Universal mid-frequency matching network
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsEller Y. Juco, Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Mario David Silvetti, Talex Sajoto
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Abstract
A substrate processing system is provided with a processing chamber, an alternating voltage supply, and an impedance matching network. The processing chamber holds a substrate during processing and the alternating voltage supply is connected with the processing chamber to capacitively couple energy to a plasma formed within the processing chamber. The impedance matching network is coupled with the alternating voltage supply and has a variable resistive element and a variable reactive element, whose states respectively define distinct real and imaginary parts of an impedance.
Claims21
A substrate processing system comprising:
- a processing chamber for holding a substrate during processing;
- an alternating voltage supply connected with the processing chamber to capacitively couple energy to a plasma formed within the processing chamber;
- and
- an impedance matching network coupled with the alternating voltage supply, the impedance matching network comprising:
- a variable resistive element having a first plurality of states to define distinct real parts of an impedance in accordance with the first plurality of states;
- and
- a variable reactive element having a second plurality of states to define distinct imaginary parts of the impedance in accordance with the second plurality of states.
A method for processing a substrate, the method comprising:
- positioning the substrate in a processing chamber;
- capacitively coupling an alternating voltage supply with the processing chamber to couple energy to a plasma formed within the processing chamber;
- and
- matching an impedance defined by processing conditions for the substrate, comprising:
- matching a real part of the impedance by selecting one of a first plurality of states of a variable resistance element coupled with the alternating voltage supply;
- and
- matching an imaginary part of the impedance by selecting one of a second plurality of states of a variable reactive element coupled with the alternating voltage supply.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.