Patent ID: 8632637

Claim:
A design method for designing a configuration of a focus ring and a processing stage for placing an object to be processed applied to a plasma processing apparatus for plasma processing the object to be processed, the plasma processing apparatus including the processing stage, the focus ring, and a RF power supply for applying RF bias to the object to be processed and to the focus ring, with the focus ring being disposed on the processing stage and surrounding the object to be processed, the method comprising: acquiring a voltage on a surface of the object to be processed and a sheath thickness above a surface of the object to be processed, and a voltage on a surface of the focus ring and a sheath thickness above a surface of the focus ring, by an equivalent circuit analysis; performing a two dimensional plasma analysis and a two dimensional electric field analysis, based on a result of the equivalent circuit analysis; and designing the configuration of the focus ring and the processing stage, based on results of the two dimensional plasma analysis and the two dimensional electric field analysis, to achieve a plasma-sheath interface flattening condition making a first voltage drop of an RF voltage from the processing stage to a plasma-sheath interface above the object to be processed equal to a second voltage drop of an RF voltage from the processing stage to a plasma-sheath interface above the focus ring, by making a sum of a height from a height reference point to a surface of the object to be processed and a sheath thickness from the surface of the object to be processed to a plasma-sheath interface above the object to be processed, equal to a sum of a height from the height reference point to a surface of the focus ring and a sheath thickness from the surface of the focus ring to a plasma-sheath interface above the focus ring, wherein the first voltage drop is calculated on the basis of a voltage on a surface of the object to be processed and the plasma-sheath interface above the object to be processed, and wherein the second voltage drop is calculated on the basis of a voltage on a surface of the focus ring and the plasma-sheath interface above the focus ring.