56 results about "Capacitively coupled plasma" patented technology

A method for preparing a surface for bonding leverages multiple treatment processes to increase bonding strength. The method may include performing a first treatment process on a surface of a material using a first plasma process to promote diffusion into the first surface of a diffusion layer deposited after the first treatment process where the first treatment process uses capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) or a combination including both CCP and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) simultaneously, forming the diffusion layer on the surface of the material, performing a second treatment process using a second plasma process to increase diffusion of the diffusion layer into the surface of the material where the second treatment process uses CCP, and performing a third treatment process using a third plasma process to form dangling bonds on the diffusion layer where the third treatment process uses ICP or a combination including both CCP and ICP simultaneously.

A plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition method and the associated reactor, the method including a supply of a substrate into a plasma reactor including a reaction chamber, and a plurality of atomic layer deposition cycles on the exposed surface of the substrate, including an injection in the reaction chamber of a precursor based on a first species, a plasma treatment of the exposed surface of the substrate by a plasma by capacity coupling between the plate and the lateral wall of the reaction chamber, by applying a radiofrequency power to the plate. Capacitive coupling makes it possible to create a plasma localised in the vicinity of the substrate, at low and finely adjustable ion energy and density.

The invention provides a method for measuring impedance of a capacitively coupled plasma source, which comprises the following steps of: under the condition that plasma is not ignited, dividing a cavity into an upper part and a lower part along an electrical middle plane, and establishing an equivalent circuit model comprising five elements to be determined; three measurement ports are defined, five independent measurement boundary conditions are set, sweep frequency measurement is carried out by using a network analyzer, and multiple groups of Z parameter data are obtained; then, on each frequency point, joint fitting is carried out on a theoretical impedance expression of the equivalent circuit and actually measured data, and parameter values of all undetermined elements are solved; and finally, outputting a parameter curve of each element along with frequency change and a cavity equivalent impedance spectrum. According to the method, the problem that equivalent parameters cannot be identified is solved through multi-working-condition data redundancy, universal, accurate and reproducible measurement of the impedance of the pure cavity is realized, and a reliable quantitative basis is provided for matching network design, process window prediction and cavity optimization.

Method for depositing amorphous silicon materials are provide and include generating a plasma within a plasma unit in fluid communication with a process chamber and flowing the plasma through an ion suppressor to produce an activated fluid containing reactive species and neutral species. The activated fluid either contains no ions or contains a lower concentration of ions than the plasma. The method further includes flowing the activated fluid into a first inlet of a dual channel showerhead within the process chamber and flowing a silicon precursor into a second inlet of the dual channel showerhead. Thereafter, the method includes flowing a mixture of the activated fluid and the silicon precursor out of the dual channel showerhead and forming an amorphous silicon layer on a substrate disposed in the process chamber.

The invention belongs to the field of plasma devices, and particularly relates to an electrode assembly, a preparation method thereof, a capacitive coupling plasma discharge cavity and a plasma device. The electrode assembly comprises a heating disc, a supporting seat and an electrode, the supporting seat is vertically connected with the heating disc; the supporting seat is in a hollow tubular shape and comprises a tubular supporting seat base body and a first metal conductive layer covering the inner surface of the supporting seat base body. The supporting seat base body is made of a ceramic material; the electrode comprises a first part embedded in the heating disc and a second part located on the center shaft of the supporting base. Parasitic plasmas can be prevented from being generated in the vacuum cavity around the supporting seat, and the process stability is improved.

Method for depositing amorphous silicon materials are provide and include generating a plasma within a plasma unit in fluid communication with a process chamber, where the plasma unit contains a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) unit and flowing the plasma through an ion suppressor to produce an activated fluid comprising reactive species and neutral species. The activated fluid has an ion concentration of about 70% to about 99% less than an ion concentration of the plasma. The method also includes flowing a mixture of the activated fluid and a silicon precursor to a substrate disposed in the process chamber and forming an amorphous silicon layer on the substrate.

