Apparatus and method to electrostatically remove foreign matter from substrate surfaces

A method of removing particles from a surface of a semiconductor wafer in a semiconductor processing tool, the method comprising:

• providing a chuck for holding the semiconductor wafer within the semiconductor processing tool;
• providing a plurality of electrodes within the chuck, the plurality of electrodes is embedded in a dielectric material such that each electrode is separated from an adjacent one of the plurality of electrodes only by a region of the dielectric material, wherein a width of one of the plurality of electrodes and a width of the region of the dielectric material are about equal;
• providing at least three phase shifted alternating voltages to the plurality of electrodes, the at least three phase shifted alternating voltages being coupled to the plurality of electrodes in a pattern such that adjacent electrodes have voltages that are phase shifted;
• and
• generating an electric potential at a surface of the semiconductor wafer by applying the at least three phase shifted alternating voltages to the plurality of electrodes when the semiconductor wafer is placed over the chuck, the generating removing the particles from the surface by moving the particles across the surface of the semiconductor wafer, wherein the electric potential at the surface of the semiconductor wafer alternates across the semiconductor wafer due to phase shifts in the at least three phase shifted alternating voltages.

A method of removing particles from a surface of a substrate in a plasmas processing tool, the method comprising:

• loading the substrate over a chuck within the plasma processing tool, the chuck comprising a plurality of electrodes embedded in a dielectric material, adjacent electrodes of the plurality of electrodes being separated only by a region of the dielectric material, wherein a width of one of the plurality of electrodes and a width of the region of the dielectric material are about equal;
• powering a plasma for a plasma processing of the substrate;
• and
• while powering the plasma, powering the plurality of electrodes with phase shifted alternating voltages so that each electrode is coupled to one of the phase shifted alternating voltages to generate a voltage wave moving across the surface of the substrate, the voltage wave causing particles to move across the surface and be removed from the surface.