Apparatus for performing plasma process on semiconductor wafers and the like and method of performing plasma process

An apparatus for performing plasma process on a semiconductor wafer or other material to be processed, comprising:

• means for drawing an electron beam from an electron source plasma and for accelerating it;
• a reaction chamber for receiving the electron beam and for allowing the to-be-processed material to be subjected to process by a created sheet-like plasma;
• means for introducing into the reaction chamber a gas undergoing a reaction excited by the electron beam;
• and
• at least one pair of magnet means, positioned in the reaction chamber in an opposed spaced relation with an electron beam path set therebetween, for forming a sheet-like electron beam by their magnetic field and for creating the sheet-like plasma through a gas reaction excited by the sheet-like electron beam so that a uniform plasma process can be performed at a uniform rate on the to-be-processed material wherein, in a solid reference plane extending perpendicularly from a Z-axis corresponding to a center line of the electron beam path, the at least one pair of magnet means, while maintaining a spacing at a value in a direction parallel to a Y-axis direction which is right-angled relative to the Z-axis direction, are positioned in a direction parallel to an X-axis direction and in opposed relation on opposite sides of the X-axis, which is right-angled relative to the Z-axis direction and the Y-axis direction.