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Semiconductive wafers are processed, i.e., etched or layers deposited thereon, by means of a plasma enhanced chemical vapor processing system wherein the plasma is generated by a train of R.F. power pulses. The pulse repetition rate, pulse length and peak power level of the individual pulses are ind

Semiconductive wafers are processed, i.e., etched or layers deposited thereon, by means of a plasma enhanced chemical vapor processing system wherein the plasma is generated by a train of R.F. power pulses. The pulse repetition rate, pulse length and peak power level of the individual pulses are independently variably controlled to variably control the uniformity of the processing of the semiconductive wafers within the processing gaps.

대표청구항 ▼

In a method for plasma enhanced chemical vapor processing of semiconductive wafers wherein an evacuable envelope contains first and second sets of interleaved electrodes, one set being electrically insulated relative to the other, for establishing an electrical plasma discharge within said evacuable

In a method for plasma enhanced chemical vapor processing of semiconductive wafers wherein an evacuable envelope contains first and second sets of interleaved electrodes, one set being electrically insulated relative to the other, for establishing an electrical plasma discharge within said evacuable envelope in processing gaps defined between the interleaved electrodes, the steps of: loading semiconductive wafers into the processing gaps; evacuating said envelope to subatmospheric pressure; introducing a vapor at subatmospheric pressure into said envelope; applying pulsed radio frequency power to said first and second sets of interleaved electrodes to establish an electrical plasma discharge at subatmospheric pressure in the processing gaps to produce chemically active vapor products of said plasma discharge; chemically interacting said chemically active vapor products with said wafers within said processing gaps for processing of said wafers; and variably controlling the peak power level of the radio frequency power pulses essentially independently of the pulse duration and pulse repetition rate of said pulsed radio frequency power to variably control the distribution of the plasma discharge within said processing gaps for variably controlling the uniformity of the processing of the semiconductive wafers within the processing gaps. In a plasma enhanced chemical vapor processing apparatus for processing semiconductive wafers within an evacuable envelope for containing the plasma enhanced chemical vapor and semiconductive wafers at subatmospheric pressure; first and second sets of electrode means for disposition within the envelope, one set of said electrodes means being electrically insulated from the other, and said first and second sets of electrode means being interleaved with each other for establishing, when energized with electrical potential, an electrical plasma discharge within said evacuable envelope in the processing gaps defined between adjacent ones of said interleaved electrode means; means for holding semiconductive wafers in said processing gaps; means for applying pulsed radio frequency power to said first and second sets of interleaved electrodes to establish an electrical plasma discharge at subatmospheric pressure in said processing gaps to produce chemically active vapor products of said plasma discharge for chemically interacting with said wafers within said processing gaps for processing of said wafers; and means for variably controlling the peak power level of the radio frequency power essentially independently of the pulse duration and the pulse repetition rate of said pulses for variably controlling the distribution of the plasma discharge within said processing gaps for variably controlling the uniformity of the processing of the semiconductive wafers within said processing gaps.