A method of controlling stress variation in a layer including silicon oxycarbide formed using a capacitively coupled plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition system. The method includes providing a chamber comprising a platen for supporting a substrate, placing a substrate, upon which a layer comprising silicon oxycarbide is formable, upon the platen, introducing a gas comprising oxygen into the chamber, introducing trimethylsilane gas into the chamber, generating a plasma within the chamber, maintaining a temperature at which deposition takes place to less than 275° C., maintaining a pressure within the chamber in the range 1.5-3 Torr, and depositing the layer upon the substrate with a deposition rate >1.5 μm / minute.

The application provides a magnetic field enhanced coupling plasma processing device and method, which comprises a capacitively coupled plasma device and a racetrack magnetic pole device; the capacitively coupled plasma device comprises an upper anode plate and a lower cathode plate, a plasma working area is formed between the upper anode plate and the lower cathode plate, and an electric field is formed between the upper anode plate and the lower cathode plate; the racetrack magnetic pole device comprises a moving device and a racetrack magnetic pole installed on the moving device, the moving device drives the racetrack magnetic pole to move along a plane parallel to the lower cathode plate; the racetrack magnetic pole comprises adjacent permanent magnets with opposite magnetic poles, and the permanent magnets form an additional coupling magnetic field which restricts the bipolar diffusion motion of electrons in the electric field. The application modulates the density, distribution and directional drift of the multi-field coupled plasma, greatly improves the actual processing efficiency of difficult-to-process materials, makes the plasma rapid processing of medium-large aperture optical elements possible, and improves the laser damage resistance of the elements.

A method and apparatus for filling a gap with a material comprising silicon are disclosed. The method comprises providing a substrate into a reaction chamber, wherein the substrate comprises at least one gap; providing a first reactive species generated from a capacitively-coupled plasma produced from a first reactant gas into the reaction chamber; and executing a plurality of deposition cycles. The deposition cycle comprises providing a first silicon precursor in vapor phase into the reaction chamber; and providing a second reactive species generated from an inductively-coupled plasma produced from a second reactant gas into the reaction chamber.

A radio frequency (RF) source may be used to generate a capacitively coupled plasma to perform a plasma-based process on a substrate in a plasma processing chamber. A controller may cause the RF source and a switching element to route an RF signal to electrodes in the pedestal that generate the plasma in the processing chamber as part of a recipe performed on a substrate during etch or deposition processes. Between processes, the controller may cause the same RF source to generate a second RF signal that is instead routed by the switching element to inductive coils to generate an inductively coupled plasma for a second process in the plasma processing chamber.

A plasma process chamber is designed with an upper section functioning as an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) chamber for generating neutrals, and a lower section operating as a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) chamber for generating high-energy ions. These sections are separated by a grounded ion filter (GIF), composed of conductive materials such as aluminum or silicon. The GIF blocks ions while allowing neutrals to pass, preventing ions from reaching the substrate during the surface modification step of the atomic layer etching (ALE) process. This design provides enhanced control over the ALE process, resulting in more precise substrate modification and improved etching efficiency.

A plasma processing apparatus integrates an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) chamber and a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) chamber. The ICP chamber and the CCP chamber are in fluid communication with each other through a showerhead located between the ICP chamber and the CCP chamber. The substrate is supported on a susceptor in the CCP chamber. The ICP chamber generates a remote plasma in the ICP chamber, while the CCP chamber generates a direct plasma in an environment adjacent the substrate. In some embodiments, a remote plasma generated by the ICP chamber may assist in depositing a first layer on a substrate, while a direct plasma generated by the CCP chamber may assist in etching or processing the first layer, or depositing a second layer on a substrate, without having to transfer the substrate between modules or between stations.

