241 results about "Ion density" patented technology

A plasma reactor for processing a semiconductor wafer includes a side wall and an overhead ceiling defining a chamber, a workpiece support cathode within the chamber having a working surface facing the ceiling for supporting a semiconductor workpiece, process gas inlets for introducing a process gas into the chamber and an RF bias power generator having a bias power frequency. There is a bias power feed point at the working surface and an RF conductor is connected between the RF bias power generator and the bias power feed point at the working surface. A dielectric sleeve surrounds a portion of the RF conductor, the sleeve having an axial length along the RF conductor, a dielectric constant and an axial location along the RF conductor, the length, dielectric constant and location of the sleeve being such that the sleeve provides a reactance that enhances plasma ion density uniformity over the working surface. In accordance with a further aspect, the reactor can include an annular RF coupling ring having an inner diameter corresponding generally to a periphery of the workpiece, the RF coupling ring extending a sufficient portion of a distance between the working surface and the overhead electrode to enhance plasma ion density near a periphery of the workpiece.

The surface of a semiconductor substrate (1) comprises an input diode section (2) and a floating diffusion section (3) consisting of a diffusion region reverse to the substrate in conductivity type, an input gate (6) and an output gate (7) fixed on an insulation film (5) extending from an input diode section to a floating diffusion section, a sensing section (9) consisting of an ion sensitive film fixed on the insulation film extending from the input.

A plasma reactor includes a vacuum enclosure including a side wall and a ceiling defining a vacuum chamber, and a workpiece support within the chamber and facing the ceiling for supporting a planar workpiece, the workpiece support and the ceiling together defining a processing region between the workpiece support and the ceiling. Process gas inlets furnish a process gas into the chamber. A plasma source power electrode is connected to an RF power generator for capacitively coupling plasma source power into the chamber for maintaining a plasma within the chamber. The reactor further includes at least a first overhead solenoidal electromagnet adjacent the ceiling, the overhead solenoidal electromagnet, the ceiling, the side wall and the workpiece support being located along a common axis of symmetry. A current source is connected to the first solenoidal electromagnet and furnishes a first electric current in the first solenoidal electromagnet whereby to generate within the chamber a magnetic field which is a function of the first electric current, the first electric current having a value such that the magnetic field increases uniformity of plasma ion density radial distribution about the axis of symmetry near a surface of the workpiece support.

A plasma reactor includes a vacuum enclosure including a side wall and a ceiling defining a vacuum chamber, and a workpiece support within the chamber and facing the ceiling for supporting a planar workpiece, the workpiece support and the ceiling together defining a processing region between the workpiece support and the ceiling. Process gas inlets furnish a process gas into the chamber. A plasma source power electrode is connected to an RF power generator for capacitively coupling plasma source power into the chamber for maintaining a plasma within the chamber. The reactor further includes at least a first overhead solenoidal electromagnet adjacent the ceiling, the overhead solenoidal electromagnet, the ceiling, the sidewall and the workpiece support being located along a common axis of symmetry. A current source is connected to the first solenoidal electromagnet and furnishes a first electric current in the first solenoidal electromagnet whereby to generate within the chamber a magnetic field which is a function of the first electric current, the first electric current having a value such that the magnetic field increases uniformity of plasma ion density radial distribution about the axis of symmetry near a surface of the workpiece support.

A plasma reactor for processing a semiconductor workpiece, includes a reactor chamber having a chamber wall and containing a workpiece support for holding the semiconductor support, the electrode comprising a portion of the chamber wall, an RF power generator for supplying power at a frequency of the generator to the overhead electrode and capable of maintaining a plasma within the chamber at a desired plasma ion density level. The overhead electrode has a capacitance such that the overhead electrode and the plasma formed in the chamber at the desired plasma ion density resonate together at an electrode-plasma resonant frequency, the frequency of the generator being at least near the electrode-plasma resonant frequency. The reactor further includes a set of MERIE magnets surrounding the plasma process area overlying the wafer surface that produce a slowly circulating magnetic field which stirs the plasma to improve plasma ion density distribution uniformity.

A process is provided for depositing an undoped silicon oxide film on a substrate disposed in a process chamber. A process gas that includes SiF₄, H₂, a silicon source, and an oxidizing gas reactant is flowed into the process chamber. A plasma having an ion density of at least 10¹¹ ions/cm³ is formed from the process gas. The undoped silicon oxide film is deposited over the substrate with the plasma using a process that has simultaneous deposition and sputtering components. A temperature of the substrate during such depositing is greater than 450° C.

