Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Differential fluid etching apparatus – With radio frequency antenna or inductive coil gas...
Reexamination Certificate
1997-06-18
2003-10-14
Alejandro, Luz L. (Department: 1763)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Differential fluid etching apparatus
With radio frequency antenna or inductive coil gas...
C118S7230IR
Reexamination Certificate
active
06632324
ABSTRACT:
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Plasma treatment of large area substrates such as glass or semiconductor substrates used in the fabrication of flat panel displays or 300 mm silicon wafers respectively pose a series of problems that do not occur in the processing of small area substrates. One problem is simply the generation of plasmas of sufficient area to treat the large area substrate. A second problem is the maintenance of the uniformity of the plasma density and chemistry over such a large area.
The use of inductively or transformer coupled plasma sources (ICP and TCP, respectively) are affected both by the difficulty of maintaining plasma uniformity using inductive coil antenna designs and the cost of fabricating and maintaining such systems which require large and thick quartz windows for coupling the antenna radiation into the processing chamber. The use of such thick quartz windows results in an increase in rf power (and reduction in efficiency) due to heat dissipation within the window.
The use of Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) and Helicon type sources are limited by the difficulty in scaling the resonant magnetic field to large areas when a single antenna or waveguide is used. Furthermore, most ECR sources utilize microwave power which is more expensive and difficult to tune electrically. The use of hot cathode plasma sources results in the contamination of the plasma environment due to the evaporation of cathode material, while cold cathode sources result in contamination due to exposure of the cold cathode to the plasma generated.
The present invention avoids these problems encountered by previous large area plasma processing systems.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an easily scalable and maintainable system for producing a uniform plasma of any size. In one embodiment a plurality of rf plasma sources are removably attached to the dielectric windows such as glass or quartz of a vacuum processing chamber, while in another embodiment each of the plurality of sources includes its own window and is attached to the chamber. Plasma measuring probes within the chamber provide information on the plasma uniformity and this information is used to control the rf energy applied to each of the rf plasma sources so as to maintain the desired uniformity. In one embodiment, the plasma measuring probes are Langmuir probes. In another embodiment, the probes are Faraday cups. In yet another embodiment, the probes are optical probes.
In another embodiment, a plasma source includes a quartz window with an integral tube for gas introduction. Several of such plasma sources using different gases may be combined in a linear array for the sequential treatment of substrates in an inline processing system.
In a further embodiment multiple antennae rf sources are used to provide a uniform plasma during the pulsing phase and steady state in order to provide a uniform ion implantation dose to a large area substrate. The plasma source is stationary and the wafers are transported through the plasma or the wafers are stationary and the plasma is transported past the wafers.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3855110 (1974-12-01), Quinn et al.
patent: 3926147 (1975-12-01), Steube
patent: 4006340 (1977-02-01), Gorinas
patent: 4042128 (1977-08-01), Shrader
patent: 4304983 (1981-12-01), Pierfederici
patent: 4322661 (1982-03-01), Harvey
patent: 4345968 (1982-08-01), Coe
patent: 4371412 (1983-02-01), Nishizawa
patent: 4461783 (1984-07-01), Yamazaki
patent: 4500563 (1985-02-01), Ellenberger et al.
patent: 4543465 (1985-09-01), Sakudo et al.
patent: 4566403 (1986-01-01), Fournier
patent: 4615298 (1986-10-01), Yamazaki
patent: 4632719 (1986-12-01), Chow et al.
patent: 4745337 (1988-05-01), Pichot et al.
patent: 4756882 (1988-07-01), Jacobs et al.
patent: 4764394 (1988-08-01), Conrad
patent: 4803332 (1989-02-01), Koyama et al.
patent: 4810935 (1989-03-01), Boswell
patent: 4811684 (1989-03-01), Tashiro et al.
patent: 4826646 (1989-05-01), Bussard
patent: 4846928 (1989-07-01), Dolins et al.
patent: 4847792 (1989-07-01), Barna et al.
patent: 4853250 (1989-08-01), Boulos et al.
patent: 4887005 (1989-12-01), Rough et al.
patent: 4891118 (1990-01-01), Ooiwa et al.
patent: 4948458 (1990-08-01), Ogle
patent: 4950956 (1990-08-01), Asamaki et al.
patent: 4951601 (1990-08-01), Maydan et al.
patent: 4952273 (1990-08-01), Popov
patent: 4960073 (1990-10-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 4990229 (1991-02-01), Campbell et al.
patent: 4996077 (1991-02-01), Moslehi et al.
patent: 5015353 (1991-05-01), Hubler et al.
patent: 5032205 (1991-07-01), Hershkowitz et al.
patent: 5061838 (1991-10-01), Lane et al.
patent: 5122251 (1992-06-01), Campbell et al.
patent: 5133826 (1992-07-01), Dandl
patent: 5178739 (1993-01-01), Barnes et al.