A plasma source array is provided. The plasma source array includes a plurality of hybrid plasma sub-sources disposed on the substrate, each hybrid sub-source including: a dielectric tube having an inner region and an outer surface; the inductively coupled plasma source is used for generating inductively coupled plasma, and the inductively coupled plasma source is arranged close to the outer surface of the dielectric tube; a capacitively coupled plasma source for generating a capacitively coupled plasma, the capacitively coupled plasma source disposed within the interior region of the dielectric tube; and a gas injection system configured to provide one or more process gases to an interior region of the dielectric tube, where the substrate has a substrate space amount and the individual mixed sub-source has a sub-source space amount, where the sub-source space amount is less than 20% of the substrate space amount.

Embodiments disclosed herein include immersed inductively coupled and capacitively coupled plasma excitation methods, apparatuses, and processes for large area substrates. A process chamber includes: a base for supporting a workpiece in a process space; an array of sensing elements in a portion of the processing space above the base; and a chamber top or a chamber cover, the chamber top or the chamber cover being over the array of sensing elements.

Disclosed are an electrode for a capacitively coupled plasma generating device, a capacitively coupled plasma generating device comprising same, and a capacitively coupled plasma uniformity adjusting method. This electrode for a capacitively coupled plasma generating device may comprise: a first plate-shaped electrode; a second plate-shaped electrode positioned around the first plate-shaped electrode on the same plane as the first plate-shaped electrode; and a power supply unit for applying radio-frequency (RF) power to the first plate-shaped electrode and the second plate-shaped electrode. The power supply unit may apply RF power having different phases to the first plate-shaped electrode and the second plate-shaped electrode.

An impedance characteristic measuring device for a capacitively coupled plasma processor, characterized in that the impedance characteristic measuring device comprises: an upper contact plate and a lower contact plate, wherein the upper contact plate is used to contact the lower surface of a gas shower head of the capacitively coupled plasma processor, and the lower contact plate is used to contact the upper surface of an electrostatic chuck in the capacitively coupled plasma processor; at least one elastic conductive part is located between the upper contact plate and the lower contact plate, and the elastic conductive part provides elastic force, so that the upper and lower contact plates are in close contact with the gas shower head and the electrostatic chuck respectively after the distance between the upper and lower contact plates is compressed when the impedance characteristic measuring device measures the impedance characteristic curve of the capacitively coupled plasma processor. The impedance characteristic curve of the plasma processor is accurately measured without plasma ignition.

The invention discloses a numerical simulation method for two-dimensional Ar-He mixed gas capacitive coupling plasma discharge, and belongs to the technical field of plasma numerical simulation. According to the method, a particle grid method and a Monte Carlo collision method are combined, a gas environment and a two-dimensional grid are initialized, and loop execution is carried out at each time step; an area weight method is used for distributing charges and electric field interpolation, an SOR method is used for solving a Poisson equation, a leapfrog method is used for updating particle motion, a boundary effect and a specific collision event are processed, after a system is stable, statistics is carried out on energy distribution of ions reaching an electrode, and whether the energy distribution is unimodal distribution is judged. And outputting key data of ion energy, ion flux, plasma uniformity and surface topography control for guiding process optimization based on the distribution. According to the method, the defect that a one-dimensional model ignores the radial effect is overcome, the cooperative discharge mechanism of the Ar-He mixed gas is accurately simulated, high-precision key data are provided for semiconductor plasma process optimization, and the method has important practical value.

A processing method includes depositing a barrier layer on a field region and sidewalls of a via of an interconnect structure, wherein depositing the barrier layer comprises establishing a single RF frequency capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) using a first radio frequency (RF) generator by delivering a first RF signal from the first radio frequency (RF) generator at a first RF frequency to a first electrode, and treating the barrier layer by establishing a dual RF frequency CCP, wherein the dual RF frequency CCP is formed using the first RF generator and a second RF generator coupled to the first electrode, the dual RF frequency CCP is formed by simultaneously delivering a second RF signal at the first RF frequency to the first electrode and a third RF signal at a second RF frequency to the first electrode, and the first RF frequency is greater than the second RF frequency.

