Plasma monitoring method and semiconductor production apparatus
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorsAtsushi Denda, Yoshinao Ito
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In certain embodiments a plasma is supplied from a plasma chamber 10 into a reaction chamber 18 of a plasma CVD apparatus. An electrode 22 is disposed in the reaction chamber 18. A semiconductor wafer on which a thin film is to be formed is placed on the electrode 22. A radio-frequency wave is generated by a radio-frequency wave generator 28 and supplied to the electrode 22 via a radio-frequency matching network 30, a blocking capacitor 32, and an RF probe 34 so as to control the plasma in the plasma chamber 10. A judgment device 38 is electrically connected to the RF probe 34. The voltage and current are be measured by the RF probe and the judgment device 38 is used to judge the state of the plasma in the plasma chamber 10.
Claims17
An apparatus for producing a semiconductor device by generating or controlling a plasma using a radio-frequency wave, the semiconductor production apparatus comprising:
- radio-frequency wave generation means for generating the radio-frequency wave;
- an electrode disposed in a space where the plasma is generated;
- radio-frequency wave propagation means for propagating the radio-frequency wave generated by the radio-frequency wave generation means to the electrode;
- radio-frequency voltage measurement means positioned to measure the voltage of the radio-frequency wave propagating through the radio-frequency wave propagation means;
- radio-frequency current measurement means positioned to measure the current of the radio-frequency wave propagating through the radio-frequency wave propagation means;
- and
- judgment means for judging the state of the plasma on the basis of the voltage and the current, wherein the judgment means judges the state of the plasma on the basis of the first to change of the voltage and the current.
An apparatus for semiconductor device fabrication using a plasma, the apparatus comprising:
- a plasma chamber having a plasma formation region;
- at least one RF generator to supply energy to the plasma formation region;
- at least one RF voltage measurement device;
- at least one RF current measurement device;
- and
- a device to compare any changes in voltage and current and determine the order of the changes.
A plasma processing apparatus comprising:
- a plasma chamber having a plasma formation region;
- at least one RF generator to supply energy to the plasma formation region;
- at least one RF voltage measurement device to measure voltage;
- at least one RF current measurement device to measure current;
- and
- a judgement device in communication with the voltage measurement device and the current measurement device, that determines the state of a plasma formed in the plasma formation region based on the change in only one of the voltage and current.
A plasma processing apparatus comprising:
- a plasma chamber having a plasma formation region;
- at least one RF generator to supply energy to the plasma formation region;
- at least one RF voltage measurement device to measure voltage;
- at least one RF current measurement device to measure current;
- and
- a judgement device that determines the first to change of the voltage and current.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.