A plasma ion source includes: a gas introduction chamber, into which raw gas is introduced; a plasma generation chamber connected to the gas introduction chamber and made of a dielectric material; a coil wound along an outer circumference of the plasma generation chamber and to which high-frequency power is applied; an envelope surrounding the gas introduction chamber, the plasma generation chamber and the coil; and insulating liquid filled inside the gas introduction chamber, the plasma generation chamber and the envelope to immerse the coil and having an dielectric strength voltage relatively greater than that of the envelope and the same dielectric dissipation factor as the plasma generation chamber.

A method of treating resist features comprises positioning, in a process chamber, a substrate having a set of patterned resist features on a first side of the substrate and generating a plasma in the process chamber having a plasma sheath adjacent to the first side of the substrate. The method may further comprise modifying a shape of a boundary between the plasma and the plasma sheath with a plasma sheath modifier so that a portion of the shape of the boundary is not parallel to a plane defined by a front surface of the substrate facing the plasma, wherein ions from the plasma impinge on the patterned resist features over a wide angular range during a first exposure.

Plasma processing systems and methods are provided. In one example, a system includes a processing chamber having a workpiece support. The workpiece is configured to support a workpiece. The system includes a plasma source configured to induce a plasma from a process gas in a plasma chamber to generate one or more species of negative ions. The system includes a grid structure configured to accelerate the one or more negative ions towards the workpiece. The grid structure can include a first grid plate, a second grid plate, and one or more magnetic elements positioned between the first grid plate and second grid plate to reduce electrons accelerated through the first grid plate. The system can include a neutralizer cell disposed downstream of the grid structure configured to detach extra electrons from ions of the one or more species of negative ions to generate energetic neutral species for processing the workpiece.

A method may include providing a surface feature on a substrate, the surface feature comprising a feature shape a feature location, and a dimension along a first direction within a substrate plane; depositing a layer comprising a layer material on the surface feature; and directing ions in an ion exposure at an angle of incidence toward the substrate, the angle of incidence forming a non-zero angle with respect to a perpendicular to the substrate plane, wherein the ion exposure comprises the ions and reactive neutral species, the ion exposure reactively etching the layer material, wherein the ions impact a first portion of the surface feature and do not impact a second portion of the surface feature, and wherein an altered surface feature is generated, the altered surface feature differing from the surface feature in at least one of: the dimension along the first direction, the feature shape, or the feature location.

Provided is a substrate processing including: a plasma generation source configured to generate the plasma within the processing container; a substrate holding mechanism configured to hold the substrate within the processing container; a separation plate disposed between the plasma generation source and the substrate holding mechanism and having a plurality of openings formed therein, in which the plurality of openings are configured to neutralize the plasma generated in the plasma generation source so as to form neutral particles, and to irradiate the neutral particles onto the substrate; and a directivity adjusting mechanism configured to adjust directivity of the neutral particles irradiated onto the substrate such that a plurality of peak values of an incident angle distribution of the neutral particles on the substrate are distributed at positions which are deviated from a normal direction of the substrate and located on both sides of the normal direction.

A substrate processing apparatus, for generating a plasma from a gas by a high frequency energy and etching a substrate in a processing chamber by radicals in the plasma, includes a high frequency power supply configured to supply the high frequency energy into the processing chamber, a gas supply source configured to introduce the gas into the processing chamber, a mounting table configured to mount the substrate thereon, and a partition plate provided in the processing chamber and configured to divide an inner space of the processing chamber into a plasma generation space and a substrate processing space and suppress passage of ions therethrough. The partition plate and a portion of an inner wall surface of the processing chamber which is positioned at least above the mounting table are covered by a dielectric material having a recombination coefficient of 0.002 or less.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a process chamber. A turntable is disposed in the process chamber and is configured to receive a substrate along a circumferential direction thereof. A process gas supply nozzle is configured to supply a process gas to the turntable. A plasma antenna is disposed on the process chamber at a position covering at least a part of the process gas supply nozzle. An ion trap plate is disposed over the process gas supply nozzle at a position overlapping at least a part of the plasma antenna in the process chamber.

Plasma processing apparatus for processing a workpiece are provided. In one example embodiments, a plasma processing apparatus for processing workpiece includes a processing chamber, a plasma chamber separated from the processing chamber by a separation grid, an inductively coupled plasma source configured to generate a plasma in the plasma chamber, and a gas injection insert arranged in the plasma chamber having a peripheral portion and a center portion, the center portion extends a vertical distance past the peripheral portion. The apparatus includes a pedestal disposed within the processing chamber configured to support a workpiece, a first gas injection zone configured to inject a process gas into the process chamber at a first flat surface, and a second gas injection zone configured to inject a process gas into the process chamber at a second flat surface. The separation grid has a plurality of holes configured to allow the passage of neutral particles generated in the plasma to the processing chamber.

Embodiments of hybrid electron beam and RF plasma systems and methods are described. In an embodiment a method of using a hybrid electron beam and RF plasma system may include forming a field of electrons a first region of a wafer processing structure. Such a method may also include forming a processing plasma in a second region of the wafer processing structure, the second region of the wafer processing structure being coupled to the first region of the wafer processing structure, the processing plasma being maintained by a combination of energy from a radiant energy source and from an electron beam formed from electrons in the field of electrons. Additionally, the method may include controlling a radical composition and ions of the processing plasma by setting a ratio of the energy supplied to the processing plasma from the electron beam and the energy supplied to the processing plasma from the radiant energy source.

Plasma strip tools with process uniformity control are provided. In one example implementation, a plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber, a first pedestal in the processing chamber operable to support a workpiece, and a second pedestal in the processing chamber operable to support another workpiece. The first pedestal can define a first processing station. The second pedestal can define a second processing station. The apparatus can further include a first plasma chamber disposed above the first processing station and a second plasma chamber disposed above the second processing station. The first plasma chamber can be associated with a first inductive plasma source. The first plasma chamber can be separated from the processing chamber by a first separation grid. The second plasma chamber can be associated with a second inductive plasma source. The second plasma chamber can be separated from the processing chamber by a second separation grid.