A processing system is disclosed, having a power transmission element with an interior cavity that propagates electromagnetic energy proximate to a continuous slit in the interior cavity. The continuous slit forms an opening between the interior cavity and a substrate processing chamber. The electromagnetic energy may generate an alternating charge in the continuous slit that enables the generation of an electric field that may propagate into the processing chamber. The electric field may interact with process gas in the processing chamber to generate plasma for treating the substrate. The interior cavity may be isolated from the process chamber by a dielectric component that covers the continuous slit. The power transmission element may be used to control plasma density within the process chamber, either by itself or in combination with other plasma sources.

Disclosed is a plasma processing apparatus including: a processing container into which an electromagnetic wave for plasma excitation is supplied; a placing table provided inside the processing container and configured to place a workpiece thereon; a first coupling member inserted into each of a plurality of insertion portions formed in a part of a dielectric member that transmits the electromagnetic wave, among a plurality of members that constitute the placing table, and configured to couple the dielectric member and a member to be coupled; and a dielectric cap fitted to each of the plurality of insertion portions so as to cover the first coupling member and having a dielectric constant substantially equal to the dielectric constant of the dielectric member.

A local dry etching apparatus includes a vacuum chamber, a nozzle opened in the vacuum chamber, a discharge tube connected to the nozzle, a workpiece table disposed in the vacuum chamber for mounting a workpiece thereon, a table driving device, a table driving control device, an electromagnetic wave oscillator, a gas supply device for supplying a raw material gas to the discharge tube, a plasma generation portion formed in the discharge tube, and an electromagnetic wave transmission unit for irradiation of electromagnetic waves oscillated in the electromagnetic wave oscillator to the plasma generation portion, in which the nozzle and the discharge tube are composed of separate parts and a temperature adjusting unit is provided for adjusting the temperature of at least one of the nozzle and the discharge tube.

The disclosure relates to microwave cavity plasma reactor (MCPR) apparatus and associated optical measurement system that enable microwave plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition (MPACVD) of a component such as diamond while measuring the local surface properties of the component while being grown. Related methods include deposition of the component, measurement of the local surface properties, and/or alteration of operating conditions during deposition in response to the local surface properties. As described in more detail below, the MPCR apparatus includes one or more electrically conductive, optically transparent regions forming part of the external boundary of its microwave chamber, thus permitting external optical interrogation of internal reactor conditions during deposition while providing a desired electrical microwave chamber to maintain selected microwave excitation modes therein.

A processing reactor includes a microwave energy source and a field-enhancing waveguide. The field-enhancing waveguide has a field-enhancing zone between a first cross-sectional area and a second cross-sectional area of the waveguide, and also has a plasma zone and a reaction zone. The second cross-sectional area is smaller than the first cross-sectional area, is farther away from the microwave energy source than the first cross-sectional area, and extends along a reaction length of the field-enhancing waveguide. The supply gas inlet is upstream of the reaction zone. In the reaction zone, a majority of the supply gas flow is parallel to the direction of the microwave energy propagation. A supply gas is used to generate a plasma in the plasma zone to convert a process input material into separated components in the reaction zone at a pressure of at least 0.1 atmosphere.

A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes a first supply part configured to supply a gas including one or more group III elements on a substrate accommodated in a reaction chamber, a second supply part configured to supply a gas including one or more group V elements on the substrate, and a waveguide configured to irradiate a microwave to the gas including the one or more group V elements.

Microwave plasma slowing system for a plasma shutter comprises a waveguide-band transmission for interconnection of the system with a generator, and for letting waves from the generator into the plasma shutter, a bridge band interconnected with the waveguide-band transmission, two parallel band waistlines, interconnected by its one end with the bridge band, where the band waistlines are flat plates, where one of its sides is provided with tenons arranged side by side along the axis of the band waistlines with orientation in a such way, that the tenons arranged on the one side of the first band waistline placed in turns between the tenons arranged on the one side of the second band waistline, where the band waistlines are provided at the other end by mutually separated lockable electromagnetic oscillators.

A rotating microwave is established for any resonant mode TE.sub.mnl or TM.sub.mnl of a cavity, where the user is free to choose the values of the mode indices m, n and l. The fast rotation, the rotation frequency of which is equal to an operational microwave frequency, is accomplished by setting the temporal phase difference ΔØ and the azimuthal angle Δθ between two microwave input ports P and Q as functions of m, n and l. The slow rotation of frequency Ω.sub.a (typically 1-1000 Hz), is established by transforming dual field inputs α cos Ω.sub.at and ±α sin Ω.sub.at in the orthogonal input system into an oblique system defined by the angle Δθ between two microwave ports P and Q.

Plasma is generated in a semiconductor process chamber by a plurality of microwave inputs with slow or fast rotation. Radial uniformity of the plasma is controlled by regulating the power ratio of a center-high mode and an edge-high mode of the plurality of microwave inputs into a microwave cavity. The radial uniformity of the generated plasma in a plasma chamber is attained by adjusting the power ratio for the two modes without inputting time-splitting parameters for each mode.

Methods and apparatus provide plasma generation for semiconductor process chambers. In some embodiments, the plasma is generated by a system that may comprise a process chamber having at least two upper microwave cavities separated from a lower microwave cavity by a metallic plate with a plurality of radiation slots, at least one microwave input port connected to a first one of the at least two upper microwave cavities, at least two microwave input ports connected to a second one of the at least two upper microwave cavities, and the lower microwave cavity receives radiation through the plurality of radiation slots in the metallic plate from both of the at least two upper microwave cavities, the lower microwave cavity is configured to form an electric field that provides uniform plasma distribution in a process volume of the process chamber.