Patent attributes
A method for slope control of ion energy is described. The method includes receiving a setting indicating that an etch operation is to be performed using a radio frequency (RF) pulse signal. The RF pulse signal includes a first state and a second state. The first state has a higher power level than the second state. The method further includes receiving a pulse slope associated with the RF pulse signal. The pulse slope provides a transition between the first state and the second state. Also, the pulse slope is other than substantially infinite for reducing an amount of ion energy during the etch operation. The method includes determining power levels and timings for achieving the pulse slope and sending the power levels and the timings to an RF generator to generate the RF pulse signal.
