Method and system for controlling the uniformity of a ballistic electron beam by RF modulation

1. A method of etching a thin film on a substrate using a plasma processing system having a ballistic electron beam, comprising:

disposing said substrate on a substrate holder in said plasma processing system;

coupling direct current (DC) power to an electrode within said plasma processing system in order to create said ballistic electron beam from secondary electrons generated from ions bombarding said electrode during plasma generation;

coupling alternating current (AC) power to said electrode having DC power coupled thereto and to said substrate holder, in order to form plasma in said plasma processing system;

modulating two or more of a frequency, a duty cycle and an amplitude of said AC power to said electrode having DC power coupled thereto in order to control uniformity of the ions bombarding said electrode and thereby adjust the spatial distribution of said secondary electrons emitted from said electrode and the electron beam flux for said ballistic electron beam; and

etching the thin film with the plasma and the ballistic electron beam having an adjusted spatial distribution of electron beam flux.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said coupling DC power comprises coupling DC power ranging in voltage from −2000 V to 1000 V.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said coupling DC power comprises coupling DC power having a negative polarity, wherein the absolute value of the DC voltage is greater than or equal to 500 V.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said coupling DC power to said electrode comprises coupling DC power to an upper electrode opposing said substrate on said substrate holder.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein said coupling DC power to an upper electrode comprises coupling DC power to a silicon-containing electrode plate opposing said substrate on said substrate holder.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said coupling DC power to a silicon-containing electrode plate comprises coupling DC power to a doped silicon electrode plate opposing said substrate on said substrate holder.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein said coupling AC power comprises coupling radio frequency (RF) power to said electrode or said substrate holder or both.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein said coupling RF power comprises coupling a first RF power to said upper electrode or said substrate holder at a first RF frequency and coupling a second RF power to said substrate holder at a second RF frequency, and wherein said first RF power is adjusted during said modulating.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said second RF frequency is less than said first RF frequency.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said coupling AC power comprises coupling radio frequency (RF) power to said electrode or said substrate holder or both.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein said modulating the amplitude of said AC power comprises modulating said RF power between an RF power level ranging from 100 W to 10000 W.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein said modulating said RF power comprises modulating said RF power at a modulation frequency ranging from 0.01 Hz to 1 kHz.

13. The method of claim 10 , where said modulating the amplitude of said AC power comprises pulse modulating said RF power between a first RF power level and a second RF power level.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein said pulse modulating RF power comprises setting a duty cycle to define the fraction of time said plasma processing system is operated at said first RF power level and the fraction of time said plasma processing system is operated at said second RF power level.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

adjusting said modulating of AC power by varying one or more of the range of amplitude modulation, the frequency of amplitude modulation, or the duty cycle of amplitude modulation, or a combination of two or more thereof.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

forming plasma by coupling radio frequency (RF) power to an inductive coil.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing a magnetic field in the plasma processing system with a magnetic field system; and

controlling the speed of rotation or the field strength of the magnetic field with a controller.