Provided is an apparatus and a method for coating objects and in particular containers with at least one first and one second coating station, wherein these coating stations each have at least one first coating electrode and one second coating electrode, and with a supply device for electrical supply of in each case at least one of the coating electrodes. The supply device has a high-frequency generator device for generating an a.c. voltage and/or voltage pulses as well as an a.c. voltage distribution device which distributes this a.c. voltage and/or the voltage pulses respectively to in each case at least one electrode of the first coating station and at least one electrode of the second coating station, wherein the a.c. voltage distribution device is suitable and intended for distributing the a.c. voltages and/or the voltage pulses with a time delay to the electrodes.

An apparatus for depositing film stacks in-situ (i.e., without a vacuum break or air exposure) are described. In one example, an apparatus configured to deposit a plurality of film layers having different compositions on a substrate without exposing the substrate to a vacuum break between film deposition phases, is provided. The apparatus includes a process chamber, a plasma source and a process station reactant feed fluidically coupled to a gas inlet of the process station, and fluidically coupled to an inert gas delivery line, a first reactant mixture gas delivery line and a second reactant mixture gas delivery line such that the first reactant gas mixture and the second reactant gas mixture can be introduced sequentially into the process station reactant feed, and supplied via a shared path to the process station.

An apparatus for depositing film stacks in-situ (i.e., without a vacuum break or air exposure) are described. In one example, a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition apparatus configured to deposit a plurality of film layers on a substrate without exposing the substrate to a vacuum break between film deposition phases, is provided. The apparatus includes a process chamber, a plasma source and a controller configured to control the plasma source to generate reactant radicals using a particular reactant gas mixture during the particular deposition phase, and sustain the plasma during a transition from the particular reactant gas mixture supplied during the particular deposition phase to a different reactant gas mixture supplied during a different deposition phase.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a chamber, a substrate support, a radio-frequency power supply, and a bias power supply controller. The radio-frequency power supply generates source radio-frequency power to generate plasma in the chamber. The bias power supply periodically provides bias energy having a waveform cycle to a bias electrode on the substrate support. The radio-frequency power supply adjusts a source frequency of the source radio-frequency power in an n-th phase period in an m-th waveform cycle of a plurality of waveform cycles based on a change in a degree of reflection of the source radio-frequency power. The change in the degree of reflection is identified with the source frequency being set differently in the n-th phase period in each of two or more waveform cycles preceding the m-th waveform cycle.

A substrate processing method for a substrate processing device includes (a) supplying a process gas with specific conditions to a processing container having therein a stage on which a workpiece having an etching target film and a mask on the etching target film is placed, (b) performing a plasma processing on the workpiece with first plasma generated from the process gas under a first plasma generation condition, (c) performing a plasma processing on the workpiece with second plasma generated from the process gas under a second plasma generation condition that is different from the first plasma generation condition in a radio-frequency power condition and a processing time, and is the same as the first plasma generation condition in other conditions, and (d) repeating (b) and (c).

Systems and methods for adjusting power and frequency based on three or more states are described. One of the methods includes receiving a pulsed signal having multiple states. The pulsed signal is received by multiple radio frequency (RF) generators. When the pulsed signal having a first state is received, an RF signal having a pre-set power level is generated by a first RF generator and an RF signal having a pre-set power level is generated by a second RF generator. Moreover, when the pulsed signal having a second state is received, RF signals having pre-set power levels are generated by the first and second RF generators. Furthermore, when the pulsed signal having a third state is received, RF signals having pre-set power levels are generated by the first and second RF generators.

Systems and methods for plasma processing are disclosed. An exemplary system may include a plasma processing chamber including a source to produce a plasma in the processing chamber and at least two bias electrodes arranged within the plasma processing chamber to control plasma sheaths proximate to the bias electrodes. A chuck is disposed to support a substrate, and a source generator is coupled to the plasma electrode. At least one bias supply is coupled to the at least two bias electrodes, and a controller is included to control the at least one bias supply to control the plasma sheaths proximate to the bias electrodes.

A semiconductor processing apparatus includes a chamber housing, an electrostatic chuck disposed in the chamber housing, the electrostatic chuck being configured to hold a semiconductor wafer, an edge ring surrounding the electrostatic chuck, the edge ring including a ring electrode disposed within the edge ring, and a ring voltage supply configured to supply a ring voltage to the ring electrode, the ring voltage having a non-sinusoidal periodic waveform, wherein each period of the non-sinusoidal periodic waveform comprises a positive voltage applied during a first time period and a negative voltage applied during a second time period, and wherein the negative voltage has a magnitude that increases during the second time period.

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 method of manufacturing a metal oxide film includes injecting a reaction gas and metal precursors into a chamber, forming a first metal precursor film on a substrate in a plasma OFF state, forming a first sub-metal oxide film by oxidizing the first metal precursor film in a plasma ON state, and forming a second metal precursor film on the first sub-metal oxide film in the plasma OFF state, where the metal oxide film has an amorphous phase, a thickness of about 20 nanometer (nm) to about 130 nm, and a dielectric constant of about 10 to about 50.