Applied Materials, Inc.

Speedfam-ipec Corporation

Other

Walmart Apollo, LLC

Speedfam Corporation

Nanocopoeia, LLC

Real Time Metrology, Inc.

Anand Gupta

Mohan K Bhan

Sudhakar Subrahmanyam

Yan Ye

Amrita Verma

Virendra V Rana

Virendra V S Rana

Joseph Lanucha

Peter W Lee

Charles N Dornfest

Patrick D Kinney

Chris E Karlsrud

Laxman Murugesh

Yuri S Uritsky

Stuardo A Robles

Charles S Rhoades

Periya Gopalan

Tirunelveli S Ravi

Srihari Ponnekanti

Viren V Rana

Shamouil Shamouliam

Gerald Girard

Gana A Rimple

Vijay D Parkhe

Jun Zhao

Boris Fishkin

Xin Sheng Guo

Robert J Steger

Yuh-Jia (Jim) Su

Daniel R Trojan

Stefan A Wolff

Graham W Hills

Jose R Gonzalez-Martin

Maria Galiano

Jon R MacErnie

Arthur Hamer

Soonil Hong

Majid K Shahreza

Andrew Conners

Nagaraja P Rao

Jeffrey B Cunnane

Robert Bendler

A system and method for implementing keyword prediction for search engine marketing is presented. Historical search data is analyzed to find top search patterns in the form of n-grams. Keywords from historical search data are analyzed to generate n-grams for various values of n. The n-grams can represent trending search term patterns, as opposed to merely finding trending keywords. Thereafter, each of the n-grams is associated with one or more categories and/or sub-categories. The categories and sub-categories are thus associated with one or more n-grams. When a new product is introduced, the new product can be associated with n-grams based on the categories and sub-categories associated with the new product. Advertisements can be bid upon based on the associations. Other embodiments also are disclosed.

System and method for self-adapting keyword prediction

Methods of forming a photovoltaic structures including nanoparticles are disclosed. The method includes electrospray deposition of nanoparticles. The nanoparticles can include TiOnanoparticles and quantum dots. In an example, the nanoparticles are formed on a flexible substrate. In various examples, the flexible substrate is light transparent. Photovoltaic structures and apparatus for forming photovoltaic structures are disclosed.

Methods and apparatus for forming photovoltaic cells using electrospray

An optical inspection module is provided for detecting defects on a substrate having first and second opposite planar surfaces. The module includes a substrate holding position and first and second measurement instruments. The first instrument includes a first illumination path extending to the substrate holding position and having a grazing angle of incidence with the first surface, which illuminates substantially the entire first surface. A first optical element is oriented to collect non-specularly reflected light scattered by the first surface. A first photodetector has a plurality of pixels positioned within a focal plane of the first lens, which together form a field of view that covers substantially the entire first surface. The second instrument includes a sensor oriented for sensing a physical characteristic of the second surface when the substrate is held in the substrate holding position and the first surface is being illuminated.

Optical method and apparatus for inspecting large area planar objects

A plasma fluorine resistant polycrystalline alumina ceramic material is produced by forming a green body including alumina and a binder, and sintering the green body for a time from about 8 to 12 hours. The area % of unsintered particles in the polycrystalline alumina ceramic material does not exceed 0.1 area %, resulting in reduced emission of particles from the material after exposure to plasma fluorine.

Plasma fluorine resistant alumina ceramic material and method of making

A method and apparatus for reducing particle contamination in a substrate processing chamber during deposition of a film having at least two layers. The method of the present invention includes the steps of introducing a first process gas into a chamber to deposit a first layer of the film over a wafer at a first selected pressure, introducing a second process gas into the chamber to deposit a second layer of the film over the wafer, and between deposition of said first and second layers, maintaining pressure within the chamber at a pressure that is sufficiently high that particles dislodged by introduction of the second process do not impact the wafer.

Method and apparatus for reducing particle contamination in a substrate processing chamber

A method and apparatus for reducing fluorine and other sorbable contaminants in plasma reactor used in chemical vapor deposition process such as the deposition of silicon oxide layer by the reaction of TEOS and oxygen. According to the method of the present invention, plasma of an inert gas is maintained in plasma reactor following chamber clean to remove sorbable contaminants such as fluorine. The plasma clean is typically followed by seasoning of the reactor to block or retard remaining contaminants. According to one embodiment of the invention, the combination of chamber clean, plasma clean, and season film is conducted before PECVD oxide layer is deposited on wafer positioned in the plasma reactor.

