According to one aspect of the present invention, a method of treating a substrate within a chamber includes performing a unit cycle at least one time, in which the unit cycle includes a substrate treatment step of supplying a reaction gas in which radicals constituting plasma of a first treatment gas are mixed with a second treatment gas onto the substrate, wherein the substrate includes a first thin film, and a second thin film having a lower reactivity to the reaction gas than the first thin film.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a system used in a semiconductor device manufacturing process. More specifically, embodiments provided herein generally include apparatus and methods for synchronizing and controlling the delivery of an RF bias voltage signal and a pulsed voltage waveform to one or more electrodes within a plasma processing chamber. Embodiments of the disclosure include a method and apparatus for synchronizing a pulsed radio frequency (RF) waveform to a pulsed voltage (PV) waveform, such that the pulsed RF waveform is on during a first stage of the PV waveform and off during a second stage. The first stage of the PV waveform includes a sheath collapse stage. The second stage of the PV waveform includes an ion current stage.

A semiconductor processing system includes: a semiconductor processing chamber including an electrostatic chuck disposed in a chamber housing, and a first power supplier for supplying first radio frequency (RF) power to an internal electrode disposed in the electrostatic chuck; a voltage measuring device for measuring a voltage corresponding to the first RF power to output a digital signal; and a control device for outputting an interlock control signal to the semiconductor processing chamber, when it is determined that the voltage increases to be within a predetermined reference range based on the digital signal. The electrostatic chuck is configured to enable a wafer to be seated on a surface of the electrostatic chuck.

A workpiece unit that includes a workpiece, a tape stuck to the workpiece; and an annular frame to which an outer circumferential edge of the tape is stuck and which has an opening defined centrally therein. The workpiece is disposed in the opening in the annular frame and supported on the annular frame by the tape, and at least one of the tape and the annular frame has an irreversible discoloring section that discolors in response to an external stimulus. Such a configuration makes it possible to determine whether or not a process involving an external stimulus has been carried out on the workpiece unit, based on the appearance of the workpiece unit (i.e., based on whether the irreversible discoloring section has been discolored or not).

A plasma processing apparatus includes a stage having a placing surface on which a workpiece is accommodated; a heater provided in the stage and configured to adjust a temperature of the placing surface of the stage; and a controller. The controller is configured to control a supply power to the heater; measure the supply power in a transient state where the supply power to the heater increases and in a second steady state where the supply power to the heater is stable in an extinguished state of plasma; calculate a heat input amount and a heat resistance by performing a fitting on a calculation model that calculates the supply power in the transient state using the heat input amount from the plasma and the heat resistance between the workpiece and the heater as parameters; and calculate a temperature of the workpiece in the first steady state.

Provided is a mounting stage on which a substrate to be subjected to a plasma process is mounted. The mounting stage includes: an electrostatic chuck configured to attract the substrate and an edge ring disposed around the substrate; and supply holes through which a heat medium is supplied to a space between the electrostatic chuck and the edge ring. A groove is provided in at least one of the edge ring and the mounting stage, and the groove is not in communication with the supply holes.

An apparatus and method for etching a material layer with a cyclic etching and deposition process. The method for etching a material layer on a substrate includes: (a) etching at least a portion of a material layer (302) on a substrate (101) in an etch chamber (100) to form an open feature (360) having a bottom surface (312) and sidewalls in the material layer (302); (b) forming a protection layer (314) on the sidewalls and the bottom surface (312) of the open feature (360) from a protection layer (314) gas mixture comprising at least one carbon-fluorine containing gas; (c) selectively removing the protection layer (314) formed on the bottom surface (312) of the open feature (360) from a bottom surface (312) open gas mixture comprising the carbon-fluorine containing gas; and (d) continuingly etching the material layer (302) from the bottom surface (312) of the open feature (360) until a desired depth of the open feature (360) is reached.

Embodiments provided herein generally include apparatus, e.g., plasma processing systems, and methods for the plasma processing of a substrate in a processing chamber. Some embodiments are directed to a radio-frequency (RF) generation system. The RF generation system generally includes an RF generator, and a vacuum interrupter configured to selectively decouple the RF generator from a bias electrode of a plasma chamber based on detection of a fault condition associated with operation of the plasma chamber.

A semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment includes: a chamber; a holder provided in the chamber and capable of adsorbing a substrate, the holder including a recess on a surface, a first hole provided in the recess, and a second hole provided in the recess; a first gas passage connected to the first hole; a second gas passage connected to the second hole; a first valve provided in the first gas passage; a second valve provided in the second gas passage; a first gas supply pipe for supplying a first gas to the recess; and a gas discharge pipe for discharging a gas from the recess. The first gas passage and the second gas passage are connected to the first gas supply pipe, or the first gas passage and the second gas passage are connected to the gas discharge pipe.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to methods for etching materials. In one or more embodiments, the method includes positioning a substrate in a process volume of a process chamber, where the substrate includes a metallic ruthenium layer disposed thereon, and exposing the metallic ruthenium layer to an oxygen plasma to produce a solid ruthenium oxide on the metallic ruthenium layer and a gaseous ruthenium oxide within the process volume. The method also includes exposing the solid ruthenium oxide to a secondary plasma to convert the solid ruthenium oxide to either metallic ruthenium or a ruthenium oxychloride compound. The metallic ruthenium is in a solid state on the metallic ruthenium layer or the ruthenium oxychloride compound is in a gaseous state within the process volume.