Thin tin oxide films are used as spacers in semiconductor device manufacturing. In one implementation, thin tin oxide film is conformally deposited onto a semiconductor substrate having an exposed layer of a first material (e.g., silicon oxide or silicon nitride) and a plurality of protruding features comprising a second material (e.g., silicon or carbon). For example, 10-100 nm thick tin oxide layer can be deposited using atomic layer deposition. Next, tin oxide film is removed from horizontal surfaces, without being completely removed from the sidewalls of the protruding features. Next, the material of protruding features is etched away, leaving tin oxide spacers on the substrate. This is followed by etching the unprotected portions of the first material, without removal of the spacers. Next, underlying layer is etched, and spacers are removed. Tin-containing particles can be removed from processing chambers by converting them to volatile tin hydride.

A plasma source may include a plasma chamber, where the plasma chamber has a first side, defining a first plane and an extraction assembly, disposed adjacent to the side of the plasma chamber, where the extraction assembly includes at least two electrodes. A first electrode may be disposed immediately adjacent the side of the plasma chamber, wherein a second electrode defines a vertical displacement from the first electrode along a first direction, perpendicular to the first plane, wherein the first electrode comprises a first aperture, and the second electrode comprises a second aperture. The first aperture may define a lateral displacement from the second aperture along a second direction, parallel to the first plane, wherein the vertical displacement and the lateral displacement define a non-zero angle of inclination with respect to a perpendicular to the first plane.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a plasma processing chamber configured to contain a plasma comprising a plasma sheath, ions of a first species, and ions of a second species, a substrate disposed in the plasma processing chamber, and a short pulse generator coupled to the substrate, the short pulse generator configured to generate a pulse train of negative bias pulses. Each of the negative bias pulses has a pulse duration less than 10 μs. A pulse delay between successive negative bias pulses is at least five times the pulse duration. The first species has a first mass and the second species has a second mass less than the first mass. The pulse train spatially stratifies the ions of the first species and the ions of the second species in the plasma sheath.

According to one embodiment, an apparatus for manufacturing a template includes a vacuum chamber, an electrode and an adjustor. The vacuum chamber includes an inlet and an exhaust port of a reactive gas. The vacuum chamber is capable of maintaining an atmosphere depressurized below atmospheric pressure. The electrode is provided in an interior of the vacuum chamber. A high frequency voltage is applied to the electrode. A substrate is placed on the electrode. The substrate has a back surface on a side of the electrode. A recess is provided in the back surface. The adjustor is inserted into the recess. The adjustor is insulative.

A plasma reactor includes a chamber body having an interior space that provides a plasma chamber, a gas distribution port to deliver a processing gas to the plasma chamber, a workpiece support to hold a workpiece, an antenna array comprising a plurality of monopole antennas extending partially into the plasma chamber, and an AC power source to supply a first AC power to the plurality of monopole antennas.

A plasma processing apparatus for semiconductor processing includes an injector holder configured to removably mate with a structure defining an interior chamber of a plasma processing apparatus. The injector holder defines a first opening. A sleeve is configured to be received within the first opening, and the sleeve defines a second opening. A gas injector is configured to be received within the second opening of the sleeve.

Embodiments of the disclosure provided herein include an apparatus and method for the plasma processing of a substrate in a processing chamber. More specifically, embodiments of this disclosure describe a biasing scheme that is configured to provide a radio frequency (RF) generated RF waveform from an RF generator to one or more electrodes within a processing chamber and a pulsed-voltage (PV) waveform delivered from one or more pulsed-voltage (PV) generators to the one or more electrodes within the processing chamber. The plasma process(es) disclosed herein can be used to control the shape of an ion energy distribution function (IEDF) and the interaction of the plasma with a surface of a substrate during plasma processing.

A device for etching a substrate includes a first reaction chamber into which a first gas is introduced; a second reaction chamber into which a second gas is introduced; and a coil device that generates an electromagnetic alternating field. At least one first reactive species is generated by applying the electromagnetic alternating field to the first gas and at least one second reactive species is generated by applying the electromagnetic alternating field to the second gas. The device further includes a separating device that prevents a direct gas exchange between the first and second reaction chambers; an etching chamber configured to receive the substrate to be anisotropically etched; and a mixing device configured such that the reactive species enter the mixing device, are mixed together, and in the mixed state act on the substrate so as to anisotropically etch the substrate in the etching chamber.

Methods for evaluating synergy of modification and removal operations for a wide variety of materials to determine process conditions for self-limiting etching by atomic layer etching are provided herein. Methods include determining the surface binding energy of the material, selecting a modification gas for the material where process conditions for modifying a surface of the material generate energy less than the modification energy and greater than the desorption energy, selecting a removal gas where process conditions for removing the modified surface generate energy greater than the desorption energy to remove the modified surface but less than the surface binding energy of the material to prevent sputtering, and calculating synergy to maximize the process window for atomic layer etching.

Provided is a plasma processing method for selectively removing, after plasma etching using a mask having an amorphous carbon film containing boron, the amorphous carbon film using plasma from a silicon nitride film, a silicon oxide film or a tungsten film. The plasma processing method includes a removing step of removing the amorphous carbon film using plasma generated by mixed gas of O.sub.2 gas and CH.sub.3F gas, or CH.sub.2F.sub.2 gas.