Decontamination of a plasma reactor using a plasma after a chamber clean

A chemical vapor deposition system that includes a housing configured to form a processing chamber, a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate within the processing chamber, a gas distribution system configured to introduce gases into the processing chamber, a plasma generation system configured to form a plasma within the processing chamber, a processor operatively coupled to control the gas distribution system and the plasma generation system, and a computer-readable memory coupled to the processor that stores a computer-readable program which directs the operation of the chemical vapor deposition system. In one embodiment the computer-readable program comprises instructions that control the gas distribution system to flow a process gas comprising silicon, oxygen and a halogen family member into the chamber to deposit a halogen-doped silicon oxide film on a substrate positioned on the substrate holder and instructions that control the gas distribution system and plasma generation system to densify the halogen-doped silicon oxide film by bombarding the film with ionic species from a plasma of an argon-containing gas source. In another embodiment, the computer-readable program comprises instructions that control the gas distribution system to flow a process gas comprising silicon, oxygen and a halogen family member into the chamber to deposit a halogen-doped silicon oxide film on said substrate and instructions that control the gas distribution system and plasma generation system to form a plasma from a hydrogen containing source gas to bombard the halogen-doped silicon oxide film with hydrogen ions to remove loosely bound halogen atoms from the film.

Apparatus for improving film stability of halogen-doped silicon oxide films

A method and apparatus for depositing a layer having improved film quality at an interface. The method includes the steps of introducing an inert gas into a processing chamber and forming a plasma from the inert gas by applying RF power to the chamber at a selected rate of increase. After RF power has reached full power, a process gas including a reactant gas is introduced to deposit the layer. In a preferred embodiment, the reactant gas is tetraethoxysilane. In another preferred embodiment, the process gas further includes fluorine.

Method and apparatus for improving the film quality of plasma enhanced CVD films at the interface

An improved method of reducing the level of contaminants (e.g., fluorine) absorbed in films deposited within a substrate processing chamber. A seasoning layer is deposited within the substrate processing chamber to cover contaminants that may be absorbed within walls or insulation areas of the chamber interior. The deposited seasoning layer is more stable than prior art seasoning layers and is thus less likely to release the absorbed contaminants into the substrate processing chamber during the subsequent deposition of films. In a preferred embodiment, the seasoning layer is formed from a mixed frequency PECVD process in which the low frequency RF signal is supplied at a high power level to increase ion bombardment and enhance film stability. The increased bombardment favors the formation of stable SiF bonds between silicon and fluorine atoms in the lattice structure of the film rather than unstable SiF,or other bonds. When residual fluorine atoms (e.g., fluorine atoms absorbed within the chamber walls) are incorporated into the deposited seasoning layer, fewer loosely bonded fluorine atoms are incorporated into the layer than in prior art silicon oxide seasoning layers. Fewer loosely bonded fluorine atoms in the seasoning film results in fewer contaminants being incorporated into films deposited over substrates in subsequent processing steps.

Film to tie up loose fluorine in the chamber after a clean process

An electrostatic technique for removing particulate matter from a semiconductor wafer in a plasma processing chamber, such as a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) chamber. During a particulate removal phase of operation, a normally grounded electrode that supports the wafer is temporarily isolated from ground and a bias voltage generator is simultaneously connected to the electrode, supplying sufficient bias voltage to electrostatically launch particulates from the surface of the wafer. A plasma formed above the normally grounded electrode is maintained during the particulate removal phase, and particulates launched from the wafer become suspended in a sheath region surrounding the plasma, from where they can be later removed by a purging flow of gas. Preferably, the bias voltage generator provides a bias voltage that alternates in polarity, to ensure removal of both positively-charged and negatively charged particles from the wafer surface.

Method and apparatus for removing particulates from semiconductor substrates in plasma processing chambers

A semiconductor manufacturing process with improved gap fill capabilities is provided by a three step process of FSG deposition/etchback/FSG deposition. A first layer of FSG is partially deposited over a metal layer. An argon sputter etchback step is then carried out to etch out excess deposition material. Finally, a second layer of FSG is deposited to complete the gap fill process.

Method for submicron gap filling on a semiconductor substrate

An apparatus for processing substrates that is configured for a cleaning operation by loading a cleaning process wafer onto the susceptor before forming a cleaning plasma in the processing chamber. In one embodiment, a ceramic wafer is chosen to have a dielectric value sufficient to alter the electromagnetic field of the plasma, and spreads the plasma away from the susceptor during a cleaning operation, thus reducing damage to the susceptor. The plasma may be directed towards the walls of the chamber to reduce chamber cleaning time.

Substrate processing system configurable for deposition or cleaning

Method and apparatus for reducing particle contamination in a substrate

A method and apparatus for increasing the sensitivity of an in situ particle monitor. A light scattering technique, preferably using laser light, is employed to monitor particle concentrations within the processing chamber of a plasma-based substrate processing system. Particle concentrations are increased in the light field of the sensor by creating an electric or magnetic field in the processing chamber to concentrate the particles suspended therein.

Increasing the sensitivity of an in-situ particle monitor

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Anand Gupta