The present technology includes improved gas distribution designs for forming uniform plasmas during semiconductor processing operations or for treating the interior of semiconductor processing chambers. While conventional gas distribution assemblies may receive a specific reactant or reactant ratio which is then distributed into the plasma region, the presently described technology allows for improved control of the reactant input distribution. The technology allows for separate flows of reactants to different regions of the plasma to offset any irregularities observed in process uniformity. A first precursor may be delivered to the center of the plasma above the center of the substrate/pedestal while a second precursor may be delivered to an outer portion of the plasma above an outer portion of the substrate/pedestal. In so doing, a substrate residing on the pedestal may experience a more uniform etch or deposition profile across the entire surface.

A film forming method of forming a carbon film includes: cleaning an interior of a processing container by using oxygen-containing plasma in a state in which no substrate is present inside the processing container; subsequently, extracting and removing oxygen inside the processing container by using plasma in the state in which no substrate is present inside the processing container; and subsequently, loading a substrate into the processing container and forming the carbon film on the substrate through plasma CVD using a processing gas including a carbon-containing gas, wherein the cleaning, the extracting and removing the oxygen, and the forming the carbon film are repeatedly performed.

A semiconductor processing tool performs passivation layer deposition and removal in situ. A transport mechanism included in the semiconductor processing tool transfers a semiconductor structure through different deposition chambers (e.g., without breaking or removing a vacuum environment). Accordingly, the semiconductor processing tool deposits a target layer that is thinner on, or even absent from, a metal layer, such that contact resistance is reduced between a conductive structure formed over the target layer and the metal layer. As a result, electrical performance of a device including the conductive structure is improved. Moreover, because the process is performed in situ (e.g., without breaking or removing the vacuum) in the semiconductor processing tool, production time and risk of impurities in the conductive structure are reduced. As a result, throughput is increased, and chances of spoiled wafers are decreased.

A multi-signal radio frequency (RF) source includes an RF source; and a switch including an input in communication with an output of the RF source, a first output and a second output. The switch is configured to selectively connect the input to one of the first output and the second output. An RF generator in communication with the first output of the multi-signal RF source is configured to generate plasma in a processing chamber. A remote plasma generator in communication with the second output of the multi-signal RF source is configured to supply remote plasma to the processing chamber.

An optical image capturing system comprising, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, a fifth lens element, a sixth lens element and a seventh lens element. The first lens element with negative refractive power has a concave image-side surface. The second lens element, the third lens element and the fourth lens element have refractive power. The fifth lens element has refractive power. The sixth lens element with refractive power has an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region and includes at least one convex shape in an off-axial region, wherein the surfaces thereof are aspheric. The seventh lens element refractive power has an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region and includes at least one convex shape in an off-axial region, wherein the surfaces thereof are aspheric.

A system and method for a waferless cleaning method for a capacitive coupled plasma system. The method includes forming a protective layer on a top surface of an electrostatic chuck, volatilizing etch byproducts deposited on one or more inner surfaces of the plasma process chamber, removing volatilized etch byproducts from the plasma process chamber and removing the protective layer from the top surface of the electrostatic chuck. A capacitive coupled plasma system including a waferless cleaning recipe is also described.

A processing chamber such as a plasma etch chamber can perform deposition and etch operations, where byproducts of the deposition and etch operations can build up in a vacuum pump system fluidly coupled to the processing chamber. A vacuum pump system may have multiple roughing pumps so that etch gases can be diverted a roughing pump and deposition precursors can be diverted to another roughing pump. A divert line may route unused deposition precursors through a separate roughing pump. Deposition byproducts can be prevented from forming by incorporating one or more gas ejectors or venturi pumps at an outlet of a primary pump in a vacuum pump system. Cleaning operations, such as waferless automated cleaning operations, using certain clean chemistries may remove deposition byproducts before or after etch operations.

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.

In some embodiments, a method for cleaning a processing chamber is provided. The method may be performed by introducing a processing gas into a processing chamber that has a by-product disposed along sidewalls of the processing chamber. A plasma is generated from the processing gas using a radio frequency signal. A lower electrode is connected to a first electric potential. Concurrently, a bias voltage having a second electric potential is applied to a sidewall electrode to induce ion bombardment of the by-product, in which the second electric potential has a larger magnitude than the first electric potential. The processing gas is evacuated from the processing chamber.

Forming a protective coating ex situ in an atomic layer deposition process to coat one or more chamber components subsequently installed in a reaction chamber provides a number of benefits over more conventional coating methods such as in situ deposition of an undercoat. In certain cases the protective coating may have a particular composition such as aluminum oxide, aluminum fluoride, aluminum nitride, yttrium oxide, and/or yttrium fluoride. The protective coating may help reduce contamination on wafers processed using the coated chamber component. Further, the protective coating may act to stabilize the processing conditions within the reaction chamber, thereby achieving very stable/uniform processing results over the course of processing many batches of wafers, and minimizing radical loss. Also described are a number of techniques that may be used to restore the protective coating after the coated chamber component is used to process semiconductor wafers.