Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method

Abstract

A plasma processing apparatus includes: an evacuable processing chamber including a dielectric window; a substrate supporting unit, provided in the processing chamber, for mounting thereon a target substrate; a processing gas supply unit for supplying a desired processing gas to the processing chamber to perform a plasma process on the target substrate; a first RF antenna, provided on the dielectric window, for generating a plasma by an inductive coupling in the processing chamber; and a first RF power supply unit for supplying an RF power to the first RF antenna. The first RF antenna includes a primary coil provided on or above the dielectric window and electrically connected to the first RF power supply unit; and a secondary coil provided such that the coils are coupled with each other by an electromagnetic induction therebetween while being arranged closer to a bottom surface of the dielectric window than the primary coil.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus comprising:
 a chamber configured to perform a plasma process on a substrate;   a process gas supply unit configured to supply a process gas into the chamber; and   an RF antenna configured to generate an inductively coupled plasma from the process gas supplied into the chamber;   wherein the RF antenna comprises:   a primary coil connected to an RF power supply unit,   a secondary coil arranged without connecting to the primary coil as well as the RF power supply unit, the secondary coil including an endless coil and a variable capacitor provided in a loop of the endless coil.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the secondary coil is arranged between the chamber and the primary coil. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the secondary coil is arranged to be concentric with the primary coil. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the chamber includes a dielectric window, and wherein the primary coil and the secondary coil are horizontally arranged above the dielectric window. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the secondary coil is coupled with the primary coil by an electromagnetic induction therebetween. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein the secondary coil is electrically floated from the primary coil. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a control unit configured to control an azimuthal plasma density distribution of the inductively coupled plasma by adjusting a capacitance of the variable capacitor. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the plasma process includes multiple process steps, and wherein the control unit is configured to set the capacitance of the variable capacitor with respect to each process step.