Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080203925 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber encased in a vacuum vessel equipped with an evacuator; a sample stage located in the processing chamber and having an upper surface on which a sample as an object to be processed rests; a gas feeding unit for feeding processing gas into the processing chamber; a plurality of refrigerant ducts which are laid out in the internal of the sample stage and through which liquid refrigerant flows and can be evaporated; a cooling circuit including a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve and a set of pipelines to connect the compressor, the condenser and the expansion valve in this order; and a selecting unit for selectively feeding the refrigerant through the plural refrigerant ducts in the different steps of the processing. The sample is processed by using plasma while the temperature of the sample stage is being controlled by the cooling circuit. | 08-28-2008 |
20080216959 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - The present invention provides a plasma processing apparatus which has the function of removing a deposit adhering to the periphery of the backside of a sample and has high throughput and low cost. That is, a deposit removal unit for removing the deposit on the periphery of the backside of the sample by pulsed laser irradiation is connected to an atmosphere-side transfer chamber of the plasma processing apparatus. | 09-11-2008 |
20080223522 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - The present invention provides a plasma processing chamber mounted with a function capable of determining the state of a temperature rise in a processing chamber even if a thermometer is not mounted in the processing chamber. In a plasma processing apparatus including: a processing chamber for subjecting a sample to be processed to plasma processing; means for supplying the processing chamber with gas; exhaust means for reducing pressure in the processing chamber; a high-frequency power source for generating plasma; and an electrode on which the sample to be processed is placed, there is provided a plasma emission monitor for determining an end point of temperature raise discharge and means for determining an end point of temperature raise discharge, both of which are used for determining an end point of temperature raise discharge performed before the plasma processing. | 09-18-2008 |
20080236748 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - In a plasma processing apparatus including a processing chamber, a high-frequency power supply needed for plasma production, a unit that feeds a gas to the processing chamber, a shower plate, an exhausting unit that depressurizes the processing chamber, a stage on which a sample to be processed is placed, and a focus ring, the temperature of the focus ring can be regulated. A unit that measures a gas temperature distribution in the processing chamber is included. Based on the result of measurement of the gas temperature distribution, the temperature of the focus ring is controlled so that the gas temperature in the surface of the sample to be processed will be uniform. | 10-02-2008 |
20080277061 | WAFER EDGE CLEANER - An object of the present invention is to provide a wafer edge cleaner which is capable of removing an undesired material that adheres to an outer periphery of an object to be processed at the low costs and with high throughput. The wafer edge cleaner according to the present invention irradiates a deposited material that has adhered to the rear surface outer periphery of the object to be processed with a laser beam that is at least 30 kW/mm | 11-13-2008 |
20080289767 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - The present invention provides a temperature control unit for an electrostatic adsorption electrode that is capable of controlling the wafer temperature rapidly over a wide temperature range without affecting in-plane uniformity while high heat input etching is conducted with high wafer bias power applied. A refrigerant flow path provided in the electrostatic adsorption electrode serves as an evaporator. The refrigerant flow path is connected to a compressor, a condenser, and a first expansion valve to form a direct expansion type refrigeration cycle. A second expansion valve is installed between the electrostatic adsorption electrode and the compressor to adjust the flow rate of a refrigerant. This makes it possible to compress the refrigerant in the refrigerant flow path of the electrostatic adsorption electrode and adjust the wafer temperature to a high level by raising the refrigerant evaporation temperature. Further, a thin-walled cylindrical refrigerant flow path is employed so that the thin-walled cylinder is deformed only slightly by the refrigerant pressure. | 11-27-2008 |
20080319709 | DIMENSION MEASURING APPARATUS AND DIMENSION MEASURING METHOD FOR SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - A dimension of a specific part of a semiconductor device is measured with high accuracy and at a high speed. | 12-25-2008 |
20090060702 | METHOD FOR TRANSPORTING OBJECT TO BE PROCESSED IN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING APPARATUS - In a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including a processing chamber, means for supplying gas to the processing chamber, evacuating means for decompressing the processing chamber, a transport chamber, means for supplying gas to the transport chamber, and evacuating means for decompressing the transport chamber, the pressure in the processing chamber is 10 to 50 Pa, the pressure in the transport chamber is set to positive pressure to the processing chamber, the differential pressure between the processing chamber and the transport chamber is 10 Pa or less, and the flow rate of the gas supplied to the processing chamber is twice or more the flow rate of gas supplied to the transport chamber. | 03-05-2009 |
