Applied Materials, Inc.

Zheng John Ye

Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez

Kwangduk Douglas Lee

Jianhua Zhou

Kartik Ramaswamy

Kenneth S Collins

Prashant Kumar Kulshreshtha

Abdul Aziz Khaja

Dmitry A Dzilno

James D Carducci

Ganesh Balasubramanian

Shahid Rauf

Bok Hoen Kim

Leonid Dorf

Jay D Pinson, Ii

Zhigang Chen

Igor Markovsky

Nipun Misra

Hiroji Hanawa

Jian Li

Jian J Chen

Daemian Raj Benjamin Raj

Shailendra Srivastava

Sungwon Ha

Dmitry Lubomirsky

Jennifer Y Sun

Amit Kumar Bansal

Hamid Noorbakhsh

Martin Jay Seamons

Ziqing Duan

Jason C Della Rosa

Vinay K Prabhakar

Edward P Hammond

Vladimir Knyazik

Sumanth Banda

Juan Carlos Rocha

Xing Lin

Ndanka O Mukuti

Deenesh Padhi

Suhail Anwar

Xinhai Han

Ramprakash Sankarakrishnan

Mohamad A Ayoub

Venkata Sharat Chandra Parimi

Viren Kalsekar

Nikhil Sudhindrarao Jorapur

Swayambhu Prasad Behera

Thuy Britcher

Satya Thokachichu

Paul Brillhart

Mukund Srinivasan

Hari K Ponnekanti

Ren-Guan Duan

Timothy Joseph Franklin

Andrew C Lam

Sarah Michelle Bobek

Sanjay G Kamath

Shouqian Shao

Adam J Fischbach

Troy S Detrick

Lei Jing

Xiaoquan Min

Zeqiong Zhao

Kristopher R Enslow

Edward L Haywood

Lu Xu

Chuan Ying Wang

Uwe Paul Haller

Abhigyan Keshri

Jason K Foster

Kesong Hu

Rana Howlader

Yoshitake Nakajima

Hshiang An

Fu-ting Chang

Addepalli Sai Susmita

Ngoc Le

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to methods and apparatus for measuring and controlling local impedances at a substrate support in a plasma processing chamber during processing of a substrate. A substrate support includes a plurality of substrate support pins wherein the radio frequency voltage, current and phase of each of the plurality of substrate support pins are measured and impedances of the support pins are adjusted in real time. Each of the substrate support pins is coupled to an associated adjustable impedance circuit that may be remotely controlled. In one embodiment a variable capacitor is used to adjust the impedance of the impedance circuit coupled to the associated substrate support pin and may be remotely adjusted with a stepper motor. In another embodiment a microcontroller may control the impedance adjustments for all of the plurality of substrate support pins and may be used to track these impedances with each other and with a bulk impedance of the plasma processing chamber.

Impedance control of local areas of a substrate during plasma deposition thereon in a large PECVD chamber

A plasma processing system is described. The system may include a showerhead. The system may further include a first RF generator in electrical communication with the showerhead. The first RF generator may be configured to deliver a first voltage at a first frequency to the showerhead. Additionally, the system may include a second RF generator in electrical communication with a pedestal. The second RF generator may be configured to deliver a second voltage at a second frequency to the pedestal. The second frequency may be less than the first frequency. The system may also include a terminator in electrical communication with the showerhead. The terminator may provide a path to ground for the second voltage. Methods of depositing material using the plasma processing system are described. A method of seasoning a chamber by depositing silicon oxide and silicon nitride on the wall of the chamber is also described.

Dual RF for controllable film deposition

The present disclosure is directed to a showerhead for distributing plasma. The showerhead includes a perforated tile coupled to a support structure. A dielectric window is disposed over the perforated tile. An electrode is coupled to the dielectric window. An inductive coupler is disposed over the dielectric window. At least a portion of the inductive coupler is angled relative to at least a portion of the electrode.

High density plasma enhanced process chamber

Exemplary support assemblies may include an electrostatic chuck body defining a support surface that defines a substrate seat. The assemblies may include a support stem coupled with the chuck body. The assemblies may include a heater embedded within the chuck body. The assemblies may include a first bipolar electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body between the heater and support surface. The assemblies may include a second bipolar electrode embedded within the chuck body between the heater and support surface. Peripheral edges of one or both of the first and second bipolar electrodes may extend beyond an outer periphery of the seat. The assemblies may include an RF power supply coupled with the first and second bipolar electrodes. The assemblies may include a first floating DC power supply coupled with the first bipolar electrode. The assemblies may include a second floating DC power supply coupled with the second bipolar electrode.

