Plasma processing apparatus

A plasma processing apparatus comprising:

• a processing chamber for plasma processing, having an external wall, said chamber containing within said wall an object having a surface to be processed in a plasma;
• induction means for providing a radio frequency induction field within said chamber for generating a plasma within said chamber;
• voltage applying means for applying a radio frequency voltage to said induction means;
• measuring means for measuring a pressure variation and/or a light intensity variation from the plasma in said chamber during generation of the plasma, and outputting a signal corresponding to the variation;
• control means for controlling said radio frequency voltage applying means based on the signal from said measuring means, and controlling said voltage for controlling said plasma within said chamber;
• and
• wherein said measuring means has light detecting means for measuring an emission spectrum of a gas present in said processing chamber, and a shortwave component of light emitted from said processing chamber, and outputting a first signal corresponding to the measured emission spectrum and a second signal corresponding to the shortwave component, and said control means detects a state of the plasma based on the first signal, and corrects a detection result using the second signal to control said radio frequency voltage applying means.

A plasma processing apparatus comprising:

• a chamber for plasma processing having an external wall, said chamber containing within said wall an object having a surface to be processed in a plasma;
• induction means for providing a radio frequency induction field within said chamber for generating a plasma within said chamber, said induction means being coaxially arranged on an imaginary plane being parallel to the surface to be processed and having at least a first inner coil and a second outer coil which are insulated with each other;
• supplying means for respectively supplying radio frequency currents to said first inner coil and second outer coil for controlling said plasma within said chamber;
• phase control means for controlling phases of the radio frequency currents supplied to said first inner coil and second outer coil;
• and
• pressure detecting means for detecting a pressure in said processing chamber and outputting a signal corresponding to the detected pressure, and means for controlling a power supplied to said first radio frequency coil and a power supplied to said second radio frequency coil to have a division ratio based on the signal from said pressure detecting means.

A plasma processing apparatus comprising:

• a processing chamber for plasma processing an object received in the chamber;
• a plurality of radio frequency antennas disposed outside of the chamber and arranged side by side and spaced from each other, the antennas providing a radio frequency induction field within the chamber for generating a plasma therein;
• a plurality of radio frequency power supplies each of which is connected to the corresponding radio frequency antenna for supplying a radio frequency voltage thereto;
• and
• control means for controlling the radio frequency voltage from the radio frequency voltage power supplies.

A plasma processing apparatus comprising:

• a chamber for plasma processing having an external wall, said chamber containing within said wall an object having a surface to be processed in a plasma;
• induction means for providing a radio frequency induction field within said chamber for generating a plasma within said chamber, said induction means being coaxially arranged on an imaginary plane being parallel to the surface to be processed and having at least a first inner coil and a second outer coil which are insulated with each other;
• supplying means for respectively supplying radio frequency currents to said first inner coil and second outer coil for controlling said plasma within said chamber;
• phase control means for controlling phases of the radio frequency currents supplied to said first inner coil and second outer coil;
• wherein said phase control means controls the phase of the radio frequency current supplied to said first radio frequency coil and the phase of the radio frequency current supplied to said second radio frequency coil to be the substantially same phases or phases shifted by about 180.degree. from each other;
• and
• reflected power detecting means for detecting reflected powers from said respective radio frequency coils, and wherein said phase control means has a phase shifter for adjusting the phases of the respective radio frequency currents supplied to said respective radio frequency coils to have a phase difference so as to minimize the reflected powers detected by said reflected power detecting means.