The invention is directed to a method and an arrangement for the efficient generation of intensive short-wavelength radiation based on a plasma. The object of the invention is to find a novel possibility for the generation of intensive short-wavelength electromagnetic radiation, particularly EUV radiation, which permits the excitation of a radiation-emitting plasma with economical gas lasers (preferably CO₂ lasers). This object is met, according to the invention, in that a first prepulse for reducing the target density is followed by at least a second prepulse which generates free electrons in the target by multiphoton ionization after a virtually complete recombination of free electrons generated by the first prepulse has taken place due to a long-lasting expansion of the target for reducing the target density, and the main pulse of a gas laser with a low critical electron density typical for its wavelength is directed to the target immediately after the second prepulse when the second prepulse in the expanded target, whose ion density corresponds to the critical electron density of the gas laser, has created enough free electrons so that an efficient avalanche ionization is triggered by the main pulse of the gas laser until reaching the ionization level for the desired radiation emission of the plasma.

A method of processing a workpiece in the chamber of a plasma reactor includes introducing a process gas into the chamber, capacitively coupling VHF plasma source power into a process region of the chamber that overlies the wafer while inductively coupling RF plasma source power into the process region. A particular plasma ion density level is established by maintaining the total amount of plasma source power inductively and capacitively coupled into the process region at a level that provides the desired plasma ion density. The plasma ion density radial distribution in the process region is controlled by adjusting the ratio between the amounts of the (VHF) capacitively coupled power and the inductively coupled power while continuing to maintain the level of total plasma source power. The method can also include applying independently adjustable LF bias power and HF bias power to the workpiece and adjusting the average value and population distribution of ion energy at the surface of the workpiece by adjusting the proportion between the LF and HF bias powers. The VHF capacitively coupled power may be applied from the ceiling or from the wafer support.

Methods and systems are provided for depositing silicon oxide in a gap on a substrate. The silicon oxide is formed by flowing a process gas into a process chamber and forming a plasma having an overall ion density of at least 10¹¹ ions/cm³. The process gas includes H₂, a silicon source, and an oxidizing gas reactant, and deposition into the gap is achieved using a process that has simultaneous deposition and sputtering components. The probability of forming a void is reduced by ensuring that the plasma has a greater density of ions having a single oxygen atom than a density of ions having more than one oxygen atom.

Electrodynamic on funnels confine, guide, or focus ions in gases using the Dehmelt potential of oscillatory electric field. New funnel designs operating at or close to atmospheric gas pressure are described. Effective on focusing at such pressures is enabled by fields of extreme amplitude and frequency, allowed in microscopic gaps that have much higher electrical breakdown thresholds in any gas than the macroscopic gaps of present funnels. The new microscopic-gap funnels are useful for interfacing atmospheric-pressure ionization sources to mass spectrometry (MS) and on mobility separation (IMS) stages including differential IMS or FAIMS, as well as IMS and MS stages in various configurations. In particular, “wedge” funnels comprising two planar surfaces positioned at an angle and wedge funnel traps derived therefrom can compress on beams in one dimension, producing narrow belt-shaped beams and laterally elongated cuboid packets. This beam profile reduces the ion density and thus space-charge effects, mitigating the adverse impact thereof on the resolving power, measurement accuracy, and dynamic range of MS and IMS analyzers, while a greater overlap with coplanar light or particle beams can benefit spectroscopic methods.

A plasma treatment system (10) and related methods for rapidly treating a workpiece (56) with ions from a plasma having an ion density that is reproducibly uniform and symmetrical. The processing chamber (12) of the plasma treatment system (10) includes a chamber (14) lid having a symmetrical array of apertures (192) and further includes a vacuum distribution baffle (180), which are both configured to uniformly disperse a process gas adjacent the surface of the workpiece (56). The uniform dispersion of process gas and a symmetrical placement of the workpiece within the chamber (12) contribute to providing a uniformly dense plasma of ions adjacent the workpiece (56). A treatment system control (304) automates the operation of the system and controls the flow of process gas, evacuation of the chamber, and the application of the plasma excitation power to minimize the length of a treatment cycle and to optimize the uniformity of the plasma treatment.