Bipolar electrostatic chuck to limit DC discharge

A method and apparatus for controlling RF plasma attributes is disclosed. Some embodiments of the disclosure provide RF sensors within processing chambers operable at high temperatures. Some embodiments provide methods of measuring RF plasma attributes using RF sensors within a processing chamber to provide feedback control for an RF generator.

Methods and apparatus for controlling RF parameters at multiple frequencies

The disclosure pertains to a capacitively coupled plasma source in which VHF power is applied through an impedance-matching coaxial resonator having a symmetrical power distribution.

Symmetric VHF source for a plasma reactor

Exemplary support assemblies may include an electrostatic chuck body defining a substrate support surface. The substrate support assemblies may include a support stem coupled with the electrostatic chuck body. The substrate support assemblies may include a heater embedded within the electrostatic chuck body. The substrate support assemblies may include a first bipolar electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body between the heater and the substrate support surface. The first bipolar electrode may include at least two separated mesh sections, with each mesh section characterized by a circular sector shape. The substrate support assemblies may include a second bipolar electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body between the heater and the substrate support surface. The second bipolar electrode may include a continuous mesh extending through the at least two separated mesh sections of the first bipolar electrode.

High temperature bipolar electrostatic chuck

Exemplary semiconductor processing systems may include a processing chamber and an electrostatic chuck disposed at least partially within the processing chamber. The electrostatic chuck may include at least one electrode and a heater. A semiconductor processing system may include a power supply to provide a signal to the electrode to provide electrostatic force to secure a substrate to the electrostatic chuck. The system may also include a filter communicatively coupled between the power supply and the electrode. The filter is configured to remove or reduce noise introduced into the chucking signal by operating the heater while the electrostatic force on the substrate is maintained. The filter may include active circuitry, passive circuitry, or both, and may include an adjustment circuit to set the gain of the filter so that an output signal level from the filter corresponds to an input signal level for the filter.

Power supply signal conditioning for an electrostatic chuck

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to substrate supports for process chambers and RF grounding configurations for use therewith. Methods of grounding RF current are also described. A chamber body at least partially defines a process volume therein. A first electrode is disposed in the process volume. A pedestal is disposed opposite the first electrode. A second electrode is disposed in the pedestal. An RF filter is coupled to the second electrode through a conductive rod. The RF filter includes a first capacitor coupled to the conductive rod and to ground. The RF filter also includes a first inductor coupled to a feedthrough box. The feedthrough box includes a second capacitor and a second inductor coupled in series. A direct current (DC) power supply for the second electrode is coupled between the second capacitor and the second inductor.

RF grounding configuration for pedestals

Exemplary support assemblies may include an electrostatic chuck body defining a substrate support surface. The assemblies may include a support stem coupled with the electrostatic chuck body. The assemblies may include a heater embedded within the electrostatic chuck body. The assemblies may also include an electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body between the heater and the substrate support surface. The substrate support assemblies may be characterized by a leakage current through the electrostatic chuck body of less than or about 4 mA at a temperature of greater than or about 500&#xb0; C. and a voltage of greater than or about 600 V.

Semiconductor substrate supports with improved high temperature chucking

A system for modifying the uniformity pattern of a thin film deposited in a plasma processing chamber includes a single radio-frequency (RF) power source that is coupled to multiple points on the discharge electrode of the plasma processing chamber. Positioning of the multiple coupling points, a power distribution between the multiple coupling points, or a combination of both are selected to at least partially compensate for a consistent non-uniformity pattern of thin films produced by the chamber. The power distribution between the multiple coupling points may be produced by an appropriate RF phase difference between the RF power applied at each of the multiple coupling points.

Plasma processing using multiple radio frequency power feeds for improved uniformity

Embodiments described herein relate to apparatus and methods for substantially reducing an occurrence of radio frequency (RF) coupling through a chucking electrode. The chucking electrode is disposed in an electrostatic chuck positioned on a substrate support. The substrate support is coupled to a process chamber body. An RF source is used to generate a plasma in a process volume adjacent to the substrate support. An impedance matching circuit is disposed between the RF source and the chucking electrode is disposed in the electrostatic chuck. An electrostatic chuck filter is coupled between the chucking electrode and the chucking power source.

RF electrostatic chuck filter circuit

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Zheng John Ye