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:
May. 28, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 22, 1999
Frank Christian Doughty, North Andover, MA (US);
Joel Brad Bailey, Dallas, TX (US);
Nexx Systems Packaging, LLC, Wilmington, MA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for integrating multipolar confinement with permanent magnetic electron cyclotron resonance plasma sources to produce highly uniform plasma processing for use in semiconductor fabrication and related fields. In a preferred embodiment, the plasma processing apparatus includes a vacuum chamber, a workpiece stage within the chamber, a permanent magnet electron cyclotron resonance plasma source directed at said chamber, and a system of permanent magnets for plasma confinement about the periphery of said chamber. The permanent magnets for plasma confinement are arranged in a multiplicity of rings with the plane of the rings perpendicular to the vacuum chamber axis and to the direction of propagation of the microwave into the vacuum chamber. The number of rings is chosen with respect to the vacuum chamber dimensions to produce a large, low magnetic field region in the region of the vacuum chamber adjacent to the workpiece stage.