Plasma processing method and apparatus for performing uniform plasma processing on a linear portion of an object

A plasma processing apparatus comprising:

• a plasma source that is provided with an electrode, for generating a linear plasma;
• a gas supply unit for supplying gas to the plasma source;
• a power supply for supplying an electric power to the electrode or an object to be processed;
• a detection unit for detecting an inclination of the plasma source along a direction of an x-axis when the x-axis is taken in a linear direction of a linear portion of the object;
• and
• a transport unit for moving the plasma source along the x-axis direction while maintaining relative positions of the plasma source and the object with respect to a distance between the plasma source and the object so that the inclination of the plasma source detected by the detection unit becomes almost zero,
• wherein the plasma source processes the linear portion of the object with the generated linear plasma while the transport unit moves the plasma source along the x-axis direction.

A plasma processing method comprising:

• carrying out plasma processing for processing a surface of an object to be processed for a test by generating a linear plasma by supplying an electric power to an electrode provided at a plasma source or the object for a test while supplying gas to the plasma source arranged in a neighborhood of the object for a test with relative positions of the plasma source and the object for a test fixed and making activated particles generated by the linear plasma act on the object for a test;
• measuring a processing speed in a processed portion on the surface of the object for a test;
• calibrating a length measuring unit for measuring a distance between the plasma source and an object to be processed, which is different from the object for a test and to be subjected to plasma processing, based on a measurement result of the measuring;
• and
• carrying out plasma processing for processing a surface of the object to be processed by generating a linear plasma by supplying an electric power to the electrode provided at the plasma source or the object to be processed while supplying gas to the plasma source arranged in a neighborhood of the object to be processed, measuring the distance between the plasma source and the object to be processed and making activated particles generated by the linear plasma act on the object to be processed.

A plasma processing method comprising:

• processing a linear portion of an object to be processed for a test by generating a linear plasma by supplying an electric power to an electrode provided at a plasma source or the object for a test while supplying gas to the plasma source arranged in a neighborhood of the object for a test with relative positions of the plasma source and the object for a test fixed and making activated particles generated by the linear plasma act on the object for a test;
• measuring a distribution in a linear direction of a processing speed in the processed linear portion of the object for a test;
• calibrating a length measuring unit for measuring a distance between the plasma source and an object to be processed, which is different from the object for a test and to be subjected to plasma processing, in two different x-coordinate positions based on a measurement result of the measuring when an x-axis is taken in the linear direction;
• and
• carrying out plasma processing for processing the object to be processed by generating a linear plasma by supplying an electric power to the electrode provided at the plasma source or the object to be processed while supplying gas to the plasma source arranged in a neighborhood of the object to be processed, measuring the distance between the plasma source and the object to be processed in the two different x-coordinate positions and making activated particles generated by the linear plasma act on the object to be processed.

A plasma processing method comprising:

• processing an object to be processed for a test by generating a linear plasma by supplying an electric power to an electrode provided at a plasma source or the object for a test while supplying gas to the plasma source arranged in a neighborhood of the object for a test with relative positions of the plasma source and the object for a test fixed and monitoring a light emission intensity of the linear plasma, and making activated particles generated by the linear plasma act on the object for a test;
• calibrating a length measuring unit for measuring a distance between the plasma source and an object to be processed, which is different from the object for a test and to be subjected to plasma processing, based on a result of the monitoring of the light emission intensity in the processing;
• and
• carrying out plasma processing for processing the object to be processed by generating a linear plasma by supplying an electric power to the electrode provided at the plasma source or the object to be processed while supplying gas to the plasma source arranged in a neighborhood of the object to be processed, measuring the distance between the plasma source and the object to be processed and making activated particles generated by the linear plasma act on the object to be processed.

A plasma processing method comprising:

• processing a linear portion of an object to be processed for a test by generating a linear plasma by supplying an electric power to an electrode provided at a plasma source or the object for a test while supplying gas to the plasma source arranged in a neighborhood of the object for a test with relative positions of the plasma source and the object for a test fixed, monitoring light emission intensities of the linear plasma in two different x-coordinate positions when an x-axis is taken in a linear direction and making activated particles generated by the linear plasma act on the object for a test;
• calibrating a length measuring unit for measuring a distance between the plasma source located in the two different x-coordinate positions and an object to be processed, which is different from the object for a test and to be subjected to plasma processing, based on a result of the monitoring of the light emission intensities in the processing;
• and
• carrying out plasma processing for processing the object to be processed by generating a linear plasma by supplying an electric power to the electrode provided at the plasma source or the object to be processed while supplying gas to the plasma source arranged in a neighborhood of the object to be processed, and measuring the distance between the plasma source located in the two different x-coordinate positions and the object to be processed and making activated particles generated by the linear plasma act on the object to be processed.

A plasma processing apparatus comprising:

• a plasma source, which is provided with an electrode, for generating a plasma on a portion of a surface of an object to be processed;
• a gas supply unit for supplying gas to the plasma source;
• a power supply for supplying an electric power to the electrode or the object;
• a mechanism for changing relative positions of the plasma source and the object;
• a light emission monitor for monitoring a light emission intensity of the plasma;
• and
• a mechanism for feeding back a result of the monitoring of the light emission intensity to a relative position change rate of the plasma source and the object.

A plasma processing apparatus comprising:

• a plasma source, which is provided with an electrode, for generating a plasma on a portion of a surface of an object to be processed;
• a gas supply unit for supplying gas to the plasma source;
• a power supply for supplying an electric power to the electrode or the object;
• a mechanism for changing relative positions of the plasma source and the object;
• a monitor for monitoring the electric power, a voltage, or a current;
• and
• a mechanism for feeding back a result of the monitoring of the electric power, the voltage, or the current to a relative position change rate of the plasma source and the object.

A plasma processing apparatus comprising:

• a plasma source, which is provided with an electrode, for generating a plasma on a portion of a surface of an object to be processed;
• a gas supply unit for supplying gas to the plasma source;
• a matching circuit having a variable reactive element;
• a power supply for supplying a high-frequency power to the electrode or the object via the matching circuit;
• a mechanism for monitoring a value of the variable reactance element in the matching circuit;
• and
• an end point detector for executing end point detection of the plasma processing based on a result of the monitoring of the value of the variable reactance element,
• wherein the plasma processing apparatus changes relative positions of the plasma source and the object during processing.

A plasma processing apparatus comprising:

• a plasma source, which is provided with an electrode, for generating a plasma on a portion of a surface of an object to be processed;
• a gas supply unit for supplying gas to the plasma source;
• a matching circuit having a variable reactive element;
• a power supply for supplying a high-frequency power to the electrode or the object via the matching circuit;
• a mechanism for changing relative positions of the plasma source and the object;
• a mechanism for monitoring a value of the variable reactance element in the matching circuit;
• and
• a mechanism for feeding back a result of the monitoring of the value of the variable reactance element to a relative position change rate of the plasma source and the object.