An apparatus for supporting a wafer during a plasma processing operation includes a pedestal configured to have bottom surface and a top surface and a column configured to support the pedestal at a central region of the bottom surface of the pedestal. An electrical insulating layer is disposed over the top surface of the pedestal. An electrically conductive layer is disposed over the top surface of the electrical insulating layer. At least three electrically conductive support structures are distributed on the electrically conductive layer. The at least three support structures are configured to interface with a bottom surface of a wafer to physically support the wafer and electrically connect to the wafer. An electrical connection extends from the electrically conductive layer to connect with a positive terminal of a direct current power supply at a location outside of the pedestal.

A radio-frequency generator, including a power amplifier module including a power amplifier, a pickup module connected to an output of the power amplifier to generate a pickup signal, and an output configured to be connected to the respective output of the amplifier and configured to output a radio-frequency output signal. The radio-frequency generator includes a measurement module configured to receive the pickup signal and to generate a measurement signal based on the one pickup signal; and a radio-frequency signal generation module configured to generate two or more carrier signals of different frequency, and to provide a drive signal as input to the power amplifier module, and a regulation module configured to receive the measurement signal, and to regulate the power of the radio-frequency output signal based on the measurement signal.

A substrate processing system includes a processing chamber, a substrate support including a plurality of heater zones arranged in the processing chamber, a gas delivery system configured to deliver process gases to the processing chamber, and a controller configured to communicate with the gas delivery system and the plurality of heater zones, initiate a first treatment step of a process during a transient temperature period after a substrate is arranged on the substrate support and prior to the substrate reaching a steady-state temperature of the substrate support, and adjust heating to each of the plurality of heater zones during the first treatment step based on average heat functions determined for corresponding ones of the plurality of heater zones during a period corresponding to the first treatment step.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a plasma generator capable of efficiently identifying the cause of an abnormal stoppage when an abnormal stoppage of the plasma generator occurs. When the controller determines that at least one detected value has become an abnormal value, the controller terminates plasma generation control. Further, in response to starting plasma generation control, the controller causes the storage section to store a history of detected values in association with time. As a result, it is possible to provide a history of detected values stored in the storage section to efficiently identify the cause of the abnormal stoppage.

A method and apparatus for detecting and correcting incoming substrate deformation is disclosed. Substrates are positioned in a first process chamber, where the presence and type of substrate bow is detected. Based upon the detection of substrate bow, and a determination of whether the substrate has a compressive bow or a tensile bow, a substrate processing program is selected for execution. The substrate processing program can be executed in the first process chamber or in a second process chamber to correct or alleviate the bow prior to or during further processing of the substrate.

A target value of magnetic flux density and magnetic flux density actually obtained are made to coincide precisely with each other. An electromagnet control device comprises a current value determining unit for determining, based on a magnetic flux density instruction value, a value of current that is made to flow through a coil. The current value determining unit is constructed to execute a second process for determining, based on a second function, a value of the current, if the magnetic flux density is to be decreased from that in a first magnetization state, and a fourth process for expanding or reducing the second function by use of a first scaling ratio for transforming it to a fourth function, and determining, based on the fourth function obtained after above transformation, a value of the current, if the magnetic flux density is to be decreased from that in a third magnetization state.

In accordance with an embodiment, a measurement system includes a sensor circuit configured to provide a voltage sense signal proportional to an electric field sensed by the RF sensor and a current sense signal proportional to a magnetic field sensed by the RF sensor; an analysis circuit comprising a frequency selective demodulator circuit configured to: demodulate the voltage sense signal into a first set of analog demodulated signals according to a set of demodulation frequencies, demodulate the current sense signal into a second set of analog demodulated signals according to the set of demodulation frequencies, and determine a phase shift between the voltage sense signal and the current sense signal for at least one frequency of the set of demodulation frequencies; and analog-to-digital converters configured to receive the first and second sets of analog demodulated signals.

In one embodiment, an RF impedance matching circuit includes at least one electronically variable capacitor (EVC) comprising discrete fixed capacitors. Each fixed capacitor has a corresponding switching circuit for switching in and out the fixed capacitor to alter a total capacitance of the EVC. Each switching circuit includes a diode operably coupled to the fixed capacitor to cause the switching in and out of the fixed capacitor, the diode being a PIN diode or an NIP diode. Each switching circuit further includes a driver circuit operably coupled to the diode, and a resonant filter positioned between the driver circuit and the diode. The resonant filter includes an inductor and a capacitor coupled in parallel.

Methods, systems, and apparatus for conducting chucking operations are disclosed that use an adjusted chucking voltage if a process shift occurs. In one implementation, a method includes conducting a first processing operation on a substrate in a processing chamber. The first processing operation includes applying a chucking voltage to an electrostatic chuck (ESC) in the processing chamber while the substrate is supported on the ESC. The method includes determining that a process shift has occurred. The determining that the process shift has occurred includes one or more of: determining that a center of the substrate has moved by a post-processing shift relative to a pre-processing location of the center prior to the first processing operation, or determining that a defect count of a backside surface of the substrate exceeds a defect threshold. The method includes determining an adjusted chucking voltage based on the occurrence of the process shift.

A system for use in processing a substrate is provided. One system includes a chamber having an interior region that is exposed to plasma when processing a substrate. The internal region includes surfaces of parts of the chamber. A controller is interfaced with the chamber and includes a detector to enable control of a scope. The scope is configured for insertion into the chamber to inspect the interior region of the chamber without breaking a vacuum of the chamber. The detector includes an optical processor for identifying a characteristic of material present on a surface being inspected via the scope. A tool model processor is configured to receive information regarding the identified characteristic of the material present on the surface and interface with a tool model for the chamber to identify an adjustment to a parameter of a process to be performed using the chamber. The adjustment is configured to compensate for an anticipated drift in the process based on the identified characteristic of the material present on the surface and data from the tool model.