Non-conductive alignment member for uniform plasma processing of substrates
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsTurgut Sahin, David W. Cheung
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A new susceptor design for used in plasma processing of substrates is provided. The susceptor is made of metal and serves as one of the electrodes in a parallel plate plasma reactor. The susceptor is flat and has no lip at its rim. A substrate having substantially the same diameter as the susceptor is placed on and covers the susceptor. This arrangement allows a uniform electric field to be formed across the whole surface of the substrate. As a result, the deposition on the surface of the substrate is uniform.
Claims32
A plasma chamber assembly for processing substrates in ionizable gas, comprising:
- a conductive support having a supporting surface for supporting a substrate within the chamber so as to expose a surface of said substrate to the ionizable gas;
- a non-conductive aligning member comprising a lip extending transversely about the periphery of said conductive substrate support;
- and
- an electrode in facing relationship to said supporting surface, said electrode and said conductive support being adapted to be energized so as to establish an electric field having good uniformity between said electrode and said supporting surface,
- whereby a plasma may be established within said chamber and the processing of said substrate surface may proceed with enhanced uniformity over said surface.
A plasma chamber for processing substrates in a plasma, the chamber comprising:
- (a) a conductive support having a supporting surface for supporting a substrate;
- (b) one or more radiative heat sources below the conductive support;
- (c) a non-conductive aligning member comprising (i) a lip extending transversely about a periphery of said conductive support, and (ii) a support portion extending below the conductive support, the support portion comprising a plurality of apertures that allow heating of the substrate by radiative heat from the radiative heat sources;
- and
- (d) an electrode facing the conductive support, the electrode and conductive support adapted to be energized so as to form a uniform electric field therebetween,
- whereby a plasma can be formed in the chamber to process the substrate with enhanced uniformity.
A plasma deposition reactor for depositing a uniform layer of material across a substrate in a processing environment, the reactor comprising:
- (a) an electrically-conductive susceptor having a surface for supporting the substrate;
- (b) an electrode facing the susceptor surface;
- and
- (c) non-conductive aligning means for aligning the substrate on the susceptor surface, the aligning means comprising (i) a perimetrically located lip for positioning the substrate on the surface of the electrically conductive susceptor, and (ii) a containment region attached to a perimeter of said lip for accepting said conductive susceptor, the perimeter of the containment region being smaller than the perimeter of the lip,
- wherein the electrode and susceptor are adapted to be energized to establish a relatively uniform electric field between the electrode surface and susceptor to form a plasma in the processing environment.
A plasma chamber for processing a substrate in a plasma of ionizable gas, the chamber comprising:
- (a) an electrically conductive support having a supporting surface for supporting the substrate;
- (b) means for generating an electric field in the chamber;
- and
- (c) a non-conductive lip extending transversely about a periphery of the substrate, the non-conductive lip shaped and sized to maintain the electric field at the periphery of the substrate substantially uniform and perpendicular to the substrate,
- whereby the ionizable gas ionizes in the uniform electric field to form a plasma that substantially uniformly processes the periphery of the substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.