Plasma processor including: reaction chamber having a base for placing a wafer; a source radio-frequency power supply outputting high frequency radio-frequency power into the reaction chamber to ignite and maintain plasma; a first bias radio-frequency power supply and a second bias radio-frequency power supply, the first bias radio-frequency power supply outputting a first radio-frequency signal with first frequency, the second bias radio-frequency power supply outputting a second radio-frequency signal with second frequency higher than the first frequency, the first radio-frequency signal and the second radio-frequency signal being superimposed to form a periodical first compound signal that is applied to the base; and a controller configured for tuning at least one of amplitude, frequency, average voltage or phase of the first radio-frequency signal and of the second radio-frequency signal, such that the first compound signal experiences three consecutive stages in each cycle: falling stage, flat stage, and rising stage.

Some embodiments may include a nanosecond pulser comprising a plurality of solid state switches; a transformer having a stray inductance, L.sub.s, a stray capacitance, C.sub.s, and a turn ratio n; and a resistor with a resistance, R, in series between the transformer and the switches. In some embodiments, the resonant circuit produces a Q factor according to $Q=\frac{1}{R}\sqrt{\frac{L_s}{C_s}};$
and the nanosecond pulser produces an output voltage V.sub.out from an input voltage V.sub.in, according to V.sub.out=QnV.sub.in.

A matching unit controller working in combination with a matching unit for a plasma processing machine is described. In one example, the controller has a master controller application and acts as a local master in the matching unit. In one example, the controller gathers data from the input and output sensors and feeds the data to an intelligent algorithm. In one example, the output from the algorithm is used to set the matching unit capacitor positions. In one example, the controller also has a slave controller application to communicate with a master controller of the plasma processing machine.

A plasma processing method for plasma-processing a substrate with a plasma processing apparatus having a substrate support and an upper electrode inside a chamber, the method comprising: placing the substrate on the substrate support; supplying a processing gas for processing the substrate to the chamber; supplying a radio frequency to the upper electrode or the substrate support to generate plasma from the processing gas inside the chamber; periodically applying a first pulse voltage to the substrate support in a first cycle during a period in which the radio frequency is being supplied; and periodically applying a second pulse voltage to the upper electrode in a second cycle during the period in which the radio frequency is being supplied.

A power supply control system includes a power generator for providing a signal to a load. The power generator includes a power controller controlling a power amplifier. The power generator includes an adaptive controller for varying the output signal controlling the power amplifier. The adaptive controller compares an error between a measured output and a predicted output to determine adaptive values applied to the power controller. The power generator also includes a sensor that generates an output signal that is digitized and processed. The sensor signal is mixed with a constant K. The constant K is varied to vary the processing of the sensor output signal. The value K may be commutated based on the phase, frequency, or both phase and frequency, and the bandwidth of K is determined by coupled power in the sensor output signal.

Some embodiments include a pulsing power supply comprising a power supply and a transformer comprising: a transformer core; a primary winding wrapped around a portion of the transformer core, the primary winding having a first lead and a second lead; and a secondary winding wrapped around a portion of the transformer core. The pulsing power supply may also include a first switch electrically connected with the first lead of the primary winding and the power supply; and a second switch electrically connected with the second lead of the primary winding and the power supply, wherein the first switch and the second switch are opened and closed at different time intervals. The pulsing power supply may also include a pulsing output electrically coupled with the secondary winding of the transformer that outputs pulses having a voltage greater than about 2 kV and with pulse frequencies greater than 1 kHz.

Embodiments provided herein include an apparatus and methods for the plasma processing of a substrate in a processing chamber. In some embodiments, aspects of the apparatus and methods are directed to reducing defectivity in features formed on the surface of the substrate, improving plasma etch rate, and increasing selectivity of etching material to mask and/or etching material to stop layer. In some embodiments, the apparatus and methods enable processes that can be used to prevent or reduce the effect of trapped charges, disposed within features formed on a substrate, on the etch rate and defect formation. In some embodiments, the plasma processing methods include the synchronization of the delivery of pulsed-voltage (PV) waveforms, and alternately the delivery of a PV waveform and a radio frequency (RF) waveform, so as to allow for the independent control of generation of electrons that are provided, during one or more stages of a PV waveform cycle, to neutralize the trapped charges formed in the features formed on the substrate.

Embodiments provided herein generally include apparatus, e.g., plasma processing systems and methods for the plasma processing of a substrate in a processing chamber. In some embodiments, aspects of the apparatus and methods are directed to improving process uniformity across the surface of the substrate, reducing defectivity on the surface of the substrate, or both. In some embodiments, the apparatus and methods provide for improved control over the uniformity of a plasma formed over the edge of a substrate and/or the distribution of ion energies at the surface of the substrate. The improved control over the plasma uniformity may be used in combination with substrate handling methods, e.g., de-chucking methods, to reduce particulate-related defectivity on the surface of the substrate. In some embodiments, the improved control over the plasma uniformity is used to preferentially clean accumulated processing byproducts from portions of the edge ring during an in-situ plasma chamber cleaning process.

Embodiments of the invention include a plasma system. The plasma system includes a plasma chamber; an RF driver configured to drive bursts into the plasma chamber with an RF frequency; a nanosecond pulser configured to drive pulses into the plasma chamber with a pulse repetition frequency, the pulse repetition frequency being less than the RF frequency; a high pass filter disposed between the RF driver and the plasma chamber; and a low pass filter disposed between the nanosecond pulser and the plasma chamber.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a plasma processing chamber, a source power coupling element configured to generate plasma in an interior of the plasma processing chamber by coupling source power to the plasma processing chamber, a DC pulse generator configured to generate a DC pulse train at a DC pulse frequency, a substrate holder disposed in the interior of the plasma processing chamber, a DC coupling element coupled to the DC pulse generator, a DC current path including the DC coupling element, the plasma, and a reference potential node in a series configuration, the DC coupling element being configured to bias the substrate holder relative to the reference potential node using the DC pulse train, and a capacitive pre-coat layer disposed between the DC coupling element and the plasma. The capacitive pre-coat layer increases the RC time constant of the DC current path according to the DC pulse frequency.