Plasma processing apparatus and method for asssembling the plasma processing apparatus

• US 20040035364A1
• Filed: 09/09/2003
• Published: 02/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
• Original Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
• Inventors: Koizumi, Katsuyuki, Tomoyoshi, Riki
• Application Number:
  US10/416,568
• Publication Number:
  US 20040035364A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 118/723E
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32477 characterised by the means for protecting vessels or internal parts, e.g. coatings
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67069 for drying etching

Abstract

The plasma processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a lower electrode 12 for supporting a wafer W in a chamber 11, shield member 19 for shielding an inside circumferential surface of the chamber 11 from a plasma for processing the wafer W, and a baffle plate 18 disposed in a gap between the shield member 19 and the lower electrode 12, and scattering and exhausting a gas in the chamber 11, a resin plate 20 being removably mounted on an inside circumferential surface of the shield member 19, and a circumferential compression stress being generated in the resin plate 20.

Claims

1. A plasma processing apparatus for generating a plasma in a processing vessel and plasma-processing an object-to-be-processed disposed in the processing vessel, wherein

a resin plate is removably mounted on an inside circumferential surface of the processing vessel, which is to contact with the plasma, and

a circumferential compression stress is generated in the resin plate.

4. The plasma processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein

the resin plate is formed in a strip-shape or a cylindrical shape.

5. The plasma processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein

the strip-shaped resin plate formed into a cylindrical shape, or the cylindrical resin plate has an outer circumferential length longer than a circumferential length of the inside circumferential surface of the processing vessel, or an circumferential length of the inside circumferential surface of the shield member by 0.01-0.4% of the circumferential lengths of the processing vessel or the shield member.

6. The plasma processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein

the strip-shaped resin plate formed into a cylindrical shape, or the cylindrical resin plate has an outer circumferential length longer than a circumferential length of the inside circumferential surface of the processing vessel, or an circumferential length of the inside circumferential surface of the shield member by 0.1-0.2% of the circumferential lengths of the processing vessel or the shield member.

2. A plasma processing apparatus comprising a support for supporting an object-to-be-processed in a processing vessel, a shield member for shielding an inside circumferential surface of the processing vessel from a plasma for processing the object-to-be-processed mounted on the support, and a baffle plate disposed in a gap between the shield member and the support, for scattering and exhausting a gas in the processing vessel, wherein

a resin plate is removably mounted on an inside circumferential surface of the shield member, and

a circumferential compression stress is generated in the resin plate.

3. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the resin plate is mounted on the shield member covering at least a portion of the shield member located in a plasma region defined by the baffle plate.

7. A method for assembling a plasma processing apparatus for generating a plasma in a processing vessel and plasma-processing an object-to-be-processed disposed in the processing vessel, comprising the steps of:

forming a strip-shaped resin plate into a cylindrical shape having an outer circumferential length longer than an inner circumferential length of the processing vessel by overlapping both end portions of the strip-shaped resin plate over each other;

contacting the cylindrically formed resin plate to the inside surface of the processing vessel with a part of the cylindrically formed resin plate flexed inward; and

causing the flexed resin plate to restore the cylindrical shape and generating a circumferential compression stress in the resin plate.

8. A method for assembling a plasma processing apparatus for generating a plasma in a processing vessel and plasma-processing an object-to-be-processed disposed in the processing vessel, comprising the steps of:

contacting a cylindrical resin plate having an outer circumferential length longer than an inner circumferential length of the processing vessel to an inside surface of the processing vessel with a part of the cylindrical resin plate flexed inward; and

causing the flexed resin plate to restore the cylindrical shape and generating a circumferential compression stress in the resin plate.

9. A method for assembling a plasma processing apparatus comprising a support for supporting an object-to-be-processed in a processing vessel, a shield member for shielding an inside circumferential surface of the processing vessel from a plasma for processing the object-to-be-processed mounted on the support, and a resin plate removably mounted on an inside circumferential surface of the shield member, the method comprising the steps of:

forming a strip of the resin plate into a cylindrical shape having an outer circumferential length longer than an inner circumferential length of the shield member by overlapping both ends of the strip-shaped resin plate over each other;

contacting the cylindrically formed resin plate to an inside surface of the shield member with a part of the cylindrically formed resin plate flexed inward; and

causing the flexed resin plate to restore the cylindrical shape and generating a circumferential compression stress in the resin plate.

10. A method for assembling a plasma processing apparatus comprising a support for supporting an object-to-be-processed in a processing vessel, a shield member for shielding an inside circumferential surface of the processing vessel from a plasma for processing the object-to-be-processed mounted on the support, and a resin plate removably mounted on an inside circumferential surface of the shield member, the method comprising the steps of:

contacting the cylindrical resin plate having an outer circumferential length longer than an inner circumferential length of the shield member to an inside surface of the shield member with a part of the cylindrical resin plate flexed inward; and

causing the flexed resin plate to restore the cylindrical shape and generating a circumferential compression stress in the resin plate.