Patent ID: 7342361
Filing Date: 2008-03-11
Classification: H01J

Abstract:
1. A plasma source comprising: a plasma excitation region; a grounded reference electrode positioned in a first side of the plasma excitation region; a plasma exciting reactive impedance element having a plurality of electrodes arranged side-by-side in a second side of the plasma excitation region; a high frequency generator coupled to the plurality of electrodes of the plasma exciting reactive impedance element and configured to apply out-of-phase signals to adjacent electrodes of the plurality of electrodes of the plasma exciting reactive impedance element to control wavelength effects of high operational frequencies; and a low frequency generator coupled to the plurality of electrodes of the plasma exciting reactive impedance element and having a differential operational mode and a common operational mode, wherein the high frequency generator and the low frequency generator are configured to independently control process parameters of plasma density and ion energy, respectively.