20090181545 | DRY-ETCHING METHOD AND APPARATUS - A resist damage free dry-etching process is proposed. A time duration defined until bias electric power is applied is controlled according to a plasma ignition detection signal. Wafer back-side gas pressure for a certain constant time after starting of an etching process operation is set to be lower than that as to a main etching condition. Within the time duration defined after starting of the etching process operation up to a certain constant time, C | 07-16-2009 |
20090183683 | Plasma Processing Apparatus and Method for Venting the Same to Atmosphere - In a plasma processing apparatus provided with control means, gas supply means includes a first gas supply path for supplying a vent gas into a processing chamber by way of a shower plate and a second gas supply path for supplying a vent gas into the processing chamber without via the shower plate, and the control means is capable of adjusting a flow rate of the vent gas of at least one of the first and second gas supply paths in such a manner that a pressure on a back side of the shower plate becomes a pressure that is a positive pressure relative to a pressure in the processing chamber and less than a withstand pressure of the shower plate. | 07-23-2009 |
20090250000 | VACUUM PROCESSING APPARATUS - A vacuum processing apparatus capable of attaining compatibility between the decrease for the number of foreign particles deposited on a sample in a lock chamber and improvement of the throughput, in which an open speed controllable valve is disposed and the depressurization speed can be controlled automatically by a controlling computer. | 10-08-2009 |
20090277883 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD - The present invention provides means for controlling the temperature of a semiconductor wafer rapidly and uniformly in plane during etching processing by a large quantity of input heat by use of a refrigerating system by the heat of evaporation. A ring-shaped refrigerant passage is formed in a sample stand. Since the heat transfer rate and pressure loss of a refrigerant increase from a refrigerant supply port to a refrigerant ejection port as dryness degrees increase, these must be restricted. Therefore, constructionally, a supply refrigerant quantity is controlled to prevent the refrigerant from completely evaporating within the refrigerant passage, and the sectional areas of the refrigerant passage increase successively from a first passage to a third passage. | 11-12-2009 |
20090294060 | Semiconductor Device Manufacturing Apparatus Capable Of Reducing Particle Contamination - A semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus includes a process chamber, a conveyance chamber, a conveyance robot, a lock chamber, and a heating unit or temperature adjusting unit for reducing adherence of particles onto a substance to be processed by a thermo-phoretic force. The heating unit enables control of a temperature of the substance to be processed to be higher than a temperature of an inner wall or structural body of the process chamber or the conveyance chamber or the conveyance robot or the lock chamber, in conveying the substance to be processed. The temperature adjusting unit enables adjustment of a temperature of an inner wall or structural body of the process chamber or the conveyance chamber or the lock chamber to be lower than a temperature of the substance to be processed, in conveying the substance to be processed. | 12-03-2009 |
20090299512 | SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING SYSTEM AND METHOD - In the manufacturing system and the manufacturing method of a semiconductor device using a plasma treatment apparatus, a plasma treatment condition is controlled so that a desired shape is obtained after the plasma processing by using a processing shape prediction model for calculating the shape after the plasma processing from the inspection data of a wafer to be treated prior to the treatment and a response surface model for calculating the processing shape depending on a plasma treatment condition. In this configuration, the processing shape prediction model has an adjustable prediction model coefficient, and this prediction model coefficient is automatically calibrated. | 12-03-2009 |
20090301392 | VACUUM PROCESSING APPARATUS - There is a vacuum processing apparatus which can reduce the amount of foreign particle occurrence by enhancing the ease of maintenance of a gas diffuser installing portion in the vacuum processing apparatus. A gas diffuser chamber for accommodating a gas diffuser is installed in the vacuum processing apparatus. | 12-10-2009 |
20100126666 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - In a plasma processing apparatus; a refrigerant flow passage being formed in the sample table and constituting an evaporator of a cooling cycle and the in-plane temperature of the sample to be processed is controlled uniformly by controlling the enthalpy of the refrigerant supplied to the refrigerant flow passage and thereby keeping the flow mode in the refrigerant flow passage, namely in the sample table, in the state of a gas-liquid two-phase. If by any chance dry out of the refrigerant occurs in the refrigerant flow passage because the heat input of plasma increases with time or by another reason, it is possible to increase speed of a compressor and inhibit the dry out from occurring in the refrigerant flow passage. Further, if the refrigerant supplied to the refrigerant flow passage is liquefied, it is kept in the gas-liquid two-phase state. | 05-27-2010 |