patent: 5183775 (1993-02-01), Levy
patent: 5198725 (1993-03-01), Chen et al.
patent: 5202095 (1993-04-01), Houchin et al.
patent: 5203960 (1993-04-01), Dandl
patent: 5223108 (1993-06-01), Hurwitt
patent: 5234529 (1993-08-01), Johnson
patent: 5250328 (1993-10-01), Otto
patent: 5252178 (1993-10-01), Moslehi
patent: 5273610 (1993-12-01), Thomas, III et al.
patent: 5277751 (1994-01-01), Ogle
patent: 5280154 (1994-01-01), Cuomo et al.
patent: 5286296 (1994-02-01), Sato et al.
patent: 5289010 (1994-02-01), Shohet
patent: 5296272 (1994-03-01), Matossian et al.
patent: 5304279 (1994-04-01), Coultas et al.
patent: 5304282 (1994-04-01), Flamm
patent: 5308414 (1994-05-01), O'Neill et al.
patent: 5342472 (1994-08-01), Imahashi et al.
patent: 5346578 (1994-09-01), Benzing et al.
patent: 5354381 (1994-10-01), Sheng
patent: 5362353 (1994-11-01), Mallon
patent: 5368710 (1994-11-01), Chen et al.
patent: 5370765 (1994-12-01), Dandl
patent: 5374456 (1994-12-01), Matossian et al.
patent: 5401350 (1995-03-01), Patrick et al.
patent: 5404079 (1995-04-01), Ohkuni et al.
patent: 5405480 (1995-04-01), Benzing et al.
patent: 5411591 (1995-05-01), Izu et al.
patent: 5411592 (1995-05-01), Ovshinsky et al.
patent: 5413955 (1995-05-01), Lee et al.
patent: 5421891 (1995-06-01), Campbell et al.
patent: 5431799 (1995-07-01), Mosely et al.
patent: 5435880 (1995-07-01), Minato et al.
patent: 5436175 (1995-07-01), Nakato et al.
patent: 5464476 (1995-11-01), Gibb et al.
patent: 5487785 (1996-01-01), Horiike et al.
patent: 5490910 (1996-02-01), Nelson et al.
patent: 5498290 (1996-03-01), Matossian et al.
patent: 5504328 (1996-04-01), Bonser
patent: 5531834 (1996-07-01), Ishizuka et al.
patent: 5554223 (1996-09-01), Imahashi
patent: 5571366 (1996-11-01), Ishii et al.
patent: 5587038 (1996-12-01), Cecchi et al.
patent: 5593741 (1997-01-01), Ikeda
patent: 5614055 (1997-03-01), Fairbairn et al.
patent: 5641969 (1997-06-01), Cooke et al.
patent: 5648701 (1997-07-01), Hooke et al.
patent: 5651868 (1997-07-01), Canady et al.
patent: 5653811 (1997-08-01), Chan
patent: 5654043 (1997-08-01), Shao et al.
patent: 5658418 (1997-08-01), Coronel et al.
patent: 5661043 (1997-08-01), Rissman et al.
patent: 5662819 (1997-09-01), Kadomura
patent: 5674321 (1997-10-01), Pu et al.
patent: 5681393 (1997-10-01), Takagi
patent: 5683548 (1997-11-01), Hartig et al.
patent: 5686796 (1997-11-01), Boswell et al.
patent: 5702562 (1997-12-01), Wakahara
patent: 5707486 (1998-01-01), Collins
patent: 5710057 (1998-01-01), Kenney
patent: 5711812 (1998-01-01), Chapek et al.
patent: 5753320 (1998-05-01), Mikoshiba et al.
patent: 5772832 (1998-06-01), Collins et al.
patent: 5795429 (1998-08-01), Ishii et al.
patent: 5804027 (1998-09-01), Uchida
patent: 5824602 (1998-10-01), Molvik et al.
patent: 5919382 (1999-07-01), Qian et al.
patent: 5976259 (1999-11-01), Yamazaki
patent: 5985032 (1999-11-01), Eriguchi
patent: 5985102 (1999-11-01), Leiphart
patent: 6051073 (2000-04-01), Chu et al.
patent: 6068784 (2000-05-01), Collins et al.
patent: 6136140 (2000-10-01), Ishii
patent: 6204607 (2001-03-01), Ellingbok
patent: 44 03 125 (1995-08-01), None
patent: 0 379 828 (1989-12-01), None
patent: 403 418 (1990-12-01), None
patent: 0 459 177 (1991-05-01), None
patent: 517 042 (1995-10-01), None
pa
Alejandro Luz L.
Silicon Genesis Corporation
Townsend and Townsend / and Crew LLP
LandOfFree
System for the plasma treatment of large area substrates does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with System for the plasma treatment of large area substrates, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and System for the plasma treatment of large area substrates will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3165365