Carrier rings with radially-varied plasma impedance are provided herein. In some embodiments, a carrier ring may include an outer ring that holds a removable inner ring. The outer ring may be formed of a dielectric material such as ceramic. The inner ring may be formed of a metal such as aluminum to provide a desired impedance. In some other embodiments, a carrier ring is formed from a single piece with radially-varying impedances.

The present technology encompasses plasma sources including a first plate defining a first plurality of apertures arranged in a first set of rows. The first plate may include a first set of electrodes extending along a separate row of the first set of rows. The plasma sources may include a second plate defining a second plurality of apertures arranged in a second set of rows. The second plate may include a second set of electrodes extending along a separate row of the second set of rows. Each aperture of the second plurality of apertures may be axially aligned with an aperture of the first plurality of apertures. The plasma sources may include a third plate positioned between the first plate and the second plate. The third plate may define a third plurality of apertures.

Additively manufactured showerheads for semiconductor processing operations are disclosed that may have various features enabled by the use of such manufacturing techniques. In some implementations, such showerheads may have multiple independent flow paths featuring transverse passages arranged to form a rhombic lattice pattern and gas distribution ports and/or riser passages that are located at various intersections between such transverse passages. Such showerheads may also include features that improve their manufacturability while providing desired gas flow performance. For example, the cross-sections of the transverse passages may be designed such that they are generally triangular or pentagonal in shape, which may allow for more efficient use of available material volume within the showerhead for the purposes of providing gas flow passages while also providing geometries that take into account the limitations of typical additive manufacturing processes that may be used.

Whenever substrates are rotationally and continuously conveyed in a vacuum recipient around a common axis and past a magnetron sputter source, sputtering of the target, rotating around a central target axis, by the stationary magnetron plasma is adapted to the azimuthal extents radially differently spaced areas of the substrates become exposed to the target thereby improving homogeneity of deposited layer thickness on the substrates and ensuring that the complete sputter surface of the target is net-sputtered.

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for processing substrate comprising: a support plate; an antenna disposed in parallel to one surface of the support plate and having 1st to n-th turns (n=an integer greater than 3) wound along one direction from an inner end; and a distance control unit capable of adjusting separation distances formed between the 1st to n-th turns.

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for processing substrate comprising: a support plate; an antenna disposed in parallel to one surface of the support plate and having 1st to n-th turns (n=an integer greater than 3) wound along one direction from an inner end; and a distance control unit capable of adjusting separation distances formed between the 1st to n-th turns.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a stage provided in a processing container, and an upper electrode. The upper electrode includes a dielectric plate facing the stage, and a conductor formed on a surface of the dielectric plate opposite to a surface of the dielectric plate facing the stage. The dielectric plate includes a central portion, an outer peripheral portion, and an intermediate portion between the central portion and the outer peripheral portion. The intermediate portion has a thickness larger than the thicknesses of the central portion and the outer peripheral portion.

Methods for filling gaps with dielectric material involve deposition using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique to fill a gap followed by deposition of a cap layer on the filled gap by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. The ALD deposition may be a plasma-enhanced ALD (PEALD) or thermal ALD (tALD) deposition. The CVD deposition may be plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD) or thermal CVD (tCVD) deposition. In some embodiments, the CVD deposition is performed in the same chamber as the ALD deposition without intervening process operations. This in-situ deposition of the cap layer results in a high throughput process with high uniformity. After the process, the wafer is ready for chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) in some embodiments.

A method for multi-state pulsing to achieve a balance between bow control and mask selectivity is described. The method includes generating a primary radio frequency (RF) signal. The primary RF signal pulses among three states including a first state, a second state, and a third state. The method further includes generating a secondary RF signal. The secondary RF signal pulses among the three states. During the first state, the primary RF signal has a power level that is greater than a power level of the secondary RF signal. Also, during the second state, the secondary RF signal has a power level that is greater than a power level of the primary RF signal. During the third state, power levels of the primary and secondary RF signals are approximately equal.

A plasma processing apparatus is provided. The plasma processing apparatus is provided with an upper electrode, a lower electrode, and an electromagnetic wave emission port. The upper electrode is provided so as to allow discharging a processing gas into a processing container. The lower electrode is provided so as to holding a workpiece in the processing container. The electromagnetic wave emission port is provided at a height position between a height position of the upper electrode and a height position of the lower electrode, and is open toward a center of the processing container.