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:
Apr. 03, 2007
Filed:
Jan. 29, 2004
Takuya Maruyama, Kanagawa, JP;
Nobuaki Hamanaka, Kanagawa, JP;
Takuya Maruyama, Kanagawa, JP;
Nobuaki Hamanaka, Kanagawa, JP;
NEC Electronics Corporation, Kawasaki, JP;
Abstract
Precision in an etching process is to be improved. A detecting unitdetects a variation of plasma emission intensity at a plurality of wavelengths (an emission band having an intensity peak in the proximity of 358 nm and an emission band having an intensity peak in the proximity of 387 nm) during a dry etching process being performed on either of a nitrogen-containing film formed on a semiconductor substrate or a non-nitrogen film provided in direct contact with the nitrogen-containing film in an etching apparatusAn arithmetic processing unitperforms calculation based on detected variation. A control unitdetermines an endpoint of the dry etching process in consideration of the calculation result.