Inductively coupled RF plasma reactor with floating coil antenna for reduced capacitive coupling
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsXue-Yu Qian, Arthur H. Sato
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In an inductively coupled RF plasma reactor having an inductive coil antenna connected through an RF impedance match network to an RF power source, capacitive coupling from the antenna to the plasma is reduced by isolating the coil antenna from the RF power source by an isolation transformer, so that the potential of the coil antenna is floating. The output of the RF impedance match network is connected across the primary winding of the isolation transformer while the floating coil antenna is connected across the secondary winding of the isolation transformer.
Claims28
An inductively coupled plasma reactor for use with a plasma source power RF generator having an RF frequency F, said reactor comprising:
- a reactor chamber adapted to admit a processing gas into said chamber and a pedestal for supporting a semiconductor substrate inside said chamber;
- an inductively coupled antenna adjacent said chamber for producing a plasma from said gas by inductive coupling of RF power;
- a plasma source power RF generator coupled to said antenna having a fundamental RF frequency F;
- and
- an isolation transformer coupling said RF generator to said inductive antenna, said isolation transformer being coreless and having an air gap between said primary and secondary windings.
An inductively coupled plasma reactor for use with a plasma source power RF generator having an RF frequency F, said reactor comprising:
- a reactor chamber with a gas inlet for introducing a processing gas into said chamber and a pedestal for supporting a semiconductor substrate inside said chamber;
- an inductively coupled antenna adjacent said chamber for producing a plasma from said gas by inductive coupling of RF power, said inductively coupled antenna comprising a coiled conductor wound over a portion of said chamber, said coil conductor being terminated at a pair of ends;
- a plasma source power RF generator coupled to said antenna having a fundamental RF frequency F;
- an RF impedance match network having an input connected to an output of said RF generator;
- and
- an isolation transformer coupling said RF generator to said inductive antenna and having a primary winding connected to an output of said RF impedance match network and a secondary winding, said pair of ends being connected across said secondary winding, and wherein said isolation transformer is coreless and has an air gap between said primary and secondary windings.
An inductively coupled plasma reactor for use with a plasma source power RF generator having an RF frequency F, said reactor comprising:
- a reactor chamber adapted to admit a processing gas into said chamber and a pedestal for supporting a semiconductor substrate inside said chamber;
- an inductively coupled antenna adjacent said chamber for producing a plasma from said gas by inductive coupling of RF power;
- a plasma source power RF generator coupled to said antenna having a fundamental RF frequency F;
- and
- an isolation transformer coupling said RF generator to said inductive antenna, said isolation transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding wherein said primary winding is wound around a first portion of a ferrite core and the secondary winding is wound around a separate second portion of the ferrite core.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.