US 8,858,816: Enhanced Etch and Deposition Profile Control Using Plasma Sheath Engineering

[Granted] A plasma processing tool is used to deposit material on a workpiece. For example, a method for conformal deposition of material is disclosed. In this embodiment, the plasma sheath shape is modified to allow material to impact the workpiece at a range of incident angles. By varying this range of incident angles over time, a variety of different features can be deposited onto. In another embodiment, a plasma processing tool is used to etch a workpiece. In this embodiment, the plasma sheath shape is altered to allow ions to impact the workpiece at a range of incident angles. By varying this range of incident angles over time, a variety of differently shaped features can be created.