20100163181 | VACUUM PROCESSING APPARATUS - There is provided a vacuum processing apparatus including a valve whose opening degree can be set to any size and a control computer which automatically controls a depressurizing rate. The vacuum processing apparatus can reduce the number of foreign particles adhered to a sample to be processed in the lock chamber and can improve the throughput at the same time. | 07-01-2010 |
20100192857 | VACUUM PROCESSING APPARATUS - A vacuum processing apparatus includes a member having a gas passage formed in a center between the pressure adjusting valve of an exhaust system and a turbo-molecular pump, and a particle dispersion prevention unit having plural stationary blades formed to be tilted in a direction opposite the direction of the rotary blade of the turbo-molecular pump on the outer circumference of the member. | 08-05-2010 |
20100285670 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS INCLUDING ETCHING PROCESSING APPARATUS AND ASHING PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD USING PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - A diameter of a mounting unit of the stage of an asking processing apparatus is less than a diameter of a mounting unit of the stage of an etching processing apparatus, and the diameter of the mounting unit of the stage of the etching processing apparatus is less than a diameter of an objective item. | 11-11-2010 |
20100326094 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND MAINTENANCE METHOD THEREFOR - In a plasma processing apparatus, a check valve is installed close to a refrigerant inlet of a compressor. When performing maintenance of a sample stage, refrigerant collected from a refrigerant flow path is temporarily stored in a flow path section extending from an expansion valve to the check valve, making it possible to perform the maintenance without changing the amount of refrigerant in the refrigerating cycle. With a refrigerant storage tank, a refrigerant supply valve, and a refrigerant discharge valve included in the refrigerating cycle, when maintenance of the compressor, a condenser, or the expansion valve is performed, the refrigerant collected from the refrigerating cycle can be put in use again. | 12-30-2010 |
20110030899 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS USING TRANSMISSION ELECTRODE - At least a part of a discharging electromagnetic wave is introduced into a processing chamber via a transmission electrode which has characteristics to behave as a dielectric (electric insulator) for the discharging electromagnetic wave, and to behave as a material with electric conductivity for RF bias electromagnetic wave of electromagnetic wave of ion plasma oscillation. | 02-10-2011 |
20110100555 | Semiconductor Device Manufacturing Apparatus Capable Of Reducing Particle Contamination - A semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus includes a process chamber, a conveyance chamber, a conveyance robot, a lock chamber, and a heating unit or temperature adjusting unit for reducing adherence of particles onto a substance to be processed by a thermo-phoretic force. The heating unit enables control of a temperature of the substance to be processed to be higher than a temperature of an inner wall or structural body of the process chamber or the conveyance chamber or the conveyance robot or the lock chamber, in conveying the substance to be processed. The temperature adjusting unit enables adjustment of a temperature of an inner wall or structural body of the process chamber or the conveyance chamber or the lock chamber to be lower than a temperature of the substance to be processed, in conveying the substance to be processed. | 05-05-2011 |
20110120647 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS INCLUDING ETCHING PROCESSING APPARATUS AND ASHING PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD USING PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - A diameter of a mounting unit of the stage of an asking processing apparatus is less than a diameter of a mounting unit of the stage of an etching processing apparatus, and the diameter of the mounting unit of the stage of the etching processing apparatus is less than a diameter of an objective item. | 05-26-2011 |
20110132541 | VACUUM PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS WITH TEMPERATURE CONTROL FUNCTION FOR WAFER STAGE - A wafer stage includes a first evaporator where a refrigerant circulates. The first evaporator makes up a cooling cycle with a compressor, first condenser, expansion valve, second evaporator, refrigerant thermometer, and refrigerant flowmeter. The first condenser is supplied with a heat exchange medium. The temperature of a coolant supplied to the second evaporator is measured by an inlet refrigerant thermometer and outlet refrigerant thermometer, while the flow rate of the coolant is monitored and adjusted by a flow-rate adjuster. The temperature difference in the coolant between being at the inlet and at the outlet and flow rate can be measured. Upon complete evaporation of the refrigerant in the second evaporator, the dryness of the refrigerant discharged from the wafer stage is calculated from the amount of heat absorbed from (exchanged with) the coolant, the circulation amount of the refrigerant and the refrigerant temperature to control the rotational speed of the compressor. | 06-09-2011 |
