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US 2002/0159216 A1Published application
Vacuum plasma processor and method of operating same
AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorGerard Ennis
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AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorGerard Ennis
Estimating the term…
A vacuum plasma processor includes an electrode array with plural mutually-insulated electrodes forming a bottom or top electrode of the plasma processor. When the electrode array is part of the bottom electrode, the electrodes of the array are parts of a thermoelectric, Peltier effect arrangement responsive to localized temperature sensors and are parts of an electrostatic chuck. The thermoelectric arrangement controls localized temperature of workpieces and the chucking voltages indicate workpiece position relative to a workpiece holder including the electrodes. The electrodes of the arrays are coupled to circuitry for determining and/or controlling at least one localized plasma electric parameter at different locations of a workpiece and/or the plasma. The circuitry simultaneously supplies RF power having differing frequencies and/or power levels to different electrodes of the arrays and includes separate matching networks connected to the different electrodes of the array.
A vacuum plasma processor for processing a workpiece comprising a vacuum chamber having a gas inlet port, a vacuum port, a workpiece holder, a reactance for exciting gas in the chamber to plasma, the workpiece holder including an array of mutually electrically insulated electrodes for supplying electric fields to the plasma, an AC source arrangement, and circuitry for causing differential power to be applied by the AC source arrangement to separate electrodes of the array.
A vacuum plasma processor for processing a workpiece comprising a vacuum chamber having a gas inlet port, a vacuum port, a workpiece holder, a source for exciting gas in the chamber to a plasma, and a sensor arrangement for detecting electric properties of different localized portions of the plasma and for deriving signals indicative of the detected electric properties.
A vacuum plasma processor for processing a workpiece comprising a vacuum chamber having a gas inlet port, a vacuum port, a workpiece holder, a source for exciting gas in the chamber to a plasma, and a controller arrangement connected to be coupled to the workpiece holder for controlling electric properties of different localized portions of the plasma as coupled to different localized portions of the workpiece on the holder.
A vacuum plasma processor for processing a workpiece comprising a vacuum chamber having a gas inlet port, a vacuum port, a reactance for exciting gas in the chamber to a plasma, a workpiece holder, the workpiece holder including an array of mutually electrically insulated electrodes arranged to be coupled with the plasma, and a separate thermoelectric device in heat transfer relation with different ones of said electrodes.
A vacuum plasma processor for processing a workpiece comprising a vacuum chamber having a gas inlet port, a vacuum port, a workpiece holder, a reactance for exciting gas in the chamber to an AC plasma, and a controller arrangement for controlling temperature properties of different localized portions of a workpiece on the holder, the controller arrangement including a temperature sensor for different localized portions of the workpiece on the holder.
A method of processing a workpiece with a plasma in a chamber maintained at a vacuum and supplied with a processing gas which is ionized to form the plasma, the workpiece being maintained on a workpiece holder in the chamber, the method comprising applying differential power from an AC source arrangement to different electrodes of an array coupling AC power to said chamber such that different frequencies are simultaneously supplied to different electrodes of the array.
A method of processing a workpiece with a plasma in a chamber maintained at a vacuum and supplied with a processing gas which is ionized to form the plasma, the workpiece being maintained on a workpiece holder in the chamber, the method comprising detecting electric properties of different localized portions of the plasma, and deriving signals indicative of the detected electric properties.
A method of processing a workpiece with a plasma in a chamber maintained at a vacuum and supplied with a processing gas which is excited to form the plasma, the workpiece being maintained on a workpiece holder in the chamber, the method comprising controlling at least one electric property of different localized portions of the plasma coupled to different localized portions of the workpiece.
A method of processing a workpiece with a plasma in a chamber maintained at a vacuum and supplied with a processing gas which is ionized to form the plasma, the workpiece being maintained on a workpiece holder in the chamber, the method comprising sensing the temperatures at different localized regions of the workpiece, and responding to temperatures at the different localized regions of the workpiece to separately control the temperatures at different portions of the workpiece.
A vacuum plasma processor for processing a workpiece comprising a vacuum chamber having a gas inlet port, a vacuum port, a workpiece holder, a reactance for exciting gas in the chamber to plasma, an array of mutually electrically insulated electrodes for supplying electric fields to the plasma, an AC source arrangement, and circuitry for causing different amounts of power to be applied by the AC source arrangement to separate electrodes of the array, the circuitry including plural matching networks, individual matching networks of the plural matching networks being arranged for coupling power from the AC source arrangement to separate ones of said electrodes so that power is arranged to be coupled from the AC source arrangement to a first of the electrodes via a first of the matching networks and to a second of the electrodes via a second of the matching networks.
A vacuum plasma processor for processing a workpiece comprising a vacuum chamber having a gas inlet port, a vacuum port, a workpiece holder, a reactance for exciting gas in the chamber to plasma, an array of mutually electrically insulated rectangular electrodes for supplying electric fields to the plasma, an AC source arrangement, the electrodes being arranged in a pair of stripes extending at right angles to each other, the stripes intersecting at a region aligned with the center of the workpiece holder, and circuitry for causing differential power to be applied by the AC source arrangement to separate electrodes of the array.
A method of processing a workpiece with a plasma in a chamber maintained at a vacuum and supplied with a processing gas which is ionized to form the plasma, the workpiece being maintained on a workpiece holder in the chamber, the method comprising applying different amounts of power from an AC source arrangement to different electrodes of an array coupling AC power to said chamber, sensing electric properties of the plasma loading at least some of the electrodes of the array and controlling the different amounts of AC power simultaneously supplied to the different electrodes of the array in response to the sensed electric properties.
A vacuum plasma processor for processing a workpiece comprising a vacuum chamber having a gas inlet port, a vacuum port, a workpiece holder, a reactance for exciting gas in the chamber to plasma, the workpiece holder including an array of mutually electrically insulated electrodes for supplying electric fields to the workpiece on the holder, a sensor arrangement coupled with the insulated electrodes to be responsive to the electric fields supplied to the workpiece for sensing the position of the workpiece relative to the workpiece holder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.