Plasma implantation system and method with target movement
OwnerSteven R. Waltherinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A plasma implantation system and method implants ions from a plasma in a semiconductor substrate while the substrate is at two or more different positions. The semiconductor substrate may be moved during implantation processing, e.g., to help compensate for non-uniformities in the dose delivered to the substrate. In addition, only a portion of a substrate may be implanted during a portion of an implantation process for the substrate. A plurality of substrates may be simultaneously implantation processed in a same plasma implantation chamber, thereby potentially reducing implantation processing times.
Claims31
A plasma implantation system comprising:
- a plasma implantation chamber;
- a workpiece support that moves at least one workpiece within the plasma implantation chamber;
- a plasma generating device constructed and arranged to generate a plasma at or near a workpiece surface to implant ions in the at least one workpiece;
- and
- a controller that causes the workpiece support to move the at least one workpiece within the plasma implantation chamber during an implantation process during which the controller causes the plasma generating device to generate a plasma and implant ions in the at least one workpiece.
A method for implanting ions in a workpiece, comprising:
- providing a plurality of workpieces within a plasma implantation chamber;
- moving the plurality of workpieces in the plasma implantation chamber;
- and
- implanting ions from a plasma located at or near a surface of at least one of the plurality of workpieces into the at least one of the plurality of workpieces while the at least one of the plurality of workpieces moves in the plasma implantation chamber.
A method for implanting ions in a semiconductor workpiece, comprising:
- providing at least one workpiece in a plasma implantation chamber;
- generating a plasma in a plasma discharge region located at or near a surface of the at least one workpiece in the plasma implantation chamber;
- implanting ions in the plasma in the at least one workpiece while the at least one workpiece is in a first position relative to the plasma discharge region;
- moving the at least one workpiece relative to the plasma discharge region without removing the at least one workpiece from the plasma implantation chamber;
- and
- implanting ions from a plasma in the at least one workpiece while the at least one workpiece is in a second position relative to the plasma discharge region.
A method for implanting ions in a semiconductor wafer, comprising:
- providing at least one semiconductor wafer in a plasma implantation chamber, the at least one semiconductor wafer having a particle implantation area where ions are to be implanted;
- generating a plasma located at or near a surface of the at least one semiconductor wafer in the plasma implantation chamber;
- and
- implanting ions in the plasma in the at least one semiconductor wafer in an area of the at least one semiconductor wafer that is smaller than the particle implantation area of the wafer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.