Applied Materials, Inc.

Adrian John Murrell

Geoffrey Ryding

Marvin Farley

Takao Sakase

Bernard F Harrison

Shu Satoh

Peter T Kindersley

Peter Michael Banks

David George Armour

Richard David Goldberg

Peter I Edwards

Craig J Lowrie

Gregory Robert Alcott

Matthew Peter Dobson

Peter Ivor Tudor Edwards

Neil L Clarke

Andrew Allen

Christopher J S Burgess

Erik J H Collart

Amir Hamed Al-Bayati

Theodore H Smick

Martin A Hilkene

Christopher Burgess

Simon Herbert Povall

Paul A Burfield

Andrew Holmes

Matthew D Castle

Frank D Roberts

Drew Arnold

Erik Jan Hilda Collart

Chris James Burgess

The present invention relates to components in an ion implanter that may see incidence of the ion beam, such as a beam dump or a beam stop. Such components will be prone to the ions sputtering material from their surfaces, and sputtered material may become entrained in the ion beam. This entrained material is a source of contamination. The present invention provides an ion implanter comprising power supply apparatus and an ion-receiving component. The component has an opening that receives ions from an ion beam such that ions strike an internal surface. The power supply apparatus is arranged to provide an electrical bias to the internal surface to decelerate the ions prior to their striking the surface, thereby mitigating the problem of material being sputtered from the surface.

Ion implanters

The present invention relates to components in ion implanters having surfaces, such as graphite surfaces, adjacent to the path of the ion beam through the ion implanter. Such surfaces will be prone to sputtering, and sputtered material may become entrained in the ion beam. The present invention sees the use of surfaces that are formed so as to present a series of angled faces that meet at sharp intersections. In this way, any material will be sputtered away from the ion beam.

Components in an ion implanter that may see incidence of the ion beam include a chamber having an elongate slot opening defined by edges so that a central portion of the ion beam enters the component through the opening with the edges clipping at least a peripheral portion of the ion beam. The arrangement mitigates the problem of sputtered material escaping back out from the component and becoming entrained in the ion beam.

An implanter provides two-dimensional scanning of a substrate relative to an implant beam so that the beam draws a raster of scan lines on the substrate. The beam current is measured at turnaround points off the substrate and the current value is used to control the subsequent fast scan speed so as to compensate for the effect of any variation in beam current on dose uniformity in the slow scan direction. The scanning may produce a raster of non-intersecting uniformly spaced parallel scan lines and the spacing between the lines is selected to ensure appropriate dose uniformity.

Method of implanting a substrate and an ion implanter for performing the method

The invention relates to improving the efficiency of ion flow from an ion source, by reducing heat loss from the source both in the ion chamber of the ion source and its constituent parts (e.g. the electron source). This is achieved by lining the interior of the ion chamber and/or the exterior with heat reflective and/or heat insulating material and by formation of an indirectly heated cathode tube such that heat transfer along the tube and away from the ion chamber is restricted by the formation of slits in the tube. Efficiency of the ion source is further enhanced by impregnating and/or coating the front plate of the ion chamber with a material which comprises an element or compound thereof, the ions of which element are the same specie as those to be implanted into the substrate from the source thereof.

Ion sources for ion implantation apparatus

A wafer support for an ion implanter includes a wafer holder and a support arm for the holder in the implant chamber. A portion of the support arm adjacent the wafer holder is at least intermittently exposed to the ion beam during implantation, as a result of the relative scanning of the ion beam and the wafer holder. An arm shield mechanism has a plurality of shielding surfaces which can be selectively disposed to receive the ion beam to protect the exposed portion of the support arm. The shielding surfaces may form a sleeve arranged over the arm which may be rotatable above the arm to present selected surfaces to the ion beam. Cross contamination when successively implanting different species can be reduced by presenting different shield surfaces to the beam.

Method and apparatus for reducing cross contamination of species during ion implantation

Provided is an ion implanter having a deceleration lens assembly comprising a plurality of electrodes in which one or more of the apertures of the deceleration electrodes are shaped in a manner which can improve performance of the ion implanter. In one embodiment, an electrode aperture is generally elliptical in shape and conforms generally to the shape of the beam passing through the aperture. In another aspect, an axis segment extends 40% of the length of the aperture from the aperture center to an intermediate point at the end of the segment. The average width of the aperture measured at each point from the center to the intermediate point is substantially less than the maximum width of the aperture.

Ion implanter electrodes

Semiconductor processing apparatus is disclosed which provides for movement of a scanning armof a substrate or wafer holder, in at least two generally orthogonal directions (so-called X-Y scanning). Scanning in a first direction is longitudinally through an aperturein a vacuum chamber wall. The armis reciprocated by one or more linear motorsA,B. The armis supported relative to a slideusing gimballed air bearings so as to provide cantilever support for the arm relative to the slide. A compliant feedthroughinto the vacuum chamber for the armthen acts as a vacuum seal and guide but does not itself need to provide bearing support. A Faradayis attached to the armadjacent the substrate holderto allow beam profiling to be carried out both prior to and during implant. The Faradaycan instead or additionally be mounted adjacent the rear of the substrate holder or at 90&#xb0; to it to allow beam profiling to be carried out prior to implant, with the substrate support reversed or horizontal and out of the beam line.

Multi-directional scanning of movable member and ion beam monitoring arrangement therefor

The invention relates to an ion source for an ion implanter in which source material for providing desired ions is provided in the form of a plate or liner which can be fitted into the reactant chamber of the ion source.

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Horsham, United Kingdom

Adrian John Murrell