Apparatus and methods for compensating plasma sheath non-uniformities at the substrate in a plasma processing system

摘要

Apparatus and methods to compensating for radial non-uniformities in the plasma sheath at a substrate held by an electrostatic chuck in a plasma processing system. The substrate is held by a substrate-supporting surface of the electrostatic chuck. The substrate-supporting surface is modified by providing a pattern of features characteristic of a compensating structure that corrects the radial non-uniformities in the plasma sheath and then covering the features conformally with a planarization coating of a dielectric material. The dielectric material fills and covers the pattern of features to provide multiple parallel capacitances defining the compensating structure. The pattern of features characterizing the compensating structure may be determined from a radial non-uniformity in a plasma-related parameter at the substrate-supporting surface.