Patent ID: 8520360

Claim:
A method of dechucking a wafer held on an electrostatic chuck, incorporated in a lower electrode in a plasma processing chamber, by electrostatic charge, the method comprising: clamping a wafer on a support surface of an electrostatic chuck in the plasma processing chamber by applying an electrostatic clamping voltage to the electrostatic chuck; subjecting the wafer to plasma processing while supplying a heat transfer gas at a pressure above 5 Torr to an underside of the wafer; extinguishing the plasma in the chamber and supplying the heat transfer gas at a pressure of 1 to 10 Torr; shutting off the electrostatic clamping voltage; forming a dechucking plasma in a cavity in the electrostatic chuck and neutralizing charges on the underside of the wafer and support surface of the electrostatic chuck with the dechucking plasma.