Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Differential fluid etching apparatus – With microwave gas energizing means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-21
2001-06-05
Powell, William (Department: 1765)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Differential fluid etching apparatus
With microwave gas energizing means
C438S729000, C438S715000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06241845
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a plasma processing chamber and to a method of controlling the temperature of an inner surface of a plasma processing chamber. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and processing chamber for cooling an inner surface of a gas distribution plate facing a substrate to minimize process drift when multiple substrates are processed consecutively.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Vacuum processing chambers are generally used for chemical vapor depositing (CVD) and etching of materials on substrates by supplying process gas to the vacuum chamber and application of a RF field to the gas. Examples of parallel plate, transformer coupled plasma (TCP, also called inductively coupled plasma or ICP), and electron-cyclotron resonance (ECR) reactors are disclosed in commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,340,462; 4,948,458; and 5,200,232. The substrates are held in place within the vacuum chamber during processing by substrate holders. Conventional substrate holders include mechanical clamps and electrostatic clamps (ESC). Examples of mechanical clamps and ESC substrate holders are provided in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,029 and commonly owned U.S. application Ser. No. 08/401,524 filed on Mar. 10, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,116. Substrate holders in the form of an electrode can supply radiofrequency (RF) power into the chamber, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,618.
Plasma processing systems wherein an antenna coupled to a radiofrequency (RF) source energizes gas into a plasma state within a process chamber are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,948,458; 5,198,718; 5,241,245; 5,304,279; 5,346,578; 5,401,350; and 5,405,480. In such systems, the antenna is located outside the process chamber and the RF energy is supplied into the chamber through a dielectric window. Such processing systems can be used for a variety of semiconductor processing applications such as etching, deposition, resist stripping, etc.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to minimize process drift and degradation of the quality of the processed substrates when substrates are processed continuously by controlling the temperature of an inner surface of a gas disribution plate facing the substrate. The temperature control of the inner surface can be achieved by flowing a heat transfer gas through the gas distribution plate and into a space between the gas distribution plate and the substrate.
According to one aspect of the invention, a method of controlling the temperature of the inner surface of the gas distribution plate includes adding helium to the process gas and passing the helium and process gas through the gas distribution plate to maintain the inner surface below a threshold temperature such as less than or equal to 90° C. during oxide etching, and consecutively processing substrates while maintaining the inner surface below the threshold temperature.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4340462 (1982-07-01), Koch
patent: 4534816 (1985-08-01), Chen et al.
patent: 4579618 (1986-04-01), Celestino et al.
patent: 4842683 (1989-06-01), Cheng
patent: 4948458 (1990-08-01), Ogle
patent: 5002631 (1991-03-01), Giapis et al.
patent: 5198718 (1993-03-01), Davis et al.
patent: 5200232 (1993-04-01), Tappan et al.
patent: 5241245 (1993-08-01), Barnes
patent: 5262029 (1993-11-01), Erskine et al.
patent: 5282925 (1994-02-01), Jeng
patent: 5304279 (1994-04-01), Coultas et al.
patent: 5346578 (1994-09-01), Benzing et al.
patent: 5401350 (1995-03-01), Patrick et al.
patent: 5405480 (1995-04-01), Benzing et al.
patent: 5464476 (1995-11-01), Gibb et al.
patent: 5478429 (1995-12-01), Komino
patent: 5525159 (1996-06-01), Hama et al.
patent: 5529657 (1996-06-01), Ishii
patent: 5531834 (1996-07-01), Ishizuka et al.
patent: 5567267 (1996-10-01), Kazama
patent: 5580385 (1996-12-01), Paranjpe et al.
patent: 5587038 (1996-12-01), Cecchi et al.
patent: 5609720 (1997-03-01), Lenz et al.
patent: 5753566 (1998-05-01), Hwang
patent: 5770098 (1998-06-01), Araki
patent: 5874361 (1999-02-01), Collins
patent: 5880037 (1999-03-01), Arleo
patent: 6090303 (2000-07-01), Collins et al.
Chebi Robert
Doe Adrian
Flanner Janet M.
Gadgil Prashant
Jordan John P.
Burns Doane , Swecker, Mathis LLP
Lam Research Corporation
Powell William
LandOfFree
Apparatus for reducing process drift in inductive coupled... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Apparatus for reducing process drift in inductive coupled..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Apparatus for reducing process drift in inductive coupled... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2491106