IP Library Granted Patent US 8,501,631
Granted Patent B2
US 8,501,631 · App. 12/962,524 · Granted Aug 6, 2013

Plasma processing system control based on RF voltage

Inventors: John C. Valcore, Jr. (San Jose, CA); Henry S. Povolny (Newark, CA)
Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,501,631
App. No.
12/962,524
Filed
Dec 7, 2010
Granted
Aug 6, 2013
Kind
B2
Art Unit
2812
USPC
438/10
Abstract

A method for controlling a plasma processing system using wafer bias information derived from RF voltage information is proposed. The RF voltage is processed via an analog or digital methodology to obtain peak voltage information at least for each of the fundamental frequencies and the broadband frequency. The peak voltage information is then employed to derive the wafer bias information to serve as a feedback or control signal to hardware/software of the plasma processing system.

Claims (26)

1. A method for controlling a plasma processing system including a plasma processing chamber, comprising:

receiving an RE signal from at least one component of said plasma processing chamber;

processing said RE signal in a digital domain to obtain peak voltage information for each fundamental frequency and a broadband frequency of said RE signal; and

deriving wafer bias information from said peak voltage information, wherein said wafer bias information is employed as one of a feedback and a control signal for said controlling said plasma processing system.

2. A method for controlling a plasma processing system including a plasma processing chamber, comprising:

receiving an RE signal from at least one component of said plasma processing chamber;

processing said RE signal to obtain peak voltage information for each fundamental frequency and a broadband frequency of said RE signal; and

deriving wafer bias information from said peak voltage information, wherein said deriving includes using at least one plasma processing chamber parameter in said deriving and wherein said wafer bias information is employed as one of a feedback and a control signal for said controlling said plasma processing system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said processing of said RF signal obtains a plurality of signals, said plurality of signals including at least individual signals corresponding to individual ones of multiple RF frequencies.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said RF signal is inputted into a transfer function, and providing an output of said transfer function as a control signal to control a subsystem of said plasma processing system.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said transfer function represents a linear transfer function.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said linear transfer function is obtained using multi-variable analysis.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said transfer function represents a non-linear transfer function.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein said RF signal is filtered using an anti-aliasing filter.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said filtered RF of signal from said anti-aliasing filter is split into two channels to feed into a dual-channel analog/digital converter.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said processing in the digital domain is performed by a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said deriving includes using at least one plasma processing chamber parameter.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said at least one plasma processing chamber parameter includes chamber pressure, chamber gap distance between electrodes, RF delivered power, RF frequency, RF generator impedance matching network tap positions having capacitor positions of variable LC network, chamber Chemistry, chamber topology including a around area ratio, wafer type, and water resistivity.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said chamber pressure is taken into account for providing enhanced accurate on-the-fly determination of wafer bias voltage.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein said control signal controls an RF generator.

15. The method of claim 2 wherein said at least one plasma processing chamber parameter includes chamber pressure, chamber gap distance between electrodes, RF delivered power, RF frequency, RF generator impedance matching network tap positions having capacitor positions of variable LC network, chamber chemistry, chamber topology including a ground area ratio, wafer type, and wafer resistivity.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said chamber pressure is taken into account for providing enhanced accurate on-the-fly determination of wafer bias voltage.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said control signal controls an RF generator.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said processing of said RF signal obtains a plurality of signals, said plurality of signals including at least individual signals corresponding to individual ones of multiple RF frequencies.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said RF signal is inputted into a transfer function, and providing an output of said transfer function as a control signal to control a subsystem of said plasma processing system.

20. The method of claim 19 Wherein said RF signal is filtered using an anti-aliasing filter.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 5, 2011
From: VALCORE, JOHN C., JR.; POVOLNY, HENRY S.
To: LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 026077/0153 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation In Part 12950710 · Nov 19, 2010
Provisional Application 61303628 · Feb 11, 2010
Provisional Application 61262886 · Nov 19, 2009
Related Publication 20110137446A1 · Jun 9, 2011