Patent · US Active

Inductively coupled plasma reactor having RF phase control and methods of use thereof

US8368308B2 · kind B2 · utility

270Cited by
11References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 4, 2010
Grant dateFeb 5, 2013
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 4, 2031

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01L21/67069
  • WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention generally provide an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) reactor having a substrate RF bias that is capable of control of the RF phase difference between the ICP source (a first RF source) and the substrate bias (a second RF source) for plasma processing reactors used in the semiconductor industry. Control of the RF phase difference provides a powerful knob for fine process tuning. For example, control of the RF phase difference may be used to control one or more of average etch rate, etch rate uniformity, etch rate skew, critical dimension (CD) uniformity, and CD skew, CD range, self DC bias control, and chamber matching.

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