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AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsDavid Cheng, Dan Maydan, Sasson Somekh, Kenneth R. Stalder, Dana L. Andrews, Mei Chang, John M. White, Jerry Y. K. Wong, Vladimir J. Zeitlin, David N. Wang
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A magnetic field enhanced single wafer plasma etch reactor is disclosed. The features of the reactor include an electrically-controlled stepped magnetic field for providing high rate uniform etching at high pressures; temperature controlled reactor surfaces including heated anode surfaces (walls and gas manifold) and a cooled wafer supporting cathode; and a unitary wafer exchange mechanism comprising wafer lift pins which extend through the pedestal and a wafer clamp ring. The lift pins and clamp ring are moved vertically by a one-axis lift mechanism to accept the wafer from a cooperating external robot blade, clamp the wafer to the pedestal and return the wafer to the blade. The electrode cooling combines water cooling for the body of the electrode and a thermal conductivity-enhancing gas parallel-bowed interface between the wafer and electrode for keeping the wafer surface cooled despite the high power densities applied to the electrode. A gas feed-through device applies the cooling gas to the RF powered electrode without breakdown of the gas. Protective coatings/layers of materials such as quartz are provided for surfaces such as the clamp ring and gas manifold. The combination of these features provides a wide pressure regime, high etch rate, high throughput single wafer etcher which provides uniformity, directionality and selectivity at high gas pressures, operates cleanly and incorporates in-situ self-cleaning capability.
A vacuum processing reactor, comprising a housing defining a vacuum chamber therein adapted for etching a wafer positioned within the chamber at a high rate and with etching uniformity substantially independent of pressure, comprising:
A vacuum processing reactor comprising a housing defining a vacuum chamber therein adapted for processing of a wafer positioned within the chamber, the housing having an opening therein to allow insertion of a horizontally oriented wafer into the chamber, to a first selected position, and removal of the wafer from the chamber;
A vacuum processing reactor comprising a housing defining a vacuum chamber therein adapted for processing of a wafer positioned within the chamber, the housing having an opening therein to allow insertion of a horizontally oriented wafer into the chamber, to a first selected position, and removal of the wafer from the chamber;
A vacuum processing reactor comprising a housing defining a vacuum chamber therein adapted for the processing of a wafer positioned within the chamber, the housing having an opening therein for receiving a wafer-support blade and further comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.