Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and method for generating plasma of uniform flux density

US5449977A · kind A · utility

23Cited by
4References
13Claims
0Family size

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Key dates

Filing dateOct 20, 1994
Grant dateSep 12, 1995
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 20, 2014

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01J2237/0044
  • WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Under a reduced pressure, an RF electric field is applied at a right angle to a main face of an article-to-be-treated such as a semiconductor, wafer placed on a cathode in treatment chamber. At the same time, a magnetic field is applied thereto by a magnetic field applying device to generate a plasma by a magnetron discharge. The magnetic field is formed in such a fashion that adjacent magnetic lines of flux are not in parallel with one another on the main face of the article-to-be-treated. Charged particles in the plasma drift in a diverging direction with Lorenz force so as to prevent electrification of the article-to-be-treated.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.