Loading patent…
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsMichael S. Barnes, Dennis K. Coultas, John C. Forster, John H. Keller, James A. O'Neill
Estimating the term…
Apparatus for plasma processing involving the gettering of particles having a high charge to mass ratio away from a semiconductor wafer are disclosed. In one aspect of the invention, magnets are used to produce a magnetic field which is transverse to an electric field to draw the negative particles away from the wafer to prevent the formation of a sheath which can trap the particles. In a second aspect of the invention, a power source is connected to the wafer electrode to maintain a negative charge on the wafer, thereby preventing negative particles from being drawn to the wafer surface when the plasma is turned off. In other embodiments of the invention, a low density plasma source is used to produce a large plasma sheath which permits particles to cross a chamber to be gettered. A low density plasma discharge followed by a pulse to a higher density is used to overcome the negative effect of an insulating layer between the wafer and the wafer electrode.
In a plasma processing system used in the manufacture of semiconductor circuits wherein a semiconductor wafer is mounted on a negative electrode and exposed to a radio frequency generated plasma discharge, an apparatus for gettering negatively charged particles and ions trapped in a plasma sheath comprising:
In a plasma processing system used in the manufacture of semiconductor circuits wherein a semiconductor wafer is mounted on a negative electrode and exposed to a radio frequency generated plasma discharge, an apparatus for gettering negatively charged particles and ions trapped in a plasma sheath comprising:
In a plasma processing system used in the manufacture of semiconductor circuits wherein a semiconductor wafer is mounted on a negative electrode and exposed to a radio frequency generated plasma discharge, an apparatus for gettering negatively charged particles and ions trapped in a plasma sheath comprising:
In a plasma processing system used in the manufacture of semiconductor circuits, said plasma processing system including a chamber and wherein a semiconductor wafer is mounted on a negative electrode and exposed to a radio frequency generated plasma discharge, an apparatus for gettering negatively charged particles and ions trapped in a plasma sheath comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.