SPTS Technologies Limited

A Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) apparatus having a PVD chamber, a target, a substrate support in the PVD chamber comprising an upper rotatable portion having an upper surface on which a substrate can be supported and a lower stationary portion, an RF source configured to supply an RF signal having an RF power to the lower stationary portion, and an arrangement for rotating the upper rotatable portion during a PVD process performed in the PVD chamber. The upper rotatable portion and the lower stationary portion are spaced apart so that the RF power supplied to the lower stationary portion is capacitively coupled to the upper rotatable portion.

Plasma etching a substrate including at least one GaN or GaN alloy layer to form a feature. The plasma etching including providing a substrate with a mask formed thereon, and performing a plasma etch step using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etch apparatus to anisotropically etch the at least one GaN or GaN alloy layer through the opening to produce a feature having one or more side walls and a bottom surface, the ICP etch apparatus having an ICP coil and an RF supply which supplies an RF electrical signal to the ICP coil.

Plasma etching a substrate including at least one GaN or GaN alloy layer to form a feature. The plasma etching providing a substrate with a mask formed thereon, performing a first plasma etch step to anisotropically etch the at least one GaN or GaN alloy layer through the opening to produce a partially formed feature having one or more side walls and a bottom surface having a peripheral region, and performing a second plasma etch step to anisotropically etch the bottom surface of the partially formed feature through the opening while depositing a passivation material onto the walls.

Surface roughness on a non-planar surface of a silicon substrate with upstanding and/or recessed features can be reduced. A first sequence of plasma processing steps and a second sequence of plasma processing steps can be performed on the silicon substrate to reduce the surface roughness of the upstanding and/or recessed features while retaining these features. The first sequence of plasma processing steps includes i) a plasma deposition step using oxygen and at least one fluorocarbon gas followed by ii) a plasma etch step using oxygen, at least one fluorocarbon etchant gas, and SF 6 . The second sequence of plasma processing steps includes i) an isotropic plasma etch step using oxygen and at least one fluorine containing etchant gas followed by ii) a plasma etch step using at least one fluorine containing or chlorine containing etchant gas.

A method of plasma etching an indium-containing compound semiconductor substrate and plasma etch apparatus for plasma etching an indium-containing semiconductor substrate can use a primary plasma etching process and a secondary plasma etching process. The primary plasma etching process uses a halogen-containing component and a nitrogen-containing component. The secondary plasma etching process uses an oxygen-containing component.

A plasma etching apparatus for etching a semiconductor substrate comprises: a plasma chamber; a plasma generation device for sustaining a plasma within the plasma chamber; a substrate support disposed within the plasma chamber for supporting the semiconductor substrate, the substrate support comprising an electrically conductive structure; a power supply for providing an RF electrical signal having an RF power to the electrically conductive structure; and an annular dielectric ring structure comprising a backside surface, the backside surface comprising an electrically conductive coating; wherein the electrically conductive structure is spaced apart from and extends under the electrically conductive coating so that when RF power is provided to the electrically conductive structure the RF power couples to the electrically conductive coating. Associated methods are also disclosed.

A method of treating a semiconductor substrate by placing the semiconductor substrate on a substrate support in an etch chamber and performing a treatment step by generating a plasma in a gaseous atmosphere including Ar, O 2 and at least one per-fluorocarbon while applying an RF signal having an RF power to the substrate support. The semiconductor substrate has an etched feature including a sidewall with a scalloped profile. The plasma causes a protective layer formed at least partially from the per-fluorocarbon to be deposited on the sidewall and etches the sidewall so as to smooth the scalloped profile of the sidewall.

Plasma etching a compound semiconductor substrate includes providing a substrate that includes a compound semiconductor material on a substrate support within a chamber. An etchant gas or gas mixture is introduced into the chamber. A plasma of the etchant gas or gas mixture is sustained within the chamber to plasma etch the compound semiconductor material. A pulsed electrical bias power is applied to the substrate support whilst the plasma is being sustained. The pulsed electrical bias power has a pulse frequency of less than or equal to about 160 Hz and a duty cycle of less than or equal to about 50%.

A metallic feature on a substrate is subjected to a plasma dicing process and is cleaned. The workpiece has a carrier sheet attached to a frame member. The carrier sheet carries the substrate. The workpiece is provided on a workpiece support disposed within a chamber of an inductively coupled plasma apparatus. A sputter etch step is performed, including introducing a sputter gas or gas mixture into the chamber and sustaining an inductively coupled plasma of the sputter gas or gas mixture so as to sputter etch the substrate. A chemical etch step also is performed, including introducing O 2 gas and/or O 3 gas) into the chamber and sustaining an inductively coupled plasma of the O 2 and/or O 3 gas) so as to chemically etch the substrate. The sputter etch step and chemical etch step can be repeated.

A method of cleaning a chamber of a plasma processing device to remove depositions formed after the plasma processing device has been used to deposit a dielectric material including silicon and carbon by introducing a first cleaning gas mixture into the chamber through a first gas inlet in a first introducing step; generating a first plasma in the chamber from the first cleaning gas mixture in a first cleaning step; introducing a second cleaning gas mixture into a remote plasma source in a second introducing step; generating a second plasma in the remote plasma source from a second cleaning gas mixture in a remote plasma generating step; and performing a second cleaning step by allowing fluorine radicals from the second plasma to enter the chamber and introducing a third cleaning gas mixture into the chamber at the same time as the fluorine radicals from the second plasma.