Patent ID: 8241514

Claim:
A plasma etching method comprising: disposing a first electrode and a second electrode to face each other in parallel with a gap therebetween in a vacuum evacuable processing chamber; preparing a part in the processing chamber; supporting a substrate to be processed by the second electrode to face the first electrode; vacuum-evacuating the processing chamber to a predetermined pressure; supplying an etching gas into a processing space between the first electrode and the second electrode; generating a plasma of the etching gas in the processing space by applying a radio wave power to the first electrode or the second electrode; and etching a film to be processed on a surface of the substrate by using the plasma, wherein a DC voltage is applied to the part during a predetermined etching process, the part being disposed away from the substrate and being etched by reaction with reactant species in the plasma, and wherein the DC voltage is varied on a time axis in accordance with a preset time-voltage function to thereby obtain desired etching characteristics with respect to the film, during the etching process, at least process parameters related to the etching gas are not varied.