Electrostatic chuck, and method of and apparatus for processing sample using the chuck

摘要

An electrostatic chuck (10) has a pair of electrodes (11,12) having different polarities; and a dielectric film (14), formed on top surfaces of the pair of electrodes, on which a sample is electrostatically attracted and held when a DC voltage is applied between the pair of electrodes; wherein amounts of electric charges stored on attracting portions of the dielectric film corresponding to the pair of electrodes directly before cessation of the DC voltage applied between the pair of electrodes are substantially equal to each other. With this chuck, the electric charges stored on the attracting portions of the dielectric film after cessation of the DC voltage can be eliminated due to the balance between the electric charges having different polarities. The electrostatic chuck thus achieves a significantly reduced residual attracting force of the sample.