Pre-loaded plasma reactor apparatus and application thereof

摘要

A pre-loaded plasma-based processing system comprises a pre-reaction plasma processing chamber, a power source disposed in operable communication with the pre-reaction plasma processing chamber, and a wafer plasma processing chamber disposed in fluid communication with the pre-reaction plasma processing chamber. The pre-reaction plasma processing chamber is configured to effect a plasma-based chemical reaction of reactant materials to produce a reactive radical. The wafer plasma processing chamber is configured to react the reactive radical with a species at a surface of a wafer disposed in the wafer plasma processing chamber. Other embodiments include a method of processing a wafer in a plasma environment and preloading of the reactive gas stream to prevent erosion of wafer masking or etch stop layers.