ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,340,985, issued on June 24, was assigned to Tokyo Electron Ltd. (Tokyo).
"Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method" was invented by Tetsuji Sato (Miyagi, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A plasma processing apparatus includes a chamber, a lower electrode, an electrostatic chuck, an edge ring, a metal member, a driving unit, and a control device. The electrostatic chuck is provided on the lower electrode on which a substrate is placed. The edge ring is provided around the electrostatic chuck. The metal member is disposed along an outer wall of the lower electrode and is grounded. The driving unit moves the metal member...