The invention involves a method of processing a workpiece on workpiece support pedestal in a plasma reactor chamber in accordance with user-selected values of plural (i.e., N) plasma parameters by controlling plural chamber parameters. The plasma parameters may be selected from of a group including ion density, wafer voltage, etch rate, wafer current and possibly other plasma parameters. The chamber parameters may be selected from a group including source power, bias power, chamber pressure, magnet coil current of different coils, gas flow rate in different gas injection zones, gas species composition in different gas injection zones, and possibly other chamber parameters. The method begins with a first step carried out for each one of the selected plasma parameters. This first step consists of fetching from a memory a relevant surface of constant value corresponding to the user-selected value of the one plasma parameter, the surface being defined in a N-dimensional space of which each of the N chamber parameters is a dimension. This step further includes determining an intersection of these relevant surfaces, the intersection corresponding to a target value of each of the N chamber parameter. The method further includes setting each of the N chamber parameters to the corresponding target value.

A process is provided for depositing an silicon oxide film on a substrate disposed in a process chamber. A process gas that includes a halogen source, a fluent gas, a silicon source, and an oxidizing gas reactant is flowed into the process chamber. A plasma having an ion density of at least 10¹¹ ions/cm³ is formed from the process gas. The silicon oxide film is deposited over the substrate with a halogen concentration less than 1.0%. The silicon oxide film is deposited with the plasma using a process that has simultaneous deposition and sputtering components. The flow rate of the halogen source to the process chamber to the flow rate of the silicon source to the process chamber is substantially between 0.5 and 3.0.

Plasma parameters such as plasma ion density, wafer voltage, etch rate and wafer current in the chamber are determined from external measurements on the applied RF bias electrical parameters such as voltage and current. The method includes sensing RF parameters corresponding to an input impedance, an input current and an input voltage at the input of the impedance match element to a transmission line coupled between the bias generator and the wafer pedestal. The method continues by computing a junction admittance of a junction between the transmission line and the electrode within the wafer pedestal from the input impedance, input current and input voltage and from parameters of the transmission line. The method further includes providing shunt electrical quantities of a shunt capacitance between the electrode and a ground plane, and providing load electrical quantities of a load capacitance between the electrode and a wafer on the pedestal. The method further includes computing at least one of the plasma parameters from the junction admittance, the shunt electrical quantities, the load electrical quantities and a frequency of RF bias power applied to the electrode.

The present invention provides a carbon film forming method capable of forming a dense carbon film with high hardness. The carbon film forming method includes: introducing a raw material gas G including carbon into a deposition chamber 101 whose internal pressure is reduced; ionizing the raw material gas G using a discharge between a filament-shaped cathode electrode 104 heated by electrical power and an anode electrode 105 provided around the cathode electrode; and accelerating and radiating the ionized gas to the surface of a substrate D. A magnetic field is applied by a permanent magnet 109 to increase the ion density of the ionized gas accelerated and radiated to the surface of the substrate D. In this way, it is possible to form a carbon film with high hardness and high density on the surface of the substrate D.

A method is provided for processing a workpiece in a plasma reactor chamber. The method includes coupling, to a plasma in the chamber, power of an RF frequency via a ceiling electrode and coupling, to the plasma, power of at least approximately the same RF frequency via a workpiece support electrode. The method also includes providing an edge ground return path. The method further includes adjusting the proportion between (a) current flow between said electrodes and (b) current flow to the edge ground return path from said electrodes, to control plasma ion density distribution uniformity over the workpiece.

The invention involves a method of characterizing a plasma reactor chamber through the behavior of many selected plasma parameters as functions of many selected chamber parameters. The plasma parameters may be selected from a group including ion density, wafer voltage, etch rate and wafer current or other plasma parameters. The chamber parameters are selected from a group including source power, bias power, chamber pressure, magnetic coil current in different magnetic coils, gas flow rates in different gas injection zones and species composition of the gas in different gas injection zones.

The present invention provides a liquid crystal display component which can represent the necessary ion density and realize long-term stability of the ion density, a liquid crystal aligning film which represents necessary ion density and realizes the long-term stability of ion density in the liquid display component, and a liquid crystal aligning agent which can form the liquid crystal aligning film. According to the invention, the liquid crystal aligning film is formed by the liquid crystal aligning agent which comprises the polyamic acid or the derivative thereof, and furthermore the liquidcrystal aligning film is used in the liquid crystal display component. The polyamic acid is the reaction product of specific diamine and tetracarboxylic dianhydride, wherein the specific diamine comprises piperazine.