| abstract |
(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] In an electromagnetically coupled RF plasma reactor, A method and apparatus for reducing the height between a workpiece and a ceiling plate without sacrificing processing uniformity. The present invention provides a reactor vessel enclosure defining a plasma reactor vessel and a support for holding a workpiece inside the vessel, a non-planar inductive antenna adjacent to the reactor vessel enclosure, and an RF induction pattern of the antenna. Non-planar inductive antenna including an inductive element spaced apart in a non-planar manner with respect to the plane of the workpiece to compensate for the sky therein, and plasma RF coupled to the non-planar inductive antenna An electromagnetically coupled RF plasma reactor including a power supply is provided. The planar inductive antenna may be either symmetric or asymmetric, and preferably includes a solenoid winding, for example, a vertically stacked conductive winding. In a preferred embodiment, the windings are at a minimum radial distance from the axis of symmetry, but in other embodiments, the windings have a radius from the axis of symmetry that has some meaningful ratio to the radius of the vessel. In the distance. |