High frequency plasma generation apparatus

Abstract

In a high frequency plasma generation apparatus used in a reactive ion etching apparatus, an ion shower apparatus, a sputter apparatus, etc. for fabricating thin films or semiconductor devices for which a fine patterning process is required, electrical breakdown is apt to be provoked at the surface of a high frequency coil, because the high frequency coil is usually inserted in a plasma. In order to remove this drawback, according to this invention, the high frequency coil is disposed in the plasma production chamber at the neighborhood of the cylindrical side wall, and thus a plasma confinement domain is formed inside of this high frequency coil by use of a magnetic field production device which generates a multi-cusp magnetic field so that the plasma confinement domain is separated from the high frequency coil. In this way, electrical breakdown on the surface of the high frequency coil is prevented and thus the apparatus according to this invention can work stably for a long time.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.