High conductance process kit
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsBonnie T. Chia, Cheng-hsiung Tsai
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus for plasma processing of semiconductor substrates. Aspects of the apparatus include an upper shield with a gas diffuser arranged at a center of the upper shield. The gas diffuser and upper shield admit a process gas to a processing chamber in a laminar manner. A profile of the upper shield promotes radial expansion of the process gas and radial travel of materials etched from a surface of the substrates. Curvatures of the upper shield direct the etched materials to a lower shield with reduced depositing of etched materials on the upper shield. The lower shield also includes curved surfaces that direct the etched materials toward slots that enable the etched materials to exit from the process chamber with reduced depositing on the lower shield.
Claims8
A process kit for a plasma processing chamber, the process kit comprising:
- a shield comprising:
- an annular ring;
- an annular channel in a top surface of the annular ring, wherein a radially-outward-facing liner and a bottom liner include a circularly-curved liner portion there between, and wherein the annular channel includes a radially-outward-projecting undercut portion;
- a first plurality of slots between the undercut portion and the top surface of the annular ring, the first plurality of slots arranged around a circumference of the annular ring, the first plurality of slots perpendicular to a radial plane of the annular ring and partially defined by a first surface and a second surface substantially parallel to the radial plane;
- and
- a second plurality of slots between the undercut portion and a bottom surface of the annular ring, the second plurality of slots are arranged around a circumference of the annular ring, the second plurality of slots perpendicular to the radial plane and partially defined by a third surface and a fourth surface disposed at an obtuse angle relative to the radial plane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.