Plasma processing method using spectroscopic processing unit
First Claim
1. A plasma processing method using a spectroscopic processing unit, comprising the steps of:
- a) separating spectrally plasma radiation emitted from a vacuum process chamber into component spectra;
b) converting said component spectra into a time series of analogue electric signals composed of different wavelength components at a predetermined period;
c) converting said analogue signals into digital signals on a predetermined-period basis;
d) adding, for each of at least two predetermined plural kinds of materials within said vacuum process chamber, said digital signals of a set of wavelengths corresponding to a set of emission spectrum wavelengths intrinsic to the material;
e) determining discriminatively an end point of a predetermined plasma process on the basis of said added signals obtained in said step d); and
f) terminating said predetermined plasma process.
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Abstract
A plasma processing method using a spectroscopic processing unit. The method includes separating spectrally plasma radiation emitted from a vacuum process chamber into component spectra, converting the component spectra into a time series of analogue electric signals composed of different wavelength components at a predetermined period, adding together analogue signals of the different wavelength components, converting a plurality of added signals into digital quantities on a predetermined-period basis, digitally adding together the plurality of added and converted signals a plural number of times on a plural-signal basis, determining discriminatively an end point of a predetermined plasma process on the basis of a signal resulting from the digital addition, and terminating the predetermined plasma process.
23 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A plasma processing method using a spectroscopic processing unit, comprising the steps of:
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a) separating spectrally plasma radiation emitted from a vacuum process chamber into component spectra;
b) converting said component spectra into a time series of analogue electric signals composed of different wavelength components at a predetermined period;
c) converting said analogue signals into digital signals on a predetermined-period basis;
d) adding, for each of at least two predetermined plural kinds of materials within said vacuum process chamber, said digital signals of a set of wavelengths corresponding to a set of emission spectrum wavelengths intrinsic to the material;
e) determining discriminatively an end point of a predetermined plasma process on the basis of said added signals obtained in said step d); and
f) terminating said predetermined plasma process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A plasma processing method using a spectroscopic processing unit, comprising the steps of:
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a) separating spectrally plasma radiation emitted from a vacuum process chamber into component spectra;
b) converting said component spectra into a time series of analogue electric signals composed of different wavelength components at a predetermined period;
c) converting said analogue electric signals into digital signals on a predetermined-period basis;
d) adding, for each of at least two predetermined plural kinds of materials within said vacuum process chamber, said digital signals of a set of wavelengths corresponding to a set of emission spectrum wavelengths intrinsic to the material;
e) performing an adding or subtracting operation between said added signals obtained in step d) as to said at least two of said predetermined plural kinds of materials;
f) determining discriminatively an end point of a predetermined plasma process on the basis of a signal resulting from said step e); and
g) terminating said predetermined plasma process. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification