Plasma Source Having a Dielectric Plasma Chamber with Improved Plasma Resistance
AssigneeMKS Instruments, Inc.
InventorsXing Chen, Ilya Pokidov, Atul Gupta
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Abstract
A plasma chamber of a plasma processing system is provided. The plasma chamber defines a plasma channel having a first side and a second side oppositely disposed along a length of the plasma channel. The plasma chamber comprises a first section and a second section constructed from a dielectric material and an interface that bonds together the first and second sections at between a first flange of the first section and a third flange of the second section and between a second flange of the first section and a fourth flange of the second section.
Claims21
A plasma processing system comprising:
- a plasma assembly including:
- a plasma chamber defining a plasma channel, the plasma chamber comprising (i) two dielectric sections constructed from a dielectric material and (ii) a bonding interface that bonds together the two dielectric sections along a bonding plane to form a hermetic seal between the two sections;
- and
- a heat sink substantially surrounding the plasma chamber, the heat sink being divided into two conductive segments along the bonding plane, wherein the two conductive segments are constructed from a conductive material and are electrically separated from each other;
- and
- a power transformer including a magnetic core, a primary coil, and the plasma assembly, the power transformer configured to induce an electric field that ionizes a gas in the plasma chamber of the plasma chamber.
A method for operating a plasma processing system, the method comprising:
- providing the plasma processing system including a power transformer having at least one magnetic core, a primary coil, and a plasma assembly, wherein the plasma assembly includes (i) a plasma chamber defining a plasma channel created by two dielectric sections bonded together to form a bonding interface along a bonding plane and (ii) a heat sink substantially surrounding the plasma chamber, the heat sink being divided into two conductive segments along the bonding plane and electrically separated from each other;
- supplying a gas to the plasma channel via a gas inlet;
- inducing, by the power transformer, an electric field that ionizes the gas in the plasma channel of the plasma chamber to form a plasma therein;
- and
- delivering at least a portion of the plasma out of the plasma channel via an exit flange.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.