Patent ID: 7713756
Filing Date: 2010-05-11
Classification: H01J,H01L

Abstract:
1. A plasma etching method for a plasma etching apparatus comprising: a processing chamber for performing plasma etching on an object to be processed; a plurality of gas supply sources for supplying processing gases to the processing chamber; a gas shunt for dividing the processing gas from the gas supply source; a first gas inlet for introducing a first processing gas flow divided by the gas shunt to the object to be processed via a center portion of a top of the processing chamber; a second gas inlet provided separately from the first gas inlet and placed on an outer side of the first gas inlet for introducing a second processing gas flow divided by the gas shunt to the object to be processed via an outer region of the top of the processing chamber; a third processing gas supply means for supplying a third processing gas to at least one of the divided gas pipes of the first processing gas flow and the second processing gas flow; a plurality of flow rate regulators for regulating flow rates of the processing gases; a first photoreception section disposed at a top of the processing chamber for receiving plasma emission light from a center portion of the processing chamber; a second photoreception section disposed at the outer side at the top of the processing chamber and provided separately from the first photoreception section, the second photoreception section receiving plasma emission light from the processing chamber at a different location from the first photoreception section; a spectroscopic section for discomposing the plasma emission light into a plurality of wavelength components, where the plasma emission light is received at the first and the second photoreception sections and is in the processing chamber; an analysis section for analyzing each concentrations of a plurality of radicals in the plasma based on the wavelength components discomposed in the spectroscopic section; and a control unit for supplying the third processing gas to at least one of the gas pipes of the first processing gas flow and the second processing gas flow based on an analysis result in the analysis section, and controlling the introduction of processing gases having different compositions from the first gas inlet and the second gas inlet in order to control distribution of depositional reaction products; the method comprising: a first photoreception step for receiving light from a center portion of the processing chamber; a second photoreception step for receiving light from the processing chamber at a different location from the first photoreception section receiving light from the center portion of the processing chamber; a spectroscopic step for discomposing the plasma emission light into a plurality of wavelength components; a step for performing analysis based on the data obtained in the spectroscopic step and generating a control instruction for controlling the flow rate of the flow rate regulator, for controlling a flow dividing ratio of the gas shunt, and for controlling the processing gas supply quantity of the third processing gas supply means; and a control step for generating a control signal based on the control instruction; wherein the third processing gas is supplied to at least one of the gas pipes of the first processing gas flow and the second processing gas flow, and processing gases having different compositions are introduced from the first gas inlet and the second gas inlet in order to control the distribution of depositional reaction products.