Plasma generator
The whole antenna conductor is housed in the interior of a vacuum container of a plasma generator thereby to eliminate the need for an insulating partition or a top plate so that the whole induction field radiated from the antenna can be effectively utilized. Furthermore, the occurrence of abnormal discharge is suppressed to stabilize a high-density plasma by reducing the inductance of the antenna and covering the antenna conductor with an insulator.
1. A plasma generator for generating inductive coupling plasma by high-frequency discharge, comprising:
a vacuum container having an inner wall surface which includes a plurality of planes on said inner wall surface; and
an antenna generating an induction field by applying high-frequency power, said antenna being provided within said vacuum container and including a plurality of conductors, said plurality of conductors divided into a plurality of groups each of which corresponds to any one of said plurality of planes, each of said plurality of conductors being disposed along the inner wall surface, and being connected in parallel with each other at outside of said vacuum container, and said conductor of the similar group starting and terminating at the similar plane of the plurality of planes to which the group corresponds.
2. A plasma generator according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a magnetic field generating unit making a plasma density uniform and provided outside of said vacuum container.
3. A plasma generator according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a capacitor of fixed or variable electric capacity inserted between a connection point near a ground of said antenna and said ground.
4. A plasma generator according to claim 1 , wherein any one of argon gas, hydrogen gas and nitrogen gas is used as an atmosphere gas introduced into the vacuum container.
5. A plasma generator according to claim 1 , wherein a section of said vacuum container is rectangular, and each of said plurality of conductors are arranged along said inner wall surface having a shape of rectangular.