Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080203925 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber encased in a vacuum vessel equipped with an evacuator; a sample stage located in the processing chamber and having an upper surface on which a sample as an object to be processed rests; a gas feeding unit for feeding processing gas into the processing chamber; a plurality of refrigerant ducts which are laid out in the internal of the sample stage and through which liquid refrigerant flows and can be evaporated; a cooling circuit including a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve and a set of pipelines to connect the compressor, the condenser and the expansion valve in this order; and a selecting unit for selectively feeding the refrigerant through the plural refrigerant ducts in the different steps of the processing. The sample is processed by using plasma while the temperature of the sample stage is being controlled by the cooling circuit. | 08-28-2008 |
20080289767 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - The present invention provides a temperature control unit for an electrostatic adsorption electrode that is capable of controlling the wafer temperature rapidly over a wide temperature range without affecting in-plane uniformity while high heat input etching is conducted with high wafer bias power applied. A refrigerant flow path provided in the electrostatic adsorption electrode serves as an evaporator. The refrigerant flow path is connected to a compressor, a condenser, and a first expansion valve to form a direct expansion type refrigeration cycle. A second expansion valve is installed between the electrostatic adsorption electrode and the compressor to adjust the flow rate of a refrigerant. This makes it possible to compress the refrigerant in the refrigerant flow path of the electrostatic adsorption electrode and adjust the wafer temperature to a high level by raising the refrigerant evaporation temperature. Further, a thin-walled cylindrical refrigerant flow path is employed so that the thin-walled cylinder is deformed only slightly by the refrigerant pressure. | 11-27-2008 |
20090277883 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD - The present invention provides means for controlling the temperature of a semiconductor wafer rapidly and uniformly in plane during etching processing by a large quantity of input heat by use of a refrigerating system by the heat of evaporation. A ring-shaped refrigerant passage is formed in a sample stand. Since the heat transfer rate and pressure loss of a refrigerant increase from a refrigerant supply port to a refrigerant ejection port as dryness degrees increase, these must be restricted. Therefore, constructionally, a supply refrigerant quantity is controlled to prevent the refrigerant from completely evaporating within the refrigerant passage, and the sectional areas of the refrigerant passage increase successively from a first passage to a third passage. | 11-12-2009 |
20100126666 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - In a plasma processing apparatus; a refrigerant flow passage being formed in the sample table and constituting an evaporator of a cooling cycle and the in-plane temperature of the sample to be processed is controlled uniformly by controlling the enthalpy of the refrigerant supplied to the refrigerant flow passage and thereby keeping the flow mode in the refrigerant flow passage, namely in the sample table, in the state of a gas-liquid two-phase. If by any chance dry out of the refrigerant occurs in the refrigerant flow passage because the heat input of plasma increases with time or by another reason, it is possible to increase speed of a compressor and inhibit the dry out from occurring in the refrigerant flow passage. Further, if the refrigerant supplied to the refrigerant flow passage is liquefied, it is kept in the gas-liquid two-phase state. | 05-27-2010 |
20100193130 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - In a plasma processing apparatus including a vacuum chamber, a sample table for mounting a member to be processed thereon, the sample table having a coolant path to control a temperature of the member to be processed, an electrostatic chuck power supply for electrostatically adsorbing the member to be processed on the sample table, and a plurality of gas hole parts provided in the sample table to supply heat transfer gas between the member to be processed and the sample table and thereby control a temperature of the member to be processed, each of the gas hole parts includes a boss formed of a dielectric, a sleeve, and a plurality of small tubes, and the small tubes are arranged in a range of 10 to 50% of a radius when measured from a center of the gas hole part toward outside. | 08-05-2010 |
20100326094 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND MAINTENANCE METHOD THEREFOR - In a plasma processing apparatus, a check valve is installed close to a refrigerant inlet of a compressor. When performing maintenance of a sample stage, refrigerant collected from a refrigerant flow path is temporarily stored in a flow path section extending from an expansion valve to the check valve, making it possible to perform the maintenance without changing the amount of refrigerant in the refrigerating cycle. With a refrigerant storage tank, a refrigerant supply valve, and a refrigerant discharge valve included in the refrigerating cycle, when maintenance of the compressor, a condenser, or the expansion valve is performed, the refrigerant collected from the refrigerating cycle can be put in use again. | 12-30-2010 |
20110132541 | VACUUM PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS WITH TEMPERATURE CONTROL FUNCTION FOR WAFER STAGE - A wafer stage includes a first evaporator where a refrigerant circulates. The first evaporator makes up a cooling cycle with a compressor, first condenser, expansion valve, second evaporator, refrigerant thermometer, and refrigerant flowmeter. The first condenser is supplied with a heat exchange medium. The temperature of a coolant supplied to the second evaporator is measured by an inlet refrigerant thermometer and outlet refrigerant thermometer, while the flow rate of the coolant is monitored and adjusted by a flow-rate adjuster. The temperature difference in the coolant between being at the inlet and at the outlet and flow rate can be measured. Upon complete evaporation of the refrigerant in the second evaporator, the dryness of the refrigerant discharged from the wafer stage is calculated from the amount of heat absorbed from (exchanged with) the coolant, the circulation amount of the refrigerant and the refrigerant temperature to control the rotational speed of the compressor. | 06-09-2011 |
