other

Nihon Koshua Co., Ltd.

Yukito Nakagawa

Tsutomu Tsukada

Seiji Samukawa

Kibatsu Shinohara

Hisaaki Sato

Hiroyuki Ueyama

Hirofumi Matsumoto

Atsushi Sekiguchi

Unryu Ogawa

Sunil Wickramanayaka

Yoichiro Numasawa

Shinya Hasegawa

Yoshimi Watabe

Noriyoshi Sato

Ken-ichi Takagi

Tomoaki Koide

Satoru Iizuka

Yoshio Tominaga

Tatsuo Asamaki

Hideo Mito

Tsukasa Yoneyama

Hiroyasu Sato

Ken'ichi Takagi

Yasuo Niimura

Hirobumi Matsumoto

Yoichiro Numazawa

A plasma processing system is comprised of a reaction vessel in which are provided a parallel high frequency electrode and ground electrode. The ground electrode is fixed at a ground potential portion, that is, a flange, by a conductive support column. A connection portion from the ground electrode to the ground potential portion, for example, the portions other than the surface of the ground electrode and the surface of the support column etc. are covered by an insulator serving as a high frequency power propagator while the surface of the insulator is covered completely by a conductive member except at the portion for introducing the high frequency power. In this plasma processing system, it is possible to reliably prevent undesirable discharge from occurring at the rear surface of the ground electrode when processing a substrate mounted on the ground electrode to deposit a film using a high frequency power in the VHF band.

Plasma processing system

A plasma processing system for sputter deposition application is configured by a reactor including two parallel capacitively-coupled electrodes called upper and lower electrodes, and a multi-pole magnet arrangement over the outer region of the upper electrode. The magnets are assembled on a metal ring in order to rotate over the upper electrode. The target plate is fixed to the upper electrode which is given only a high-frequency rf current, or high-frequency rf current and a DC voltage together. The lower electrode where the substrate is placed, is given a MF, HF or VHF rf current in order to generate a negative self bias voltage on the lower electrode to extract ionized sputtered-atoms that fill contact-holes on the substrate surface.

Plasma processing system for sputter deposition applications

A plasma processing system provided with a vacuum chamber for accommodating a substrate and for generation of plasma in a space in the front of the same, an antenna provided at the vacuum chamber, and a high frequency power source for supplying high frequency power to the antenna. The antenna emits high frequency power, generates plasma inside the vacuum chamber, and processes the surface of the substrate by the plasma. In the plasma processing system, the antenna has a disk-shaped conductor plate having a predetermined thickness. A coaxial waveguide having a folded portion is formed around the disk-shaped conductor plate. The folded portion of the waveguide is provided with a short-circuit 3 dB directional coupler having an impedance matching function. The antenna having the above structure prevents the generation of a standing wave in the high frequency wave propagation path from the high frequency power source to the vacuum chamber and generates high density plasma by supply of a large power. Due to this, processing of a large area substrate becomes possible.

A vacuum chamber includes a lower chamber , a power lead-in section and an upper chamber , these being in communication with one another. A discharge chamber is constituted by the power lead-in section and the upper chamber . The lower chamber is made of metal. The power lead-in section is one which has a ring shape, and in which a ring-shaped antenna is embedded in a dielectric element . The inner and outer periphery and the bottom surface of the dielectric element are covered by an electrically conductive cover . The height position of the top surface of a substrate holder (the surface thereof which carries a substrate ) is a high position which is higher than the height of the uppermost portion of the power lead-in section . In the interior of the discharge chamber discharge is produced and a plasma is generated by high-frequency power supplied from the power lead-in section . The substrate is processed by this plasma.

