Patent ID: 7199064
Filing Date: 2007-04-03
Classification: H01J,H01L

Abstract:
1. A plasma processing method for introducing impurities into a sample or a film of a surface of the sample, the plasma processing method comprising: placing the sample on a sample electrode within a vacuum chamber; while evacuating the vacuum chamber through a gas outlet of the vacuum chamber, supplying a gas into the vacuum chamber from a gas inlet of the vacuum chamber which is located with respect to the gas outlet such that a shortest flow passage connecting the gas inlet and the gas outlet to each other avoids an upward space within the vacuum chamber above the sample surface, by which a flow of the gas supplied into the vacuum chamber from the gas inlet of the vacuum chamber goes toward the gas outlet while avoiding the upward space above the sample surface; setting an gas exhaust flow rate from within the vacuum chamber through the gas outlet to zero or substantially zero while setting a flow rate of the gas supplied from the gas inlet to zero or substantially zero; and supplying a high-frequency power to a plasma source to generate a plasma in the vacuum chamber, thereby introducing the impurities into the sample or the film of the sample surface, wherein, while the evacuation is performed, the supplying of the gas into the vacuum chamber from the gas inlet comprises supplying the gas into the vacuum chamber from the gas inlet that is located at a site lower than the sample electrode.