Electromagnetic dipole for plasma density tuning in a substrate processing chamber

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9779953-B2
Application number	US-201414491729-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 19, 2014
Priority date	Sep 25, 2013
Publication date	Oct 3, 2017
Grant date	Oct 3, 2017

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for plasma-enhanced substrate processing are provided herein. In some embodiments, an apparatus for processing a substrate includes: a process chamber having an internal processing volume disposed beneath a dielectric lid of the process chamber; a substrate support disposed in the process chamber; two or more concentric inductive coils disposed above the dielectric lid to inductively couple RF energy into the processing volume above the substrate support; and an electromagnetic dipole disposed proximate a top surface of the dielectric lid between two adjacent concentric inductive coils of the two or more concentric inductive coils.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for processing a substrate, comprising:
a process chamber having an internal processing volume disposed beneath a dielectric lid of the process chamber;
a substrate support disposed in the process chamber;
two or more concentric inductive coils disposed above the dielectric lid to inductively couple RF energy into the processing volume above the substrate support; and
an electromagnetic dipole disposed proximate a top surface of the dielectric lid between two adjacent concentric inductive coils of the two or more concentric inductive coils, wherein the electromagnetic dipole includes at least two electromagnets comprising:
a first electromagnetic coil of one or more wires wrapped in a first plurality of layers and having a first polarity; and
a second electromagnetic coil of one or more wires wrapped in a second plurality of layers having a second polarity opposite the first polarity, wherein the second electromagnetic coil is disposed radially outward of the first electromagnetic coil at a first distance; and

an actuator configured to move at least one of the at least two electromagnets from a first position above the dielectric lid to a second position above the dielectric lid.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first distance is about 0.5 inches to about 5 inches.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first distance is 1 inch.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic dipole is configured to form a magnetic field in an area proximate to and below the dielectric lid to enable plasma density tuning.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic dipole is configured to adjust an impedance in an area proximate to and below the dielectric lid to enable plasma density tuning.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Aubuchon Joseph F
• Gung Tza-Jing
• Banna Samer

Classifications

• H10P50/242 Primary

  of Group IV materials · CPC title

• H01J37/32669

  Particular magnets or magnet arrangements for controlling the discharge · CPC title

• H01J37/3211 Primary

  Antennas, e.g. particular shapes of coils · CPC title

• H01L21/3065 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic