Semiconductor device manfuacturing apparatus
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorIsamu Namose
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Abstract
In a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus for performing an etching operation with a reaction gas, in which three electrodes, namely, upper, intermediate and lower electrodes, are arranged parallel to one another, and the intermediate electrode is in the form of a grid, having a number of through-holes, the axis of at least one of the through-holes in the intermediate electrode is inclined with respect to the central axis of the intermediate electrode. Accordingly, etching energy is uniformly applied to the entire surface of a material to be etched, thereby to achieve etching uniformly both in speed and in configuration.
Claims1
A method of detecting an end point of an etching operation of a three-electrode type dry etching apparatus comprising an upper electrode, an intermediate electrode and a lower electrode arranged parallel to one another, said intermediate electrode having at least one hole which has a central axis neither perpendicular nor parallel to a central axis of said intermediate electrode, and wherein said at least one hole extends along a straight line connecting a material to be etched and a detection section of an optical end point detecting device so as to be parallel to an optical path, said method comprising the steps of:
- performing said etching operation on sad material to be etched with said three-electrode type dry etching apparatus;
- detecting an intensity of plasma light generated from an etching reaction through said at least one hole during said etching operation;
- and
- determining said end point of said etching operation based upon said intensity of plasma light detected by said detecting section of said optical end point detecting device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.