| 摘要 |
In a high-frequency inductive plasma etching apparatus, a space between an antenna to which a high-frequency power is fed and a processing chamber is insulated with an insulating material having a suitable thickness, while the antenna is protected from a plasma or a reactive gas for plasma processing and the surface of a side in contact with the plasma is covered by an insulating material such as alumina and quartz. The insulating material and the antenna are placed in a vacuum. Since the processing chamber which contains the insulating material and the antenna can take a pressure differential with atmospheric pressure, all that is required of the insulating material is its capacity to take the plasma atmosphere. Consequently, the insulating material can be made thin and the plasma is generated uniformly in high density. Heat generated at the antenna is dissipated to the outside either by making a gap between the antenna and its surroundings as small as possible or by bringing the pressure of the gap closer to the pressure in the processing chamber. Alternatively, several Torr of a non-reactive heat-transfer promoting gas such as He gas may be introduced into fine gaps formed around the antenna to dissipate heat generated at the antenna.
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