20110194924 | METHOD FOR TRANSPORTING OBJECT TO BE PROCESSED IN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING APPARATUS - In a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including a processing chamber, means for supplying gas to the processing chamber, evacuating means for decompressing the processing chamber, a transport chamber, means for supplying gas to the transport chamber, and evacuating means for decompressing the transport chamber, the pressure in the processing chamber is 10 to 50 Pa, the pressure in the transport chamber is set to positive pressure to the processing chamber, the differential pressure between the processing chamber and the transport chamber is 10 Pa or less, and the flow rate of the gas supplied to the processing chamber is twice or more the flow rate of gas supplied to the transport chamber. | 08-11-2011 |
20110207243 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD - There is provided a means for uniformly controlling the in-plane temperature of a semiconductor wafer at high speed in a high heat input etching process. A refrigerant channel structure in a circular shape is formed in a sample stage. Due to a fact that a heat transfer coefficient of a refrigerant is largely changed from a refrigerant supply port to a refrigerant outlet port, the cross sections of the channel structure is structured so as to be increased from a first channel areas towards a second channel areas in order to make the heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant constant in the refrigerant channel structure. Thereby, the heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant is prevented from increasing by reducing the flow rate of the refrigerant at a dry degree area where the heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant is increased. Further, the cross section of the channel structure is structured so as to be reduced from the second channel areas towards a third channel areas, and thereby the heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant is prevented from decreasing. Accordingly, the heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant can be uniformed in the channel structure. | 08-25-2011 |
20120003837 | Semiconductor Device Manufacturing Apparatus Capable Of Reducing Particle Contamination - A plasma processing method of subjecting a substance to plasma processing by using a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus including a process chamber, a unit for supplying gas to the process chamber, an exhausting unit to reduce pressure in the process chamber, a high frequency power source for plasma generation, a coil for generating a magnetic field, and a mounted electrode for mounting the substance to be processed. The method includes steps of subjecting the substance to a predetermined plasma processing, changing the magnetic field distribution, so as to make a plasma distribution of the process chamber with respect to the surface of the substance to be processed, in a convex form, at a time of igniting the plasma and after completion of the predetermined plasma processing, as compared with a plasma distribution with respect to the surface of the substance to be processed during the predetermined plasma processing. | 01-05-2012 |
20120186745 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - Provided is a plasma processing apparatus in which accuracy or reliability of processing is improved. This plasma processing apparatus includes a sample stage in a processing chamber arranged in a vacuum vessel and in which plasma is generated. The sample stage has a cylindrical shape and operates as an evaporator through which a refrigerant of a refrigerating cycle flows. Further, the apparatus includes refrigerant passages which are concentrically arranged inside of the sample stage, one or more detectors which detect vibrations of the sample stage, and an control unit which controls a temperature of the refrigerant flowing into the sample stage based on detection results of a dryness of the refrigerant flowing through the passages obtained from an output of the detectors. | 07-26-2012 |
20120186747 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - A plasma processing apparatus is provided with a processing chamber which is arranged inside a vacuum container and plasma is formed inside, a circular shape plate member made of a dielectric material arranged above the processing chamber through which an electric field is transmitted, and a cavity part having a cylindrical shape arranged above the plate member and the electric field is introduced inside, in which the cavity part is provided with a first cylindrical cavity part having a cylindrical shape cavity with a large diameter and having the plate member as the bottom face, a second cylindrical cavity part arranged above to be connected to the first cylindrical cavity part and having a cylindrical shape cavity with a small diameter, and a step portion for connecting these between the first and the second cylindrical cavity parts. | 07-26-2012 |
20120211163 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS INCLUDING ETCHING PROCESSING APPARATUS AND ASHING PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD USING PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - A diameter of a mounting unit of the stage of an ashing processing apparatus is less than a diameter of a mounting unit of the stage of an etching processing apparatus, and the diameter of the mounting unit of the stage of the etching processing apparatus is less than a diameter of an objective item. | 08-23-2012 |
