Ion flow forming method and apparatus
First Claim
1. An ion flow forming method of attracting ions from a plasma generated in a plasma generation chamber and forming a flow of the ions, comprising the steps of:
- (a) generating the plasma in said plasma generation chamber having a plasma diffusion outlet port;
(b) moving at least a portion of the plasma, generated in said plasma generation chamber, outside said plasma generation chamber through said plasma diffusion outlet port by diffusion;
(c) extracting the ions by applying, to the plasma which has moved outside said plasma generation chamber, an electric field in a first direction to repel electrons in the plasma toward said plasma diffusion outlet port and to attract the ions in the plasma in a second direction opposite to the electrons, by applying in a pulsed manner first and second voltages to respective of first and second electrodes, wherein the first voltage is higher than the second voltage, and the first electrode and the second electrode are sequentially arranged between respective of the plasma diffusion outlet port of the plasma generation chamber and a target object; and
(d) directing the attracted ions toward the target object.
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Abstract
An ion flow forming method and apparatus for attracting ions from a plasma generated in a plasma generation chamber and forming a flow of the ions are disclosed. This ion flow forming apparatus includes the plasma generation chamber having a plasma diffusion outlet port, a processing chamber accommodating a target object, for example, two electrodes arranged between the plasma generation chamber and the target object in the processing chamber, and a potential control unit. This potential control unit controls voltages to be applied to the plasma generation chamber, the two electrodes, and the processing chamber, so that the step of diffusing the plasma generated in the plasma generation chamber in a space between the two electrodes, the ion attraction step of repelling electrons in the diffused plasma toward the plasma generation chamber and attracting the ions in the plasma in an opposite direction, and the ion flow formation step of directing the ions toward the target object are sequentially performed. A method and apparatus including a process of turning on/off the plasma in this cycle are also proposed.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. An ion flow forming method of attracting ions from a plasma generated in a plasma generation chamber and forming a flow of the ions, comprising the steps of:
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(a) generating the plasma in said plasma generation chamber having a plasma diffusion outlet port; (b) moving at least a portion of the plasma, generated in said plasma generation chamber, outside said plasma generation chamber through said plasma diffusion outlet port by diffusion; (c) extracting the ions by applying, to the plasma which has moved outside said plasma generation chamber, an electric field in a first direction to repel electrons in the plasma toward said plasma diffusion outlet port and to attract the ions in the plasma in a second direction opposite to the electrons, by applying in a pulsed manner first and second voltages to respective of first and second electrodes, wherein the first voltage is higher than the second voltage, and the first electrode and the second electrode are sequentially arranged between respective of the plasma diffusion outlet port of the plasma generation chamber and a target object; and (d) directing the attracted ions toward the target object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification