Patent ID: 7520245

Claim:
A plasma processing apparatus for applying a process to a substrate to be processed, the plasma processing apparatus comprising: a chamber of which interior can be depressurized; a gas supply system constructed and arranged to supply a first gas to the chamber; an exhaust gas system configured and arranged to exhaust the first gas supplied to the chamber and to depressurize the chamber; a part of a wall constituting the chamber being a flat plate dielectric material plate formed of a material which passes a microwave therethrough substantially without a loss; a flat plate dielectric material shower plate provided between the dielectric material plate and plasma excited in the chamber, said dielectric material shower plate being formed of a material which passes a microwave therethrough substantially without a loss; a plurality of gas discharge holes being formed in the dielectric material shower plate so that at least a part of the first gas supplied by the gas supply system is discharged through the plurality of gas discharge holes through a gap between the dielectric material plate and the dielectric material shower plate; a flat plate slot antenna provided on an outer side of the chamber with the dielectric material plate interposed therebetween so as to supply a microwave for exciting plasma through the dielectric material plate; a stage provided on an inner side of the chamber so as to hold the substrate to be processed; and a substantially flat shower head provided between the dielectric material shower plate and the substrate to be processed so as to discharge a second gas to a side of the substrate to be processed in which the second gas has a different composition than a composition of the first gas, said shower head having a plurality of openings which cause the first gas discharged from the dielectric material shower plate to pass therethrough and flow to the side of the substrate, wherein said dielectric material shower plate and said shower head are arranged substantially parallel to each other with a distance therebetween that is substantially equal to a multiple of a quarter of a wavelength of said microwave in a vacuum.