METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING RADICAL DISTRIBUTION

• US 20100193471A1
• Filed: 04/06/2010
• Published: 08/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, Tokyo Electron Limited
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, Tokyo Electron Limited
• Inventors: Chen, Lee, FUNK, Merritt, Horak, David V., Strang, Eric J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,038,834 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 216/67
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4412 Details relating to the exhausts, e.g. pumps, filters, scrubbers, particle traps
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45565 Shower nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/3244 Gas supply means
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32449 Gas control, e.g. control of the gas flow
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32834 Exhausting

Abstract

A plasma processing system includes a processing chamber, a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate for plasma processing, and a gas injection assembly. The gas injection assembly includes a first evacuation port located substantially in a center of the gas injection assembly and configured to evacuate gases from a central region of the substrate, and a gas injection system configured to inject gases in the process chamber. The plasma processing system also includes a second evacuation port configured to evacuate gases from a peripheral region surrounding the central region of the substrate.

Claims

1. A method of controlling the pressure in a plasma processing chamber, comprising:

evacuating the gases from a peripheral region of a processing region proximate to a substrate being processed in said plasma processing chamber;

evacuating the gases substantially from a center of said processing region through an evacuation port in a gas injection assembly located above said substrate; and

controlling said evacuating the gases using at least one of a pump or a valve.