Patent ID: 8303765

Claim:
A plasma etching apparatus comprising: a chamber which can be depressurized, said chamber having an upper opening; a placement section provided in an interior of said chamber to hold an object to be treated; a first electrode placed so as to face said upper opening of said chamber and to which AC power is to be applied to transform a reactant gas within said chamber into a plasma by inductive coupling so that the object held at said placement section is subjected to etching; a dielectric member mounted to said chamber so as to seal said upper opening of said chamber, said dielectric member having a plurality of mutually independent recess portions of a first thickness and a large-thickness portion of a second thickness larger than the first thickness, said large-thickness portion being continuous except at said recess portions; and a second electrode placed between said first electrode and said dielectric member; wherein said recess portions of said dielectric member are located so as to align, in plan view, with portions of said first electrode; and wherein said second electrode has, formed therethrough in a thickness direction thereof, plural radio frequency transmission portions, said radio frequency transmission portions respectively extending so as to be substantially orthogonal to said portions of said first electrode, such that respective ones of said portions of said first electrode align, in plan view, with respective ones of said radio frequency transmission portions of said second electrode and with respective ones of said recess portions of said dielectric member.