Patent ID: 7442274

Claim:
A plasma etching apparatus comprising: a plasma generating unit that produces a plasma which etches a silicon portion of an object to be processed mounted on a susceptor, the plasma being obtained by converting a process gas including a fluorine-containing compound gas in an airtight process chamber, a light source which emits a light having peak intensity of light in a wavelength range of light absorption of a reaction product produced by a reaction between the fluorine-containing compound gas and the silicon portion during an etching process, and irradiates the light onto a surface of the object to be processed mounted on the susceptor; and a gas supply unit introducing the process gas into the process chamber, wherein the gas supply unit includes a plurality of light transmitting windows for transmitting the light from the light source into the process chamber, the light transmitting windows being formed in a surface of the gas supply unit facing the susceptor and in a surface of the gas supply unit facing the light source, and wherein the light is irradiated uniformly onto the whole surface of the object through the light transmitting windows.