Plasma processing method and plasma processing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12338532-B2
Application number	US-202217576012-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 14, 2022
Priority date	Jan 19, 2021
Publication date	Jun 24, 2025
Grant date	Jun 24, 2025

Abstract

Embodiments of this application discloses a plasma processing method performed in a plasma processing apparatus having a plurality of plasma sources, the plasma processing method comprising: controlling each of the plasma sources so that at least one plasma source of the plurality of plasma sources is in a first state referring an OFF-state or a power state of a first level and the remaining plasma sources are in a second state referring an ON-state or a power state of a second level higher than the power state of the first level; and generating plasma from a processing gas with power output from the plurality of plasma sources, and processing a substrate, wherein said controlling of each of the plasma sources includes repeatedly controlling so that the plasma source of the first state among the plurality of plasma sources is sequentially transitioned.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A plasma processing method performed in a plasma processing apparatus having a chamber and a plurality of plasma sources, the plurality of plasma sources including a first plasma source disposed at a center of a ceiling of the chamber, and at least three second plasma sources disposed around the first plasma source and at the ceiling of the chamber, the plasma processing method comprising:
controlling the plurality of plasma sources; and
generating plasma from a processing gas with power output from the plurality of plasma sources, and processing a substrate,
wherein said controlling the plurality of plasma sources includes:
setting one second plasma source among the at least three second plasma sources to a first state referring to an OFF-state or a power state of a first level while other second plasma sources and the first plasma source are set to a second state referring to an ON-state or a power state of a second level higher than the power state of the first level; and
sequentially transitioning the first state from the one second plasma source to another second plasma source among the other second plasma sources, and
wherein sequential transitioning of the first state among the second plasma sources is repeatedly performed during the processing the substrate, and the first plasma source is set to the second state and does not transition between the first state and the second state during the processing of the substrate.

2. The plasma processing method of claim 1 , wherein the second plasma source of the first state at a first time is adjacent to the other second plasma source of the second state at the first time in a clockwise or a counterclockwise direction.

3. The plasma processing method of claim 1 , wherein the sequential transitioning of the first state among the second plasma sources is repeatedly performed in a manner such that the second plasma source of the first state is sequentially transitioned to an n-fold symmetric position.

4. The plasma processing method of claim 3 , wherein the second plasma source of the first state at a first time is adjacent to the other second plasma source of the second state at the first time in a clockwise or a counterclockwise direction.

5. The plasma processing method of claim 1 , wherein the second plasma source of the first state is sequentially transitioned to the second state at predetermined time intervals, and
the sequential transitioning of the first state among the second plasma sources is repeatedly performed in a manner such that the second plasma source of the first state does not continuously maintain the first state after the predetermined time has elapsed.

6. The plasma processing method of claim 5 , wherein the predetermined time is variably controlled based on process conditions in said processing of the substrate.

7. The plasma processing method of claim 1 , wherein said controlling the plurality of plasma sources includes controlling power output from the second plasma source of the first state and the other second plasma source of the second state respectively so that a sum of power output from all the plasma sources of the plasma processing apparatus is consistent.

8. The plasma processing method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of plasma sources are microwave plasma sources.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Ikeda Taro
• Kamata Eiki
• Kondo Yoshiyuki

Classifications

• H01J37/32302

  Plural frequencies · CPC title

• H01J37/32311 Primary

  Circuits specially adapted for controlling the microwave discharge · CPC title

• H01J2237/332

  Coating · CPC title

• H01J37/3244

  Gas supply means · CPC title

• H01J37/3222 Primary

  Antennas · CPC title