Plasma reactor for processing substrates comprising means for inducing electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) and ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) conditions
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for forming a dense plasma from a gas at low pressure comprising:
- a housing for holding said gas and said dense plasma to be formed,first means for admitting one or more gas species into said housing to form said gas,second means for evacuating said housing to a predetermined low pressure,third means for generating a magnetic field along a first axis in a first region within said housing,fourth means for applying first radio frequency along a second axis to said gas and dense plasma in said first region, andfifth means for applying microwave power along a third axis to said gas and dense plasma in said first region, whereby electrons are excited to electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) in said first region,said fourth means includes sixth means for determining the frequency of said first radio frequency power as a function of the magnetic field and one of said gas species whereby ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) is obtained of said ions of said gas specie in said plasma.
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Abstract
A plasma reactor for forming a dense plasma from a gas is described incorporating a housing, a gas inlet to the housing, a pump for evacuating the housing, a magnetic coil to generate a magnetic field in the housing, a radio frequency power supply, an electrode or induction coil in the housing, a microwave power supply. The invention overcomes the problem of an upper plasma density limit independent of increases in microwave power by inducing electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) and ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) conditions.
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20 Claims
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1. An apparatus for forming a dense plasma from a gas at low pressure comprising:
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a housing for holding said gas and said dense plasma to be formed, first means for admitting one or more gas species into said housing to form said gas, second means for evacuating said housing to a predetermined low pressure, third means for generating a magnetic field along a first axis in a first region within said housing, fourth means for applying first radio frequency along a second axis to said gas and dense plasma in said first region, and fifth means for applying microwave power along a third axis to said gas and dense plasma in said first region, whereby electrons are excited to electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) in said first region, said fourth means includes sixth means for determining the frequency of said first radio frequency power as a function of the magnetic field and one of said gas species whereby ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) is obtained of said ions of said gas specie in said plasma. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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