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US 7,067,034 B2Granted
Method and apparatus for plasma forming inner magnetic bucket to control a volume of a plasma
AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorAndrew D. Bailey, III
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A plasma confinement arrangement for controlling the volume of a plasma while processing a substrate inside a process chamber includes a chamber within which a plasma is both ignited and sustained for processing. The chamber is defined at least in part by a wall and further includes a plasma confinement arrangement. The plasma confinement arrangement includes a magnetic array disposed inside of the chamber. The magnetic array has a plurality of magnetic elements that are disposed around a plasma region within the process chamber.
Claims19
A plasma processing apparatus for processing a substrate, comprising:
- a process chamber, comprising:
- a wall defining part of the process chamber and a plasma region;
- a gas source for providing a gas within the process chamber defined by the wall;
- a device for igniting and sustaining within the process chamber a plasma from the gas provided by the gas source for said processing;
- and
- a plasma confinement arrangement, comprising a magnetic array having a plurality of magnetic elements that are disposed within said process chamber, said plurality of magnetic elements being configured to produce a magnetic field, and wherein said plurality of magnetic elements are disposed around and the wall extend along said plasma region, and wherein said magnetic elements are within said plasma region, wherein the wall surrounds the magnetic elements and the plasma region so that plasma is able to form plasma deposition on the wall, and wherein the magnetic field produced by the magnetic elements reduces plasma deposition on the wall, wherein each of said plurality of magnetic elements extend substantially from a first end of said process chamber to a chuck, wherein the magnetic elements are spaced apart from the wall, so that the gas provided by the gas source is able to surround the magnetic elements and go into spaces between the wall and the magnetic elements, wherein said magnetic field has an azimuthally symmetric radial gradient.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.