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:
Oct. 02, 2012
Filed:
Feb. 01, 2011
Masunori Ishihara, Kudamatsu, JP;
Masamichi Sakaguchi, Kudamatsu, JP;
Yasuhiro Nishimori, Hikari, JP;
Yutaka Kudou, Kudamatsu, JP;
Satoshi Une, Kudamatsu, JP;
Masunori Ishihara, Kudamatsu, JP;
Masamichi Sakaguchi, Kudamatsu, JP;
Yasuhiro Nishimori, Hikari, JP;
Yutaka Kudou, Kudamatsu, JP;
Satoshi Une, Kudamatsu, JP;
Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The invention provides a plasma processing method which includes (i) feeding a transferring gas which decreases a pressure difference between a processing chamber and a transfer chamber in order to prevent particles from adhering a processing sample, to be processed, passed to the processing chamber, before transferring the sample into the processing chamber; (ii) transferring the sample into the processing chamber while continuing to feed the transferring gas to the processing chamber; (iii) generating a plasma from the transferring gas in the processing chamber while continuing to feed the transferring gas to the processing chamber after the step of transferring the sample; and (iv) changing a gas supplied to the processing chamber from the transferring gas used in the step of generating the plasma to a processing gas for subjecting the processing sample, different from a cleaning sample, to plasma processing.