Electrostatic chuck having multi zone gas cooling

Inventors: Sajad Yazdani (Fremont, CA); Jaeyong Cho (San Jose, CA); Alexander Sulyman (San Francisco, CA); Tomoaki Kohzu (Cupertino, CA); Kyounghwan Na (San Jose, CA)

Assignee: Applied Materials Inc.

H02N13/00 C23C16/4586

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 12712474
App. No.: 18/789,634
Granted: Aug 18, 2026
Kind: B2

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Abstract

Embodiments of electrostatic chucks (ESCs) are provided herein. In some embodiments, an electrostatic chuck includes: a dielectric plate having an upper surface and a plurality of mesas extending from the upper surface to a first height to at least partially define a support surface for the substrate; four backside gas cooling zones disposed in the dielectric plate; four gas channels disposed in the dielectric plate and corresponding to the four backside gas cooling zones, wherein the four gas channels are fluidly independent within the dielectric plate and extend from a lower surface of the dielectric plate to a plurality of cooling gas outlets extending to the upper surface within each corresponding cooling zone; a plurality of seal rings extending from the upper surface of the dielectric plate to the first height and defining the four backside gas cooling zones; and one or more electrodes disposed in the dielectric plate.

Claims (38)

1 . An electrostatic chuck for holding a substrate, comprising:

a dielectric plate having an upper surface and a plurality of raised mesas extending from the upper surface to a first height to at least partially define a support surface for the substrate;

four backside gas cooling zones disposed in the dielectric plate;

four gas channels disposed in the dielectric plate and each of the four gas channels corresponding to one of the four backside gas cooling zones, wherein the four gas channels are fluidly independent within the dielectric plate such that gas flow within one of the four gas channels and corresponding backside gas cooling zone does not fluidly communicate within the dielectric plate with gas flow within another of the four gas channels and corresponding backside gas cooling zone and extend from a lower surface of the dielectric plate to a plurality of cooling gas outlets extending to the upper surface within each corresponding cooling zone;

wherein the upper surface of the dielectric plate includes one or more gas grooves for each of the four backside gas cooling zones, and wherein the plurality of cooling gas outlets are disposed in corresponding ones of the one or more gas grooves the one or more gas grooves associated with an outermost cooling zone of the four backside gas cooling zones consists of a single annular groove a plurality of seal rings extending from the upper surface of the dielectric plate to the first height and defining the four backside gas cooling zones; and

one or more electrodes disposed in the dielectric plate and configured to chuck the substrate when disposed on the support surface.

2 . The electrostatic chuck of claim 1 , wherein the four backside gas cooling zones are concentrically arranged along the upper surface.

3 . The electrostatic chuck of claim 2 , wherein an outermost cooling zone of the four backside gas cooling zones is narrower than an inner three cooling zones of the four backside gas cooling zones.

4 . The electrostatic chuck of claim 3 , wherein the outermost cooling zone has a width defined from an inner diameter to an outer diameter of the outermost cooling zone of about 2 to about 8 mm.

5 . The electrostatic chuck of claim 2 , wherein an innermost cooling zone of the four backside gas cooling zones has a diameter that is less than a width of a second innermost cooling zone of the four backside gas cooling zones, the width defined between an inner diameter and an outer diameter of the second innermost cooling zone.

6 . The electrostatic chuck of claim 1 , wherein a width of each of the plurality of seal rings is about 0.5 to about 3 mm.

7 . The electrostatic chuck of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of cooling gas outlets consist of about 10 to about 20 outlets for each cooling zone.

8 . An electrostatic chuck for holding a substrate, comprising:

a dielectric plate having an upper surface and a plurality of raised mesas extending from the upper surface to a first height to at least partially define a support surface for the substrate;

four backside gas cooling zones disposed in the dielectric plate;

four gas channels disposed in the dielectric plate and each of the four gas channels corresponding to one of the four backside gas cooling zones, wherein the four gas channels are fluidly independent within the dielectric plate such that gas flow within one of the four gas channels and its corresponding backside gas cooling zone does not fluidly communicate within the dielectric plate with gas flow within another of the four gas channels and its corresponding backside gas cooling zone, and extend from a lower surface of the dielectric plate to a plurality of cooling gas outlets extending to the upper surface within each corresponding cooling zone;

wherein the upper surface includes one or more gas grooves for each of the four backside gas cooling zones, and wherein the plurality of cooling gas outlets are disposed in corresponding ones of the one or more gas grooves, wherein the one or more gas grooves associated with two innermost ones of the four backside gas cooling zones include an annular gas groove and radial gas grooves extending from the annular gas groove

a plurality of seal rings extending from the upper surface of the dielectric plate to the first height and defining the four backside gas cooling zones, wherein a first of the seal rings is disposed about 15 to 25 mm from a center of the dielectric plate, a second of the seal rings is disposed about 100 to about 130 mm from the center, a third of the seal rings is disposed about 135 to about 142 mm from the center, and a fourth of the seal rings is disposed about 142 to about 148 mm from the center; and

one or more electrodes disposed in the dielectric plate and configured to chuck the substrate when disposed on the support surface.

9 . The electrostatic chuck of claim 8 , wherein a width of the fourth of the seal rings is greater than a width of the first, the second, and the third of the seal rings.

10 . The electrostatic chuck of claim 8 , wherein the dielectric plate includes a plurality of lift pin openings disposed between the first and the second of the seal rings.

11 . The electrostatic chuck of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of raised mesas have a round shape.

12 . A process chamber for processing a substrate, comprising:

a chamber body defining an interior volume therein;

an electrostatic chuck disposed in the interior volume, the electrostatic chuck comprising:

a dielectric plate having an upper surface and a plurality of raised mesas extending from the upper surface to a first height to at least partially define a support surface for the substrate;

four backside gas cooling zones disposed in the dielectric plate;

wherein the one or more gas grooves associated with two innermost ones of the four backside gas cooling zones include an annular gas groove and radial gas grooves extending from the annular gas groove and extend from a lower surface of the dielectric plate to a plurality of cooling gas outlets extending to the upper surface within each corresponding cooling zone; and

a plurality of seal rings extending from the upper surface of the dielectric plate to the first height and defining the four backside gas cooling zones; and

one or more electrodes disposed in the dielectric plate and configured to chuck the substrate when disposed on the support surface.

13 . The process chamber of claim 12 , further comprising supply lines that extend to corresponding ones of the gas channels, and a control valve disposed in line with each of the supply lines configured to control a flow rate of a cooling gas to each of the four backside gas cooling zones.

14 . The process chamber of claim 12 , wherein the process chamber is an etch chamber.

15 . The process chamber of claim 12 , wherein the backside gas cooling zones are concentrically arranged along the upper surface, and wherein:

an innermost cooling zone of the four backside gas cooling zones has a diameter that is less than a radial width of a second innermost cooling zone of the four backside gas cooling zones, the radial width defined between an inner diameter and an outer diameter of the second innermost cooling zone, and

an outermost cooling zone of the four backside gas cooling zones has a radial width defined between an inner diameter and an outer diameter of the outermost cooling zone that is less than the diameter of the innermost cooling zone and less than the radial width of the second innermost cooling zone.

16 . The process chamber of claim 12 , wherein a radial width between an inner diameter and an outer diameter of an outermost one of the plurality of seal rings is greater than a radial width between an inner diameter and an outer diameter, respectively, of all innermost ones of the plurality of seal rings.