ESC substrate support with chucking force control

An apparatus for processing a substrate, comprising:

• a substrate support, comprising a dielectric material having a recessed surface, a plurality of protrusions that are spaced apart from one another, and one or more sealing bands concentrically disposed about a center of the recessed surface, wherein
• the plurality of protrusions and the one or more sealing bands extend upwardly from the recessed surface, and
• the plurality of protrusions and the one or more sealing bands each have a substrate contacting surface which collectively define a substrate supporting plane;
• a chucking electrode embedded in the dielectric material;
• and
• a sensor assembly comprising a sensor terminal disposed in an opening formed through the dielectric material of the substrate support, the sensor terminal comprising a transparent member disposed proximate to and recessed from the recessed surface;
• and,
• a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for a method of processing a substrate, the method comprising:
• positioning the substrate on the substrate support, wherein a support facing surface of the substrate, the recessed surface, and the one or more sealing bands collectively define a backside volume;
• applying a chucking voltage to the chucking electrode;
• delivering, using a gas supply fluidly coupled to the opening, a gas to the backside volume;
• determining, using the sensor assembly, a deflection of the substrate from the substrate supporting plane;
• and
• adjusting one or more chucking parameters based on the determined deflection of the substrate.

A substrate support assembly sized to support a substrate having a first surface area, the substrate support assembly comprising:

• a substrate support comprising a dielectric material layer and a chucking electrode embedded in the dielectric material layer, the dielectric material layer having a recessed surface and plurality of protrusions and one or more sealing bands extending upwardly from the recessed surface, wherein
• the plurality or protrusions are spaced apart from one another and the one or more sealing bands are concentrically disposed about a center of the recessed surface, and
• upper surfaces of the plurality of protrusions and the one or more sealing bands are coplanar with one another to define a substrate supporting plane, the upper surfaces have a collective second surface area that is less than 10% of the first surface area,
• a sensor assembly configured to determine a deflection of a substrate from the substrate supporting plane, comprising:
• a sensor terminal disposed in an opening formed through the dielectric material layer, the sensor terminal disposed proximate to the recessed surface;
• and
• a plurality of optical fibers, wherein
• ends of the plurality of optical fibers are disposed in the sensor terminal, and
• the sensor terminal is spaced apart from one sidewalls of the opening to allow a gas to flow therebetween.