Disclosed is an advanced plasma process chamber for semiconductor fabrication, capable of performing both dielectric material etching with a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) reactor and radical-based highly selective etching (HSE) within a single chamber. In some embodiments, a radical-based deposition step is also applied to enhance etching performance. The chamber features a novel grounded ion filter (GIF) designed for precise ion and neutral particle control, enabling efficient and high-precision etching processes essential for the fabrication of complex semiconductor devices.

Described is a process to clean up junction interfaces for fabricating semiconductor devices involving forming low-resistance electrical connections between vertically separated regions. An etch can be performed to remove silicon oxide on silicon surface at the bottom of a recessed feature. Described are methods and apparatus for etching up the bottom oxide of a hole or trench while minimizing the effects to the underlying epitaxial layer and to the dielectric layers on the field and the corners of metal gate structures. The method for etching features involves a reaction chamber equipped with a combination of capacitively coupled plasma and inductive coupled plasma. CHxFy gases and plasma are used to form protection layer, which enables the selectively etching of bottom silicon dioxide by NH3—NF3 plasma. Ideally, silicon oxide on EPI is removed to ensure low-resistance electric contact while the epitaxial layer and field / corner dielectric layers are—etched only minimally or not at all.

A method for preparing a surface for bonding utilizes multiple processing techniques to increase bonding strength. The method can include performing a first processing technique on a surface of a material using a first plasma process to promote diffusion into a first surface of a diffusion layer deposited after the first processing technique, where the first processing technique uses a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) or a combination of both CCP and inductively coupled plasma (ICP); forming the diffusion layer on the surface of the material; performing a second processing technique to increase diffusion of the diffusion layer into the surface of the material using a second plasma process, where the second processing technique uses CCP; and performing a third processing technique to form dangling bonds on the diffusion layer using a third plasma process, where the third processing technique uses ICP or a combination of both CCP and ICP.

To provide a plasma processing device that generates plasma on a substrate to process the substrate.SOLUTION: A plasma processing device includes a processing container, a gas supply tube that supplies a processing gas into the processing container, an exhaust part that exhausts the processing container, a pair of electrodes disposed outside the processing container and disposed opposite to each other about the center of the processing container, a high-frequency power source that applies high-frequency power to the pair of electrodes to generate capacitively coupled plasma in the processing container, an inner tube provided inside the processing container and having an opening penetrating from one electrode to the other electrode, a substrate holder that is inserted into the inner tube and holds a number of substrate in multiple stages, a rotation shaft that supports the substrate holder, a rotation mechanism that rotates the rotation shaft, and a lifting mechanism that lifts the rotation shaft. The substrate holder includes a ring member that holds the substrate and surrounds the outer side of the substrate in a radial direction in plan view.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 12

According to an embodiment, a hybrid plasma processing system for generating an inductively coupled plasma is proposed. The hybrid plasma processing system includes a plasma chamber, a showerhead electrode, an RF feed structure, and an inductive element. The plasma chamber includes a center electrode, showerhead, and a coaxial RF power feed. The plasma chamber is configured as a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) chamber. The showerhead electrode is configured to control gas flow within the capacitively coupled plasma chamber. The showerhead electrode is coupled to ground. The RF feed structure is couplable to an RF source. The inductive element is coupled to the RF feed structure configured to form a resonant circuit to generate a magnetic field to sustain the inductively coupled plasma generated within the capacitively coupled plasma chamber.

The processing method comprises the steps of: depositing a barrier layer on the field region and sidewalls of vias of an interconnect structure—the step of depositing the barrier layer includes establishing a single RF frequency capacitive coupled plasma (CCP) using a first radio frequency (RF) generator by transmitting a first RF signal from a first radio frequency (RF) generator to a first electrode at a first RF frequency—and processing the barrier layer by establishing a dual RF frequency CCP—the dual RF frequency CCP is formed using a first RF generator and a second RF generator coupled to the first electrode, the dual RF frequency CCP is formed by simultaneously transmitting a second RF signal at a first RF frequency to the first electrode and a third RF signal at a second RF frequency to the first electrode, wherein the first RF frequency is greater than the second RF frequency.

