Inductively and multi-capacitively coupled plasma reactor

A capacitively and inductively coupled RF plasma reactor for processing a semiconductor wafer inside a vacuum chamber of said reactor, comprising:

• a pair of parallel capacitive electrodes facing each other across at least a portion of the chamber;
• an inductive coil wound around a portion of the chamber;
• a common RF power source;
• and
• a power splitting capacitor configured to reactively split RF power from said common RF power source to at least two of:
• (a) a first one of said capacitive electrodes, (b) a second one of said capacitive electrodes and (c) said inductive coil.

A capacitively and inductively coupled RF plasma reactor for processing a semiconductor wafer inside a vacuum chamber of said reactor, comprising:

• a pair of parallel capacitive electrodes facinq each other across at least a portion of the chamber;
• an inductive coil wound around a portion of the chamber;
• a common RF source;
• and
• reactive power splitting device capable of separately providing power from said common RF source to at least said two of (a) a first one of the pair of electrodes, (b) a second one of the pair of electrodes and (c) said inductive coil;
• wherein
• RF power is applied to each of the capacitive electrodes for capacitively coupling RF power into the chamber and to said inductive coil for inductively coupling RF power into the chamber in accordance with a certain RF phase relationship between at least two of (a) the first one of the pair of electrodes, (b) the second one of the pair of electrodes and (c) said inductive coil, during processing of the semiconductor wafer for ease of plasma ignition and precise control of plasma ion energy and process reproducibility.

A capacitively and inductively coupled RF plasma reactor for processing a semiconductor wafer inside a vacuum chamber of said reactor, comprising:

• a pair of parallel capacitive electrodes facing each other across at least a portion of the chamber;
• an inductive coil wound around a portion of the chamber;
• a common RF power source;
• and
• a transformer configured to reactively split RF power from said common RF power source to at least two of:
• (a) a first one of said capacitive electrodes, (b) a second one of said capacitive electrodes and (c) said inductive coil.

A method of capacitively and inductively coupling RF power into a vacuum chamber of a plasma reactor used for processing a semiconductor wafer so as to ignite and control a plasma within the vacuum chamber, said method comprising the steps of:

• configuring the plasma reactor to comprise a pair of parallel capacitive electrodes facing each other across at least a portion of the chamber;
• configuring the plasma reactor to comprise an inductive coil wound around a portion of the chamber;
• applying RF Dower to each of the capacitive electrodes to capacitively couple RF power into the chamber and to said inductive coil to inductively couple RF power into the chamber during processing of the semiconductor wafer, said step of applying RF power to each of the capacitive electrodes facilitating plasma ignition and precise control of plasma ion energy and said step of applying RF power to said inductor coil facilitating precise control of plasma ion density;
• and
• configuring the plasma reactor to comprise a chamber ceiling having at least a portion comprising a precursor material for a processing gas which is sputtered into the plasma under the influence of a first one of said electrodes.

A capacitively and inductively coupled RF plasma reactor for processing a semiconductor wafer inside a vacuum chamber of said reactor, comprising:

• a pair of parallel capacitive electrodes facing each other across at least a portion of the chamber;
• an inductive coil wound around a portion of the chamber;
• a common RF source;
• and
• reactive power splitting device capable of separately providing power from said common RF source to at least said two of (a) a first one of the pair of electrodes, (b) a second one of the pair of electrodes and (c) said inductive coil;
• wherein
• RF power is applied to each of the capacitive electrodes for capacitively coupling RF power into the chamber and to said inductive coil for inductively coupling RF power into the chamber during processing of the semiconductor wafer for ease of plasma ignition and precise control of plasma ion energy and density.

A capacitively and inductively coupled RF plasma reactor for processing a semiconductor wafer inside a vacuum chamber of said reactor, comprising:

• a pair of parallel capacitive electrodes facing each other across at least A portion of the chamber;
• an inductive coil wound around a portion of the chamber;
• and
• a power applying device capable of applying RF power to each of the capacitive electrodes for capacitively coupling RF power into the chamber and to said inductive coil for inductively coupling RF power into the chamber during processing of the semiconductor wafer for ease of plasma ignition and precise control of plasma ion energy and density;
• wherein
• at least a portion of a ceiling of said chamber comprises a precursor material for a processing gas which is sputtered into the plasma under the influence of a first one of said electrodes.