IP Library › Granted Patent US 10,714,372
Granted Patent B2
US 10,714,372 · App. 15/710,763 · Granted Jul 14, 2020

System for coupling a voltage to portions of a substrate

Inventors: Thai Cheng Chua (Cupertino, CA); Philip Allan Kraus (San Jose, CA); Travis Lee Koh (Sunnyvale, CA); Christian Amormino (Windsor, CA); Jaeyong Cho (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
H01L21/6833C23C16/458C23C16/4586C23C16/45544C23C16/466C23C16/50C23C16/505C23C16/511H01J37/3244H01J37/32577H01L21/67103H01L21/67109H01L21/6875H01L21/68742H01L21/68757H01J37/321H01J37/32192H01J2237/002H01J2237/334H01L21/02274H01L21/2236H01L21/3065
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,714,372
App. No.
15/710,763
Granted
Jul 14, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present disclosure generally relates to plasma assisted or plasma enhanced processing chambers. More specifically, embodiments herein relate to electrostatic chucking (ESC) substrate supports configured to provide independent pulses of DC voltage through a switching system to electrodes disposed through the ESC substrate support, or to electrodes disposed on a surface of the ESC, or to electrodes embedded in the ESC substrate support. The switching system can independently alter the frequency and duty cycle of the pulsed DC voltage that is coupled to each electrode. During processing of the substrate, the process rate, such as etch rate or deposition rate, can be controlled independently in regions of the substrate because the process rate is a function of the frequency and duty cycle of the pulsed DC voltage. The processing uniformity of the process performed on the substrate is improved.

Claims (36)

1. A substrate support assembly, comprising:

a substrate support configured to support a substrate;

a cooling base disposed below the substrate support;

a plurality of electrodes extending through the substrate support and exposed at an upper surface of the substrate support, wherein each electrode is configured to contact the substrate, wherein each electrode is fixed or movably coupled to the cooling base, wherein each electrode is connected to a pair of switches, and wherein each switch has a switch frequency of about 1 MHz; and

a chucking electrode planarly embedded in the substrate support.

2. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of electrodes is a plurality of conductive pins.

3. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein an electrode of the plurality of electrodes comprises aluminum, an aluminum alloy, silicon carbide, or combinations thereof.

4. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein each switch of the pair of switches is a fast high-voltage transistor switch.

5. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein one of the pair of switches is connected to a voltage source of a first polarity, and another pair of switches is connected to a voltage source of a second polarity.

6. The substrate support assembly of claim 5 , wherein the first polarity is the opposite of the second polarity.

7. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of electrodes is arranged in a circular pattern.

8. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein the pair of switches has coordinated cyclic timing, and wherein a frequency of the coordinated cyclic timing is 1 kHz or greater.

9. A substrate support assembly, comprising:

a substrate support configured to support a substrate;

a cooling base disposed below the substrate support;

a plurality of bias electrodes extending through the substrate support and exposed at an upper surface of the substrate support, wherein each electrode is configured to contact the substrate, wherein each electrode is fixed or movably coupled to the cooling base, wherein each bias electrode is connected to a pair of switches, and wherein each switch has a switch frequency of about 1 MHz; and

an electrostatic chucking electrode planarly embedded in the substrate support.

10. The substrate support assembly of claim 9 , wherein each switch of the pair of switches is a fast high-voltage transistor switch.

11. The substrate support assembly of claim 9 , wherein one of the pair of switches is connected to a voltage source of a first polarity, and another pair of switches is connected to a voltage source of a second polarity.

12. The substrate support assembly of claim 11 , wherein the first polarity is the opposite of the second polarity.

13. The substrate support assembly of claim 9 , wherein the pair of switches has coordinated cyclic timing, and wherein a frequency of the coordinated cyclic timing is 1 kHz or greater.

14. The substrate support assembly of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of bias electrodes comprises a circular plate and one or more discontinuous annuluses that are concentric with the circular plate.

15. The substrate support assembly of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of bias electrodes is arranged in a spoke pattern, grid pattern, line pattern, spiral pattern, interdigitated pattern, random pattern, or combinations thereof.

16. The substrate support assembly of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of bias electrodes is isolated from each other.

17. A processing chamber, comprising:

a chamber lid;

one or more sidewalls;

a chamber bottom, wherein the chamber lid, the one or more sidewalls, and the chamber bottom define a processing volume; and

a substrate support assembly disposed in the processing volume, the substrate support assembly comprising;

a cooling base;

a substrate support configured to support a substrate and coupled to the cooling base;

an electrostatic chucking electrode planarly embedded in the substrate support; and

a plurality of bias electrodes extending through the substrate support and exposed at an upper surface of the substrate support, wherein each electrode is configured to contact the substrate, wherein each electrode is fixed or movably coupled to the cooling base, wherein each bias electrode is connected to a pair of switches, and wherein each switch has a switch frequency of about 1 MHz.

18. The processing chamber of claim 17 , wherein the where one of the pair of switches is connected to a voltage source of a first polarity, and another pair of switches is connected to a voltage source of a second polarity.

19. The processing chamber of claim 18 , where the first polarity is the opposite of the second polarity.

20. The processing chamber of claim 17 , wherein the pair of switches has coordinated cyclic timing, and wherein a frequency of the coordinated cyclic timing is 1 kHz or greater.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 26, 2017
From: CHUA, THAI CHENG; KRAUS, PHILIP ALLAN; KOH, TRAVIS LEE; AMORMINO, CHRISTIAN; CHO, JAEYONG
To: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
Reel/Frame 043960/0232 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20190088521A1 · Mar 21, 2019
Cited By (16)
US 12,198,966 US 12,237,148 US 12,261,019 US 12,272,524 US 12,315,732 US 12,347,647 US 12,368,020 US 12,394,596 US 12,482,633 US 12,525,433 US 12,525,441 US 12,586,768 US 12,663,456 US 12,683,123 US 12,706,275 US 12,724,401