To provide a plasma processing device that generates plasma on a substrate to process the substrate.SOLUTION: A plasma processing device includes a processing container, a substrate holder that is inserted into the processing container and holds a number of substrates in multiple stages, a rotation shaft that can rotate the substrate holder in the processing container, a gas supply tube that supplies a processing gas into the processing container, an exhaust part that exhausts the processing container, a pair of electrodes disposed outside the processing container and disposed opposite to each other about the center of the processing container, and a high-frequency power source that applies high-frequency power to the pair of electrodes to generate capacitively coupled plasma in the processing container. The substrate holder includes a ring member that holds the substrate and surrounds the outer side of the substrate in a radial direction in plan view.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

This invention relates to a high-frequency plasma light source (1), wherein, in the operating state, a quasi-capacitively coupled plasma is formed by at least two plasma anchors (6, 7), thus the plasma region with the highest energy density is spatially decoupled from the plasma anchors (6, 7). The high-frequency plasma light source (1) includes: - a pressure chamber (5) containing a gaseous medium, in the operating state, a luminescent plasma is formed within the pressure chamber; - an impedance converter (4) assembly connected to the pressure chamber (5) and including a coupling pin (8) for coupling electromagnetic waves into the high-frequency plasma light source (1) and having an internal guide... The inner conductor (9) and the outer conductor (9b) are coaxial conductors (9a) and (9b), wherein a dielectric pressure seal (13) and at least one conductive or dielectric connector (10, 12) are provided between the inner conductor (9a) and the outer conductor (9b), an inner conductor plasma anchor (6) extending into the pressure chamber (5) and electrically and mechanically connected to the inner conductor (9a) of the coaxial conductor (9), and an outer conductor plasma anchor (7) having a first end (7a) located in the pressure chamber (5) and a second end (7b) mechanically connected to the inner surface of the pressure chamber (5).

An object is to provide a method of manufacturing a gas barrier film, the method including forming an inorganic layer through roll-to-roll, in which even in a case where a film formation length is long, an inorganic layer having a desired film property can be stably formed. This method includes forming an inorganic layer by dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasma CVD, in which the inorganic layer is formed using a film forming device including a film formation chamber where the inorganic layer is formed on a support and an unwinding chamber where the support on which the inorganic layer is to be formed is fed, the support on which the inorganic layer is formed is wound, and the film formation chamber is separated from the unwinding chamber by a partition wall, monosilane gas, ammonia gas, and hydrogen gas as film forming gas are supplied at a fixed flow rate to form the inorganic layer, and an exhaust amount is increased over time during the formation of the inorganic layer to maintain a monosilane gas concentration in the film formation chamber to be fixed, and a detoxifying treatment of detoxifying the exhaust gas is performed. As a result, the object is achieved.

A method of plasma processing includes cyclically performing a cycle including the steps of performing a glow phase and performing an afterglow phase. The glow phase includes providing a first SP pulse comprising a first SP power level for a first duration to an SP electrode to generate a capacitively coupled plasma in a plasma processing chamber. The first SP pulse terminates at the end of the glow phase. The afterglow phase is performed after the glow phase and includes providing a BP pulse train to a BP electrode coupled to a target substrate within the plasma processing chamber in an afterglow of the capacitively coupled plasma for a second duration between about 10 μs and about 100 μs. The BP pulse train includes a plurality of BP spikes. Each of the plurality of BP spikes is a DC pulse that has a first BP power level.

A method of plasma processing includes cyclically performing a cycle that includes a first phase followed by a second phase. The first phase includes applying a first source power (SP) pulse to an SP electrode to generate plasma in a processing chamber. The first SP pulse has a first SP power level for the duration of the first phase and terminates at the end of the first phase. The second phase includes applying a bias power (BP) pulse to a BP electrode coupled to a target substrate in the processing chamber. The BP pulse has a first BP power level for the duration of the second phase and terminates at the end of the second phase. A third phase may be included between the first and second phases during which no bias power is applied to the BP electrode.