Patent ID: 7951261

Claim:
A plasma etching apparatus, comprising: a chamber; a substrate support disposed in the chamber so that a substrate can be placed thereon; a first electrode located over an upper surface of the substrate and a second electrode located under a lower surface of the substrate, each electrode adjacent to an edge region of the substrate, the first electrode and the upper surface of the substrate defining a first gap therebetween and the second electrode and the lower surface of the substrate defining a second gap therebetween, the first gap and the second gap each being smaller than a third gap between an upper wall of the chamber and the substrate; a conductive frame which connects the first electrode with the second electrode, the conductive frame surrounding a side portion of the substrate, wherein a fourth gap is defined between the conductive frame and the substrate, the fourth gap corresponding to the first or second gap; and a power supply means for supplying power to the substrate support such that the power supplied to the substrate support can be provided to the substrate, wherein at least a portion of the first electrode, a portion of the second electrode, and a portion of the conductive frame overlap with the edge region of the substrate to enable generation of plasma in the first gap, the second gap and the fourth gap; wherein at least one of the first and second electrodes is connected to a conductive frame and the conductive frame is moved up and down.