Inductive plasma reactor

A method of processing a substrate in a plasma reactor, the method comprising the steps of:

• supplying a gas to a reaction chamber;
• providing a shield adjacent to the reaction chamber, the shield having at least thirty substantially nonconductive gaps formed therein to allow passage of inductively coupled power to the gas in the reaction chamber, the substantially nonconductive gaps each having a gap width less than about ⅜ inches;
• inductively coupling power through the shield to the gas to produce a plasma;
• and
• exposing the substrate to products of the plasma for processing.

A plasma reactor for processing a substrate comprising:

• a plasma chamber for producing a plasma;
• a source of radio frequency power;
• an induction coil adjacent to the plasma and coupled to the source of radio frequency power to couple power into the plasma;
• a shield between the induction coil and the plasma, the shield having at least one substantially non-conductive gap configured to allow power to be inductively coupled by the induction coil through the shield;
• the shield configured to be substantially ungrounded during at least a portion of the time that power is coupled from the induction coil into the plasma;
• and
• a support for the substrate positioned such that the substrate is exposed to products of the plasma for processing.

A system for processing a plurality of substrates comprising:

• a plurality of adjacent processing regions, each of the plurality of processing regions for processing a respective substrate;
• a plurality of plasma chambers for producing a plasma, each of the plurality of plasma chambers associated with a respective one of the plurality of processing regions, wherein each of the plasma chambers is separated from the other plasma chambers by at least one wall;
• a separate induction coil adjacent to each of the plurality of plasma chambers to inductively couple power into each plasma;
• a shared gas supply system providing gas to each of the plasma chambers;
• a shared gas exhaust system for exhausting gas from each of the processing regions;
• at least one support for positioning the respective substrate in the processing region such that the substrate is exposed to products from the plasma of the associated plasma chamber for processing.