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US 11,056,379 B2Granted
Clamp assembly
OwnerAnthony Barker, Huma Ashraf +1inventors
InventorsAnthony Barker, Huma Ashraf, Brian Kiernan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A clamp assembly is for clamping an outer peripheral portion of a substrate to a support in a plasma processing chamber. An RF bias power is applied to the support during the plasma processing of the substrate. The clamp assembly includes an outer clamp member, and an inner clamp member which is received by the outer clamp member, the inner clamp member defining an aperture which exposes the substrate to the plasma processing. The outer clamp member has an inner portion terminating in an inner edge, wherein the inner portion is spaced apart from the inner clamp member.
Claims20
A clamp assembly for clamping an outer peripheral portion of a substrate to a support in a plasma processing chamber of the type in which an RF bias power is applied to the support during the plasma processing of the substrate, the clamp assembly comprising:
- an outer clamp member constituting a radially outermost part of the clamp assembly, the outer clamp member having a radially inner portion that has an outer clamping surface, constituting the lower part of the clamp assembly disposed on the substrate, for clamping the outer peripheral portion of the substrate to the support;
- and
- an inner clamp member which is received by the outer clamp member at a receptacle area of the clamp assembly, the inner clamp member having an innermost portion that projects radially inwardly beyond the outer clamp member and constitutes a radially innermost part of the clamp assembly, and the inner clamp member defining an aperture which exposes the substrate to the plasma processing, and
- in which the inner clamp member has a surface that butts against the outer clamp member at said receptacle area of the clamp assembly,
- the radially inner portion of the outer clamp member has an inner edge at which the outer clamp member terminates in a radially inward direction of the outer clamp member, wherein the outer clamping surface of the outer clamp member begins at the inner edge and extends in a radially outward direction,
- the inner clamp member overhangs the radially inner portion of the outer clamp member such that the radially inner portion of the outer clamp member is covered by while spaced apart a finite non-zero distance from the innermost portion of the inner clamp member that projects radially inwardly beyond the outer clamp member and constitutes the radially innermost part of the clamp assembly, and
- the inner clamp member comprises an inner clamping surface, constituting a lower part of the clamp assembly disposed on the substrate, for clamping the outer peripheral portion of the substrate to the support, wherein the inner clamping surface of the inner clamp member is planar with the outer clamping surface of the outer clamp member.
4 more elements
A plasma processing apparatus comprising:
- a plasma processing chamber;
- a substrate support disposed in the plasma processing chamber and dedicated to support a substrate to be plasma processed by the apparatus;
- an RF bias power source operatively connected to the substrate support so as to apply RF bias power to the support during plasma processing of the substrate;
- and
- a clamp assembly that clamps an outer peripheral portion of the substrate to the support, the clamp assembly including an outer clamp member constituting an outermost part of the clamp assembly and having a radially inner portion that has an outer clamping surface, constituting the lower part of the clamp assembly disposed on the substrate, for clamping the outer peripheral portion of the substrate to the support, and an inner clamp member which is received by the outer clamp member at a receptacle area of the clamp assembly, the inner clamp member having an innermost portion that projects radially inwardly beyond the outer clamp member and constitutes a radially innermost part of the clamp assembly, and the inner clamp member defining an aperture which exposes the substrate to the plasma processing, and
- in which the inner clamp member has a surface that butts against the outer clamp member at said receptacle area of the clamp assembly,
- the radially inner portion of the outer clamp member has an inner edge at which the outer clamp member terminates in a radially inward direction of the outer clamp member, wherein the outer clamping surface of the outer clamp member begins at the inner edge and extends in a radially outward direction,
- the inner clamp member overhangs the radially inner portion of the outer clamp member such that the radially inner portion of the outer clamp member is covered by while spaced apart a finite non-zero distance from the innermost portion of the inner clamp member that projects radially inwardly beyond the outer clamp member and constitutes the radially innermost part of the clamp assembly, and
- the inner clamp member comprises an inner clamping surface, constituting a lower part of the clamp assembly disposed on the substrate, for clamping the outer peripheral portion of the substrate to the substrate support, wherein the inner clamping surface of the inner clamp member is planar with the outer clamping surface of the outer clamp member.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.