Plasma generating apparatus and method

A plasma generating apparatus comprising:

• a vacuum chamber;
• an inductive-coupling coil wound around said vacuum chamber;
• a pair of parallel-planar electrodes, each of which electrodes has a center on a central axis of said inductive-coupling coil within the vacuum chamber, and is disposed vertically against the central axis;
• a radio-frequency power supply;
• and
• a radio-frequency matching circuit coupled to said radio-frequency power supply;
• wherein:
• said a radio-frequency matching circuit is coupled to said inductive-coupling coil and to said pair of parallel-planar electrodes;
• said pair of parallel-planar electrodes and said inductive-coupling coil are driven by the radio-frequency power supply;
• and
• said pair of parallel-planar electrodes and said inductive-coupling coil driven by the radio-frequency power supply carry out capacitive-coupling and inductive-coupling so as to be associated with each other, so that capacitively-coupled plasma and inductively-coupled plasma are generated within the vacuum chamber.

A plasma generating apparatus comprising:

• a vacuum chamber;
• an inductive-coupling coil wound around said vacuum chamber;
• a pair of parallel-planar electrodes, each of which electrodes has a center on a central axis of said inductive-coupling coil within the vacuum chamber, and is disposed vertically against the central axis;
• a radio-frequency power supply;
• and
• a radio-frequency matching circuit coupled to said radio-frequency power supply;
• wherein:
• said a radio-frequency matching circuit is coupled to said inductive-coupling coil and to said pair of parallel-planar electrodes;
• said pair of parallel-planar electrodes and said inductive-coupling coil are driven by the radio-frequency power supply;
• and
• said pair of parallel-planar electrodes and said inductive-coupling coil driven by the radio-frequency power supply carry out capacitive-coupling and inductive-coupling so as to be associated with each other, so that capacitively-coupled plasma and inductively-coupled plasma are generated within the vacuum chamber;
• and
• said pair of parallel-planar electrodes and said inductive-coupling coil are coupled in series to said radio-frequency matching circuit.

A plasma generating apparatus comprising:

• a vacuum chamber;
• an inductive-coupling coil wound around said vacuum chamber;
• a pair of parallel-planar electrodes, each of which electrodes has a center on a central axis of said inductive-coupling coil within the vacuum chamber, and is disposed vertically against the central axis;
• a radio-frequency power supply;
• and
• a radio-frequency matching circuit coupled to said radio-frequency power supply;
• wherein:
• said a radio-frequency matching circuit is coupled to said inductive-coupling coil and to said pair of parallel-planar electrodes;
• said pair of parallel-planar electrodes and said inductive-coupling coil are driven by the radio-frequency power supply;
• and
• said pair of parallel-planar electrodes and said inductive-coupling coil driven by the radio-frequency power supply carry out capacitive-coupling and inductive-coupling so as to be associated with each other, so that capacitively-coupled plasma and inductively-coupled plasma are generated within the vacuum chamber;
• and
• said pair of parallel-planar electrodes and said inductive-coupling coil are coupled in parallel to said radio-frequency matching circuit.

A plasma generating apparatus comprising:

• a vacuum chamber;
• a load circuit having an inductive-coupling coil and a pair of planar electrodes provided to said vacuum chamber;
• and
• single power supply means, coupled to said inductive-coupling coil and said pair of planar electrodes in said load circuit, for supplying a radio frequency power to said load circuit so that the inductive-coupling coil and the pair of planar electrodes carry out capacitive-coupling and inductive-coupling so as to be associated with each other, whereby inductively-coupled plasma and capacitively-coupled plasma are generated within the vacuum chamber.

A plasma generating apparatus comprising:

• a vacuum chamber;
• an inductive-coupling coil wound around said vacuum chamber;
• a pair of parallel-planar electrodes, each of which electrodes has a center on a central axis of said inductive-coupling coil within the vacuum chamber, and is disposed vertically against the central axis;
• a radio-frequency power supply;
• and
• a radio-frequency matching circuit coupled to said radio-frequency power supply;
• wherein:
• said a radio-frequency matching circuit is coupled to said inductive-coupling coil and to said pair of parallel-planar electrodes;
• said pair of parallel-planar electrodes and said inductive-coupling coil are driven by the radio-frequency power supply;
• and
• said pair of parallel-planar electrodes and said inductive-coupling coil driven by the radio-frequency power supply carry out capacitive-coupling and inductive-coupling so as to be associated with each other, so that capacitively-coupled plasma and inductively-coupled plasma are generated within the vacuum chamber;
• and
• a condition and characteristics of the generated plasma are controllable by way of a winding of the inductive-coupling coil.