Air Cooled Faraday Shield and Methods for Using the Same

A Faraday shield system for use in a plasma processing chamber, the Faraday shield system, comprising,

• a disk structure defining a Faraday shield, the disk structure having a process side and a back side, the disk structure extending between a center region to a periphery region, the disk structure configured to reside within the processing volume of the plasma processing chamber, such that the process side faces a substrate support within the processing volume;
• a hub having an internal plenum for passing a flow of air received from an input conduit and removing the flow of air from an output conduit, the hub having an interface surface that is coupled to the back side of the disk structure at the center region;
• a fluid delivery control coupled to the input conduit of the hub, the fluid delivery control configured with a flow rate regulator for setting a flow rate of the flow of air through the plenum of the hub;
• and
• a fluid removal control coupled to the output conduit for removing the flow of air from the plenum of the hub, wherein the plenum of the hub defines a loop into and out of the hub, and that the flow of air is isolated from the processing volume;
• and
• a controller for managing the flow rate regulator that sets the flow rate of the flow of air.

A method for controlling a temperature of a Faraday shield disposed inside a process volume of a plasma processing chamber, comprising,

• thermally coupling a hub to a back side of the Faraday shield at a center region of the Faraday shield, the hub having a plenum for receiving air and removing air, such that air communicates through the plenum;
• supplying a flow of air into a plenum to the hub, the flow of air into and out of the plenum being maintained outside of the process volume;
• and
• regulating a flow rate of the air into the plenum, the regulating acting to manage adjustments temperature of the hub at the thermal couple to the center region of the Faraday shield, the regulating being correlated to processing steps performed in the process volume,
• wherein increases in flow rate of the air reduce a temperature of the center region of the of the Faraday shield causing heat conductance through the Faraday shield toward the center region.