20110207243 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND PLASMA PROCESSING METHOD - There is provided a means for uniformly controlling the in-plane temperature of a semiconductor wafer at high speed in a high heat input etching process. A refrigerant channel structure in a circular shape is formed in a sample stage. Due to a fact that a heat transfer coefficient of a refrigerant is largely changed from a refrigerant supply port to a refrigerant outlet port, the cross sections of the channel structure is structured so as to be increased from a first channel areas towards a second channel areas in order to make the heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant constant in the refrigerant channel structure. Thereby, the heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant is prevented from increasing by reducing the flow rate of the refrigerant at a dry degree area where the heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant is increased. Further, the cross section of the channel structure is structured so as to be reduced from the second channel areas towards a third channel areas, and thereby the heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant is prevented from decreasing. Accordingly, the heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant can be uniformed in the channel structure. | 08-25-2011 |
20120273132 | Vacuum Processing Apparatus And Plasma Processing Apparatus With Temperature Control Function For Wafer Stage - A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber, a wafer table, a refrigerant passage disposed inside the wafer table in which a refrigerant flows, a refrigeration cycle comprising the refrigerant passage in the wafer table as a first evaporator in which the refrigerant is evaporated as a result of a heat-exchange therein, a compressor, a condenser and an expansion valve, a second evaporator, and a controlling unit which adjusts a number of rotations of the compressor based upon a degree of dryness of the refrigerant at a position on the refrigeration cycle after passing through the first evaporation in a range in which dry-out does not occur in the first evaporator, and the dryness of the refrigerant being determined based upon an amount of a heat exchange during the evaporation of the refrigerant in the second evaporator. | 11-01-2012 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120132368 | PLASMA TREATMENT APPARATUS - To improve durability of an electric discharge part of a dielectric barrier discharge system, a plasma treatment apparatus is configured so that a plasma source of a corona discharge system is installed in the vicinity of a plasma source of the dielectric barrier discharge system, a plasma generated by corona discharge is used as an auxiliary plasma, and a discharge sustaining voltage of a main plasma generated by the dielectric barrier discharge is reduced. | 05-31-2012 |
20120186745 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS - Provided is a plasma processing apparatus in which accuracy or reliability of processing is improved. This plasma processing apparatus includes a sample stage in a processing chamber arranged in a vacuum vessel and in which plasma is generated. The sample stage has a cylindrical shape and operates as an evaporator through which a refrigerant of a refrigerating cycle flows. Further, the apparatus includes refrigerant passages which are concentrically arranged inside of the sample stage, one or more detectors which detect vibrations of the sample stage, and an control unit which controls a temperature of the refrigerant flowing into the sample stage based on detection results of a dryness of the refrigerant flowing through the passages obtained from an output of the detectors. | 07-26-2012 |
20120241284 | Plasma Sterilization and Cleaning Treatment Device for Escalator, and Escalator Using the Same - Sterilization and cleaning of an escalator hand rail are performed. A sterilization and cleaning device including a hand rail; a plasma source for irradiating the hand rails with ions or radicals or UV light; an enclosure for housing the plasma source; a power source for generating plasma; a fan for generating relatively negative pressure in the enclosure; filter units for removing removed bacteria, viruses, and organic matters such as hand marks; and filter plates located backward and forward of a moving direction of the hand rail in the enclosure along the hand rail is provided. | 09-27-2012 |
20120263628 | Plasma Sterilization Apparatus - In order to provide a plasma sterilization apparatus with high plasma generation efficiency, the apparatus includes first and second electrodes ( | 10-18-2012 |
20120325146 | Plasma Processing Apparatus - Disclosed is a plasma processing apparatus which performs plasma processing under substantially atmospheric pressure to a non-planar subject to be processed. In the plasma processing apparatus, a pair of conductive wires are disposed at an interval of 1 mm or less on a dielectric board that conforms with the shape of the subject, the conductive wires are covered with a dielectric thin film having a thickness of 1 mm or less by, for instance, thermally spraying a dielectric material over the conductive wires, and plasma is generated along the shape of subject by applying high-frequency power to the pair of conductive wires. | 12-27-2012 |
20130202479 | PLASMA STERILIZER, PLASMA STERILIZATION SYSTEM, AND PLASMA STERILIZATION METHOD - An apparatus which determines activeness/inactiveness of bacteria in real time by measuring a specific light emission spectrum upon performing sterilization using plasma to highly efficiently sterilize is provided. As solving means, plasma is irradiated on a processing target from a plasma source connected to an alternate-current power supply and light emission of the processing target caused by the irradiation of plasma is detected by a light emission intensity detector unit. Particularly, by detecting wavelength intensity of hydrogen or hydroxyl group, activeness/inactiveness of bacteria can be determined at an early stage. Thus, an appropriate output of a power supply for sterilization can be controlled. | 08-08-2013 |