The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 12, 2001
Filed:
Oct. 08, 1998
Manabu Edamura, Ibaraki, JP;
Ryoji Nishio, Mito, JP;
Ken Yoshioka, Kudamatsu, JP;
Saburo Kanai, Hikari, JP;
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In a high-frequency inductive plasma etching apparatus, a space between an antenna to which a high-frequency power is fed and a processing chamber is insulated with an insulating material having a suitable thickness, while the antenna is protected from a plasma or a reactive gas for plasma processing and the surface of a side in contact with the plasma is covered by an insulating material such as alumina and quartz. The insulating material and the antenna are placed in a vacuum. Since the processing chamber which contains the insulating material and the antenna can take a pressure differential with atmospheric pressure, all that is required of the insulating material is its capacity to take the plasma atmosphere. Consequently, the insulating material can be made thin and the plasma is generated uniformly in high density. Heat generated at the antenna is dissipated to the outside either by making a gap between the antenna and its surroundings as small as possible or by bringing the pressure of the gap closer to the pressure in the processing chamber. Alternatively, several Torr of a non-reactive heat-transfer promoting gas such as He gas may be introduced into fine gaps formed around the antenna to dissipate heat generated at the antenna.