Process for low temperature plasma deposition of an optical absorption layer and high speed optical annealing

A method of processing a workpiece, comprising:

• introducing an optical absorber material precursor gas into a chamber containing the workpiece;
• generating an RF oscillating toroidal plasma current in a reentrant path that includes a process zone overlying said workpiece by applying RF source power, so as to deposit a layer of an optical absorber material on said workpiece;
• exposing said workpiece to optical radiation that is at least partially absorbed in said optical absorber layer;
• wherein said optical absorber material comprises amorphous carbon and said precursor gas comprises a carbon-containing gas;
• including an absorption-enhancing species in the optical absorbing layer, said including comprising:
• adding an optical absorption enhancing species precursor gas to the optical absorber material precursor gas during deposition of the optical absorber material;
• changing the proportion of the optical absorption-enhancing precursor gas in the chamber over time to vary the absorption characteristic over the depth of the optical absorber layer.

A method of processing a workpiece, comprising:

• introducing an optical absorber material precursor gas into a chamber containing the workpiece;
• generating an RF oscillating toroidal plasma current in a reentrant path that includes a process zone overlying said workpiece by applying RF source power, so as to deposit a layer of an optical absorber material on said workpiece;
• exposing said workpiece to optical radiation that is at least partially absorbed in said optical absorber layer;
• wherein said optical absorber material comprises amorphous carbon and said precursor gas comprises a carbon-containing gas;
• including an absorption-enhancing species in the optical absorbing layer, said including comprising:
• ion implanting the optical absorption-enhancing species into the optical absorption layer after the optical absorber layer has been deposited;
• and
• providing an ion implantation depth profile that varies over depth so as to vary opacity of the optical absorber layer over depth.