Plasma processing apparatus, and plasma processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12444574-B2
Application number	US-202218282775-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2022
Priority date	Mar 26, 2021
Publication date	Oct 14, 2025
Grant date	Oct 14, 2025

Abstract

There is provided a plasma processing apparatus comprising: a processing container configured such that a substrate is subjected to plasma processing; a dielectric top plate which is quadrangular and which is provided to close an upper opening of the processing container; and a conductor plate supporting the dielectric top plate and having four electromagnetic wave emitting ports for emitting electromagnetic waves to the dielectric top plate. Each of the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports has a rectangular shape having long side and short side, the electromagnetic wave emitting ports are arranged such that the long side of each of the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports are parallel to the closest side among four sides of the dielectric top plate forming the quadrangular shape, and the long sides of the two electromagnetic wave emitting ports oriented in a same direction do not overlap each other in the same direction.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A plasma processing apparatus comprising:
a processing container configured such that a substrate to be processed is subjected to plasma processing;
a dielectric top plate which is a quadrangular shape in a plan view and which is provided to close an upper opening of the processing container; and
a conductor plate supporting the dielectric top plate and having four electromagnetic wave emitting ports configured to emit electromagnetic waves to the dielectric top plate,
wherein each of the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports has a rectangular shape having a long side and a short side in a plan view,
the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports are arranged such that the long side of each of the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports are parallel to a closest side among four sides of the dielectric top plate forming the quadrangular shape, and
long sides of two electromagnetic wave emitting ports oriented in a same direction do not overlap each other in the same direction.

2. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein an electromagnetic wave is guided from an oscillator to each of the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports via a phase shifter.

3. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein a shape of an inner wall of the processing container in the plan view differs between a first portion directly below the dielectric top plate and a second portion located below the first portion.

4. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the inner wall of the processing container in the plan view is shaped such that the first portion is quadrangular and the second portion is circular.

5. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 - or 2 , wherein a shape of an inner wall of the processing container in a plan view differs between a first portion directly below the dielectric top plate and a second portion located below the first portion.

6. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the inner wall of the processing container in the plan view is shaped such that the first portion is quadrangular and the second portion is circular.

7. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 6 , wherein an inner wall of the first portion in a plan view has a same shape as the dielectric top plate in a plan view, and has a size equal to or smaller than that of the dielectric top plate in the plan view.

8. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the first portion has a thickness of 20 mm or more.

9. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 8 , wherein an inner wall of the first portion in a plan view has a same shape as the dielectric top plate in a plan view, and has a size equal to or smaller than that of the dielectric top plate in the plan view.

10. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the first portion has a thickness of 20 mm or more.

11. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein an inner wall of the first portion in a plan view has a same shape as the dielectric top plate in a plan view, and has a size equal to or smaller than that of the dielectric top plate in the plan view.

12. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the dielectric top plate is in a range of λg/2±λg/20 with respect to an effective wavelength λg of a microwave which is incident from the electromagnetic wave emitting ports.

13. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein long sides of neighboring electromagnetic wave emitting ports among the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports are oriented to be perpendicular to each other.

14. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein four electromagnetic waves whose phases are controlled are simultaneously incident from the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports, and the four electromagnetic waves are synthesized inside the dielectric top plate.

15. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports have a same shape.

16. The plasma processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a length ratio of the long side to the short side of each of the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports is 3.5 to 4.0.

17. A method of plasma processing a substrate to be processed using a plasma processing apparatus, the plasma processing apparatus comprising a processing container configured such that the substrate to be processed is subjected to plasma processing, a dielectric top plate which is a quadrangular shape in a plan view and is provided to close an upper opening of the processing container, and a conductor plate supporting the dielectric top plate and having four electromagnetic wave emitting ports for emitting electromagnetic waves to the dielectric top plate,
wherein each of the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports have a rectangular shape having long side and short side in a plan view, and the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports are arranged such that the long side of each of the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports are parallel to a closest side among four sides of the dielectric top plate forming the quadrangular shape, and long sides of two electromagnetic wave emitting ports oriented in a same direction do not overlap each other in the same direction, the method comprising:
preparing the substrate to be processed in the processing container;
controlling phases of electromagnetic waves emitted from the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports; and
processing the substrate to be processed with plasma generated by the electromagnetic waves emitted from the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein, in the controlling the phases, the phases of the electromagnetic waves emitted from the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports are controlled with reference to a storage part which previously stores information indicating a relationship between the phases of the electromagnetic waves emitted from the four electromagnetic wave emitting ports and electric field distribution in the plasma.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Ikeda Taro
• Ashida Mitsutoshi
• Kamata Eiki

Classifications

• H10P50/242

  of Group IV materials · CPC title

• H10P14/60

  of insulating materials · CPC title

• H01J37/16

  Vessels; Containers · CPC title

• H01J37/32192

  Microwave generated discharge (H01J37/32357, H01J37/32366, H01J37/32394, H01J37/32403 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01J37/3222

  Antennas · CPC title