Methods and apparatus for performing high energy atomic layer etching are provided herein. Methods include providing a substrate having a material to be etched, exposing a surface of the material to a modification gas to modify the surface and form a modified surface, and exposing the modified surface to an energetic particle to preferentially remove the modified surface relative to an underlying unmodified surface where the energetic particle has an ion energy sufficient to overcome an average surface binding energy of the underlying unmodified surface. The energy of the energetic particle used is very high; in some cases, the power applied to a bias used when exposing the modified surface to the energetic particle is at least 150 eV.

A plasma etching apparatus includes a second electrode configured to support a target substrate thereon, a second RF power supply unit configured to apply a second RF power for providing a bias for ion attraction to the second electrode, and a control system including and an RF controller. The RF controller is configured to switch the second RF power supply unit between a continuous mode that executes continuous supply of the second RF power at a constant power level and a power modulation mode that executes modulation of the second RF power between a first power and a second power larger than the first power. The RF controller is preset to control the second RF power supply unit such that the second RF power supply unit is first operated in the continuous mode for plasma ignition and then is switched into the power modulation mode.

Plasma processing systems and methods are disclosed. The system may include at least one modulating supply that modulates plasma properties where the modulation of the plasma properties has a repetition period, T. A synchronization module configured to send a synchronization signal with a synchronization-signal-repetition-period that is an integer multiple of T to at least one piece of equipment connected to the plasma processing system. A waveform-communication module communicates characteristics of a characterized waveform to at least one piece of equipment connected to the plasma system to enable synchronization of pieces of equipment connected to the plasma processing system. The characterized waveform may contain information about the modulation of the plasma or information about a desired waveform of a piece of equipment connected to the plasma processing system.

Plasma processing systems and methods are disclosed. The method may include modulating plasma properties with a modulating supply where the modulation of the plasma properties has a repetition period, T. A waveform with the repetition period T is characterized to produce a waveform dataset, which includes at least one of information about the modulation of the plasma or a desired waveform of a piece of equipment connected to the plasma processing system. The waveform dataset is sent to at least one piece of equipment connected to the plasma system and a synchronization signal is sent with a synchronization signal repetition period that is an integer multiple of T to the at least one piece of equipment connected to the plasma system.

Plasma processing systems and methods are disclosed. The method includes generating and sustaining a plasma in a plasma chamber and producing a surface potential on a surface of a workpiece in the plasma chamber by applying, with a bias supply, an output waveform to a bias electrode within the plasma chamber where the output waveform has a repetition period, T. A waveform dataset is produced to represent the output waveform of the bias supply during the repetition period, T, and the waveform dataset is sent to one or more other pieces of equipment connected to the plasma chamber. A synchronization pulse with a synchronization-pulse-repetition-period is sent to the one or more other pieces of equipment connected to the plasma chamber to enable synchronization among the one or more other pieces of equipment.

Methods of processing a semiconductor device structure comprise cooling an electrostatic chuck (ESC) for the semiconductor device structure, which comprises tiers of alternating materials including at least one dielectric material, to a temperature of 30 C. or less, forming an opening in the semiconductor device structure with a plasma of a gas comprising a hydrogen-based gas and a fluorine-based gas in which the hydrogen-based gas comprises between about 10 vol % and 90 vol %. Other methods of processing a semiconductor device structure comprise cooling an ESC for the semiconductor device structure to a temperature of 30 C. or less, applying a low frequency radio frequency (RF) having a non-sinusoidal waveform to the ESC, and forming an opening in the semiconductor device structure with a generated plasma. A processing system includes an ESC, a coolant system, and a low frequency RF power source generating a non-sinusoidal waveform comprising a combination of multiple sinusoidal waveforms.

Disclosed are a gas showerhead, a method of manufacturing the same, and a plasma apparatus provided with the gas showerhead. The gas showerhead comprises a back plate and a gas distribution plate, the gas distribution plate including a plurality of annular gas distribution regions with the center of the gas distribution plate as their center; on each annular gas distribution region are provided a plurality of gas through-holes penetrating through the gas inlet face and the gas outlet face, the gas through-holes at least including a plurality of first gas through-holes inclined at a certain angle, and the gas through-holes further include a plurality of second gas through-holes, the second gas through-holes being parallel to the central axis or having a radial inclination direction different from the first gas through-holes; and in the same annular gas distribution region, gas flowing out of the first gas through-holes and gas flowing out of the second gas through-holes are kept away from each other

A plasma processing device includes a processing chamber for generating a plasma, a vacuum window that constitutes a part of a wall of the processing chamber, induction antennas including at least two systems for generating plasma in the processing chamber, radio frequency power sources for applying the current independently to the respective induction antennas, and a controller including phase circuits for controlling the phase of the current of the radio frequency power sources of the respective systems or the current value over time, and a control unit. The controller sequentially time modulates the phase difference between currents flowing to the systems or the current value within a sample processing period to move the plasma generation position so as to make the ion incident angle to the wafer uniform in the wafer plane.

A deposition method performed by a deposition apparatus is provided. The deposition apparatus includes an antenna that forms an inductive magnetic field in a plasma processing region; and a rotary table that revolves a substrate around a rotational center of the rotary table. The method includes: supplying an ignition gas containing a noble gas and an additive gas to the plasma processing region; setting electric power supplied to the antenna to a first predetermined value to form a plasma of the ignition gas; increasing the electric power to a second predetermined value; stopping the supply of the additive gas; switching a gas supplied to the plasma processing region from the ignition gas to a gas for forming the film; and lifting an end of the antenna on a side closer to the rotational center while maintaining a height of another end of the antenna.

Embodiments described herein relate to apparatus and methods for performing electron beam etching process. In one embodiment, a method of etching a substrate includes delivering a process gas to a process volume of a process chamber, applying a RF power to an electrode formed from a high secondary electron emission coefficient material disposed in the process volume, generating a plasma comprising ions in the process volume, bombarding the electrode with the ions to cause the electrode to emit electrons and form an electron beam, applying a negative DC power to the electrode, accelerating electrons emitted from the bombarded electrode toward a substrate disposed in the process chamber, and etching the substrate with the accelerated ions.