Rotary plasma electrical feedthrough
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorHari K. Ponnekanti
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure generally relates to methods and apparatus for facilitating electrical feedthrough in plasma processing chambers. The apparatus includes an electrically insulating housing positioned on a backside of the substrate support to contain a secondary plasma therein. The secondary plasma facilitates an electrical connection between the substrate support and electrical power or ground located outside the processing chamber. The methods include utilizing a secondary plasma to electrically couple substrate support to and electrical power or ground located outside the processing chamber.
Claims18
A method of processing a substrate in a processing chamber, comprising:
- positioning a substrate on a substrate support within the processing chamber, the substrate support disposed between an upper electrode and a coupling electrode of the processing chamber, the upper electrode facing the substrate support, the substrate support further comprising a circular electrode disposed on a side of the substrate support facing the electrode;
- biasing the upper electrode relative to the coupling electrode to generate an electrical current;
- flowing the electrical current through the circular electrode as the substrate support is rotated about an axis;
- generating a primary plasma between the upper electrode and the substrate support from a primary plasma gas;
- and
- generating a secondary plasma from a secondary plasma gas introduced into an electrically insulating housing between the coupling electrode and the circular electrode, an upper end of the electrically insulating housing spaced apart from the circular electrode, wherein the primary plasma and the secondary plasma are in series between the upper electrode and the coupling electrode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.