Patent ID: 8689733

Claim:
A plasma processing apparatus comprising: a lower electrode arranged in a hermetic process chamber and having a support surface for placing a target object thereon, an upper electrode arranged in the hermetic process chamber and opposing the support surface of said lower electrode, an RF power supply coupled to the lower electrode, a first filter connected between said upper electrode and ground and having variable circuit characteristics, a sensor provided on an upper electrode side and which detects at least one of a voltage impressed upon said first filter based on plasma generated in the process chamber and a current flowed to said first filter based on plasma generated in the process chamber, and a controller operatively configured to control the circuit characteristics of said first filter on the basis of a detection result output from said sensor, such that when the reactance of the first filter is changed the impedance of a first path extending from the lower electrode to the ground through the upper electrode and the filter can be adjusted as per state of the plasma including changes in ion sheath reactance, wherein said controller is configured to select a first control mode of maximizing the plasma distributed in a region opposing the support surface of said lower electrode and a second control mode of maximizing the plasma reaching an inner wall surface of said process chamber, in a multilevel manner or arbitrarily, and the controller is operatively configured to control the reactance of said first filter according to a resonance frequency of the first path.