20120273132 | Vacuum Processing Apparatus And Plasma Processing Apparatus With Temperature Control Function For Wafer Stage - A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber, a wafer table, a refrigerant passage disposed inside the wafer table in which a refrigerant flows, a refrigeration cycle comprising the refrigerant passage in the wafer table as a first evaporator in which the refrigerant is evaporated as a result of a heat-exchange therein, a compressor, a condenser and an expansion valve, a second evaporator, and a controlling unit which adjusts a number of rotations of the compressor based upon a degree of dryness of the refrigerant at a position on the refrigeration cycle after passing through the first evaporation in a range in which dry-out does not occur in the first evaporator, and the dryness of the refrigerant being determined based upon an amount of a heat exchange during the evaporation of the refrigerant in the second evaporator. | 11-01-2012 |
20130045547 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD - In a plasma processing apparatus in which a wafer is processed while supplying radio frequency power to electrodes disposed in a sample stage in a processing chamber within a reactor via a matching box, by matching a specific value of power at transition points of data values of at least two kinds among characteristic data including light emission intensity of the plasma, magnitude of its time variation, a matching position of the matching box, and a change of a value of a voltage of the radio frequency power supplied to the electrodes detected by varying the power to a plurality of values during the processing with a value detected by using characteristic data which is detected during the processing executed on a wafer of the same kind in a different reactor, the differences of the states inside the processing chamber or plasma among a plurality of semiconductor processing apparatuses or reactors are reduced. | 02-21-2013 |
20130045604 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD - A plasma processing apparatus which can adjust ion energy on a wafer to a value in a desired range to perform machining with high precision or processing stably for a long time is provided. To the plasma processing apparatus which processes a wafer mounted on a mounting surface of an upper portion of a stage using plasma formed in a processing chamber while supplying radio frequency power from a power supply to an electrode disposed in the stage a detector disposed on an outer circumferential side of the mounting surface of the stage to detect a differential component Vpp between the maximum value and the minimum value and a DC component Vdc from a value of a bias voltage formed thereabove and a controller to adjust an output of the radio frequency bias power to make a value of Vpp/2+|Vdc| constant based on an output from the detector are provided. | 02-21-2013 |
20130112669 | HEAT TREATMENT APPARATUS - The present invention provides a heat treatment apparatus which can reduce a surface roughing of a processed substrate while keeping a heat efficiency high, even in the case of heating a sample to be heated to 1200° C. or higher. The present invention is a heat treatment apparatus carrying out a heat treatment of a sample to be heated, wherein a plasma generated by a glow electric discharge is used as a heating source, and the sample to be heated is indirectly heated. | 05-09-2013 |
20130112670 | HEAT TREATMENT APPARATUS - Provided is a heat treatment apparatus that is high in thermal efficiency and can reduce surface roughness of a substrate to be treated even when a specimen is heated at 1200° C. or higher. | 05-09-2013 |
20130228550 | DRY ETCHING APPARATUS AND METHOD - There is provided dry etching apparatus including a stage on which a wafer is placed, an antenna electrode, a high frequency power supply, a shower plate, and an RF bias power supply. Further, a bias path controller is provided on the side of the antenna electrode. The bias path controller resonates in series with the static reactance formed by the shower plate with respect to the frequency of the RF bias. Then, the bias path controller changes and grounds the impedance by the variable inductive reactance. With this mechanism, highly uniform etching can be achieved even if a shower plate of quartz is used for corrosive gases. | 09-05-2013 |
20130277354 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PLASMA HEAT TREATMENT - There is provided a method for plasma heat treatment that can suppress the degradation of thermal efficiency even in the case where plasma is used to heat a sample at a temperature of 1,200° C. or more. In a method for plasma heat treatment that a sample to be processed is heated by plasma, the method including the steps of: preheating in which a heat treatment chamber is exhausted while preheating an upper electrode and a lower electrode using plasma generated between the upper electrode and the lower electrode; and heat treatment in which the sample to be processed is heated after the preheating step. The upper electrode and the lower electrode are electrodes containing carbon. | 10-24-2013 |
20140004706 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD | 01-02-2014 |
20150031213 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD - A plasma processing method is provided for a plasma processing apparatus which includes a plurality of upstream-side expansion valves and a plurality of downstream-side expansion valves connected to respective refrigerant inlets and respective refrigerant outlets to adjust a flow rate or a pressure of a refrigerant flowing into the respective refrigerant inlets and a flow rate or a pressure of a refrigerant flowing out from the respective refrigerant outlets. The method includes adjusting openings of the upstream-side expansion valves and openings of the downstream-side expansion valves so that no change in flow rate of the refrigerant occurs in a plurality of refrigerant channels between the plurality of upstream-side expansion valves and the plurality of downstream-side expansion valves via the plurality of refrigerant channels in a refrigeration cycle allowing the refrigerant to flow therein. | 01-29-2015 |