Patent ID: 7176403

Claim:
A method for processing a plurality of substrates in a plasma processing chamber of a plasma processing system, each of said substrate being disposed on a chuck and surrounded by an edge ring during said processing, comprising: processing a first substrate of said plurality of substrates in accordance to a given process recipe in said plasma processing chamber; providing a coupling ring having at least a portion of said coupling ring disposed along a capacitive path between a plasma sheath in said plasma processing chamber and said chuck through said edge ring, said portion also being disposed between said edge ring and said chuck; thereafter adjusting a capacitance value of a capacitance along said capacitive path by a given value, the adjusting including moving said coupling ring along an axis that is substantially perpendicular to said surface of said edge ring to adjust a gap between adjacent surfaces defined by a surface of said edge ring and a surface of said coupling ring; and processing a second substrate of said plurality of substrates in accordance to said given process recipe in said plasma processing chamber after said adjusting, wherein said adjusting is performed without requiring a change in said edge ring.