ELECTROSTATIC CLAMPING APPLIED TO SEMICONDUCTOR PLASMA PROCESSING .2. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Semiconductor plasma processing, an indispensable step in the manufacture of very large scale integrated circuits, is limited by heat damage of a wafer loosely lying on the susceptor. One way to cool the wafer is based on the use of electrostatic forces known as electrostatic clamping. We report here the experimental results obtained with a system defined according to a preliminary theoretical study1. There is a threshold in electrostatic pressure beyond which no improvement of thermal conduction through the wafer/susceptor interface is observed. An electrical characterization of the system shows no eff ect due to the high voltage applied to the electrostatic chuck.