US 12,261,025 B2
Plasma processing apparatus
Taro Ikeda, Nirasaki (JP); and Satoru Kawakami, Nirasaki (JP)
Assigned to Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo (JP)
Appl. No. 18/256,683
Filed by Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo (JP)
PCT Filed Dec. 7, 2021, PCT No. PCT/JP2021/044877
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 9, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/138130, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 30, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 2020-211851 (JP), filed on Dec. 21, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2024/0038500 A1, Feb. 1, 2024
Int. Cl. H01J 37/32 (2006.01); C23C 16/455 (2006.01); C23C 16/50 (2006.01); H01L 21/02 (2006.01)
CPC H01J 37/32449 (2013.01) [H01J 37/32174 (2013.01); H01J 37/32715 (2013.01); H01L 21/02274 (2013.01); H01J 2237/334 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A plasma processing apparatus comprising:
a chamber;
a substrate supporter provided within the chamber and on which a substrate as a processing target is placed;
a shower head formed of a metal and including a plurality of gas holes provided to be open toward an internal space of the chamber, the shower head being provided above the substrate supporter;
a gas supply pipe formed of a metal and extending vertically above the chamber to be connected to an upper center of the shower head;
an introducer through which the gas supply pipe passes above the chamber and into which an electromagnetic wave of a VHF or higher is introduced to activate a gas; and
an electromagnetic-wave supply path connected to the gas supply pipe,
wherein the introducer has a first dissociation space arranged upstream of the shower head, and a first gas is supplied to the first dissociation space to be dissociated in the first dissociation space by the electromagnetic wave,
wherein the chamber has a second dissociation space which is a process space between the substrate supporter and the shower head, the first gas dissociated in the first dissociation space and a second gas from the gas supply pipe are joined in the second dissociation space downstream of the shower head, and the first gas and the second gas are dissociated in the second dissociation space by a radio-frequency wave having a frequency lower than a frequency of the electromagnetic wave,
wherein a cross-sectional shape of the first dissociation space is a substantially cylindrical shape, and
wherein a diameter of the substantially cylindrical shape of the first dissociation space is smaller than λg/6 where λg is an effective wavelength of the electromagnetic wave in vacuum.