Reduction of Defects with Single Piece Upper Electrode (SPUE) in Oxide Etch Applications

In this paper, we introduce a novel single piece upper electrode design to improve on wafer defects by reducing particle generation commonly observed in the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) 2-layer design (Silicon (Si) on graphite (Gr)) Upper Electrode (UE). We are introducing a Single Piece Silicon Upper Electrode (SPUE) to replace the original two pieces (Silicon and Graphite) design. In this configuration, the graphite portion is replaced entirely with a single silicon layer and the helix hole bushing replaced with Torlon material. This eliminated the particle generation mechanisms as we will explain below. This is important because it facilitated improvement in Mean Time Before Clean (MTBC) by 42%, particle count was reduced by approximately 50% and sort yield improved by about 1%. That translates to a significant improvement in cost effectiveness of approximately 50%.