Plasma processing apparatus

This invention discloses a plasma processing apparatus for carrying out a process onto a substrate utilizing a plasma generated by supplying RF energy with a plasma generation gas. This apparatus comprises a vacuum chamber having a pumping system, a substrate holder for placing the substrate to be processed in the vacuum chamber, a gas introduction means for introducing the plasma generation gas into a plasma generation space, an energy supply means for supplying the RF energy with the plasma generation gas. The antenna has multiple antenna elements provided symmetrically to the center on the axis of the substrate and an end shorting member shorting each end of the antenna elements so that an RF current path symmetrical to the center is applied. Multiple circuits resonant at a frequency of the RF energy are formed symmetrically of the antenna elements and the end shorting member. Length obtained by adding total length of neighboring two of the antenna elements and length of the RF current path between ends of neighboring two of the antenna elements corresponds to one second of wavelength of the RF energy.

A surface processing apparatus includes a microwave generator which generates low UHF band microwaves of from 300 MHz to 1 GHz, a cavity resonator in which the microwaves generated in the microwave generator resonate in the TM 010 mode, an airtight process chamber which is connected to the cavity resonator, a radiation plate which is arranged in a part of the cavity resonator which is connected with the process chamber, the radiation plate has a plurality of radiation holes which are established symmetrically with respect to a central axis of the cavity resonator, and cover plates made of a dielectric material which close off the radiation holes in an airtight manner.

Surface processing apparatus

A plasma processing apparatus includes a plasma chamber and an antenna formed by a first set of parallel antenna elements and a second set of parallel antenna elements, the antenna elements of the first set being interdigitally arranged with those of the second set. An energy source supplies oscillation energy of first phase to the first set of antenna elements and oscillation energy of second, opposite phase to the second set of antenna elements to produce oppositely moving energy fields in the chamber at such a frequency that electrons are confined in a plasma produced in the chamber.

Plasma processing apparatus for producing plasma at low electron

The plasma generator includes a plasma generation chamber which is pumped and into which plasma generation gas is introduced. An antenna provided outside the plasma generation chamber, a RF source supplying a RF power with the antenna to excite the antenna. A part or whole of the plasma generation chamber is made of dielectric. The antenna radiates the RF through the dielectric and includes an antenna element which longitudinal direction is vertical to the direction for the plasma. The plasma generation chamber has a side wall intersecting the longitudinal direction of the antenna element at both sides. A part or whole of a plasma generation chamber is made of dielectric having relative permittivity .epsilon..sub.S. The antenna radiates a RF through the dielectric and is comprised of multiple antenna elements which longitudinal directions are on a plane vertical to the direction for the plasma. A shield is provided at the opposite side of the electric interposing the antenna, and, the electric distance between the antenna and the shield is shorter than the length made from adding 1/.epsilon..sub.S times of the thickness of the dielectric with the distance between the dielectric and the antenna. A surface treatment apparatus using the plasma generator, includes a substrate holder for placing a substrate to be treated in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the antenna elements in the plasma generation chamber.

Plasma generator with a shield interposing the antenna

A plasma processing apparatus comprises a plasma chamber having a gas inlet opening and a gas outlet opening. A first high-frequency energy source supplies accelerating energy to a holder that supports a semiconductor specimen within the chamber to produce a high-frequency accelerating electric field. Gas is introduced to the chamber through the inlet opening and accelerated by the electric field toward the specimen. An antenna structure is connected to a second high-frequency energy source which supplies exciting energy at a frequency in the range between 100 MHz and 1 GHz which is higher than the frequency of the accelerating energy. The antenna structure has radially outwardly extending, circumferentially equally spaced apart elements of length equal to the quarter wavelength of the exciting energy so that there is a phase difference of 180 degrees between adjacent ones of the antenna elements. The accelerated gas is uniformly excited and converted to high-density plasma.

Plasma processing apparatus which uses a uniquely shaped antenna to

For processing an object by the use of gas plasma generated in a predetermined gas, such as nitrogen, in cooperation of an electromagnetic wave with a static, an alternating, and a rotating magnetic field, an apparatus comprises a magnet around a first part of a reaction vessel to produce the magnetic field substantially parallel to an interface at which the first part is contiguous with a second part of the reaction vessel so as to confine the gas plasma within the first part. The interface may be open ultraviolet rays and charged or neutral particles produced by the gas plasma. Alternatively, an optical window may be disposed at the interface to use only the ultraviolet rays with the object held within the second part.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Yukito Nakagawa