Patent ID: 7341959

Claim:
A method for depositing a film on a substrate using a plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) process, comprising: disposing said substrate in a process chamber configured to facilitate said PEALD process, wherein said process chamber comprises a substrate zone proximate said substrate and a peripheral zone proximate to a peripheral edge of said substrate; introducing a first process material within said process chamber; introducing a second process material within said process chamber; coupling electromagnetic power to said process chamber during introduction of said second process material in order to generate a plasma that facilitates a reduction reaction between said first and said second process materials at a surface of said substrate; coupling electromagnetic power to a process electrode to generate a substrate zone plasma in said substrate zone that ionizes contaminants substantially in a region of said substrate; and coupling electromagnetic power to a peripheral electrode to generate a peripheral zone plasma in said peripheral zone having a characteristic different from said substrate zone plasma such that ionized contaminants are transported from said substrate zone to said peripheral zone in said process chamber.