Applied Materials, Inc.

Balasubramanian Ramachandran

Joseph Michael Ranish

Paul Brillhart

Aaron Muir Hunter

Satheesh Kuppurao

Nyi O Myo

Mehmet Tugrul Samir

Kin Pong Lo

Zuoming Zhu

James Francis Mack

Zhepeng Cong

Xuebin Li

Swaminathan T Srinivasan

Kevin Joseph Bautista

Jose Antonio Marin

Zhiyuan Ye

Schubert S Chu

Kartik Bhupendra Shah

Wolfgang R Aderhold

Yi-Chiau Huang

Anzhong Chang

Edric Tong

Anhthu Ngo

Norman L Tam

Sundar Ramamurthy

Yoshitaka Yokota

Masato Ishii

Martin John Ripley

Daniel Redfield

Jallepally Ravi

Kailash Kiran Patalay

Leonid Mark Tertitski

Ravi Jallepally

Tarpan Dixit

Michael Olsen

Eddie Feigel

Richard Halpin

Brett Vetorino

Patrick F Stone

Muhammad M Rasheed

Errol Antonio C Sanchez

Bruce E Adams

Dean C Jennings

Amir Hamed Al-Bayati

Shu-Kwan Danny Lau

Khurshed Sorabji

Shih Chung Chen

Lei Zhou

Vedapuram S Achutharaman

Brian L Haas

Kevin A Papke

Houda Graoui

Wen Teh Chang

Ilias Iliopoulos

Jing Zhou

Rajesh S Ramanujam

Ryan C Boas

Tae Jung Kim

Joung Woo Lee

Corina Elena Tanasa

Harpreet Singh Juneja

Jung Hoon Sun

Hwa Joong Lim

Sang Phil Lee

Akio Takahashi

Raman Achutharaman

Joseph M Spear

In one embodiment, a susceptor for thermal processing is provided. The susceptor includes an outer rim surrounding and coupled to an inner dish, the outer rim having an inner edge and an outer edge. The susceptor further includes one or more structures for reducing a contacting surface area between a substrate and the susceptor when the substrate is supported by the susceptor. At least one of the one or more structures is coupled to the inner dish proximate the inner edge of the outer rim.

Thermal processing susceptor

Embodiments of the disclosure generally relate to a reflector for use in a thermal processing chamber. In one embodiment, the thermal processing chamber generally includes an upper dome, a lower dome opposing the upper dome, the upper dome and the lower dome defining an internal volume of the processing chamber, a substrate support disposed within the internal volume, and a reflector positioned above and proximate to the upper dome, wherein the reflector has a heat absorptive coating layer deposited on a side of the reflector facing the substrate support.

Absorbing reflector for semiconductor processing chamber

Methods and apparatus for determining an endpoint of a process chamber cleaning process are provided. In some embodiments, a method of monitoring a process being performed in a process chamber includes: performing a cleaning process in a process chamber to remove material deposited on one or more internal surfaces of the process chamber resultant from processes performed within the process chamber; shining a light on a first internal surface being cleaned; detecting the light reflected off of the first internal surface; and terminating the cleaning process based upon the detected light.

Optical endpoint detection system

A method and apparatus for processing a semiconductor substrate is described. The apparatus is a process chamber having an optically transparent upper dome and lower dome. Vacuum is maintained in the process chamber during processing. The upper dome is thermally controlled by flowing a thermal control fluid along the upper dome outside the processing region. Thermal lamps are positioned proximate the lower dome, and thermal sensors are disposed among the lamps. The lamps are powered in zones, and a controller adjusts power to the lamp zones based on data received from the thermal sensors.

Multizone control of lamps in a conical lamphead using pyrometers

Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, a process chamber includes: a chamber body and a lid assembly defining a processing volume within the process chamber; a substrate support disposed within the processing volume to support a substrate; and a showerhead having a first surface including a plurality of gas distribution holes disposed opposite and parallel to the substrate support, wherein the showerhead is fabricated from aluminum and includes an aluminum oxide coating along the first surface, wherein the aluminum oxide coating has a thickness of about 0.0001 to about 0.002 inches. In some embodiments, the showerhead may further have at least one of a roughness of about 10 to about 300 &#x3bc;-in Ra, or an emissivity (&#x2208;) of about 0.20 to about 0.80. The process chamber may be a thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) chamber.

Oxidized showerhead and process kit parts and methods of using same

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to chambers and methods of processing substrates therein. The chambers generally include separate process gas and purge gas regions. The process gas region and purge gas region each have a respective gas inlet and gas outlet. The methods generally include positioning a substrate on a substrate support within the chamber. The plane of the substrate support defines the boundary between a process gas region and purge gas region. Purge gas is introduced into the purge gas region through at least one purge gas inlet, and removed from the purge gas region using at least one purge gas outlet. The process gas is introduced into the process gas region through at least one process gas inlet, and removed from the process gas region through at least one process gas outlet. The process gas is thermally decomposed to deposit a material on the substrate.

Process chamber having separate process gas and purge gas regions

The embodiments described herein generally relate to a lamphead assembly with an absorbing upper surface in a thermal processing chamber. In one embodiment, a processing chamber includes an upper structure, a lower structure, a base ring connecting the upper structure to the lower structure, a substrate support disposed between the upper structure and the lower structure, a lower structure disposed below the substrate support, a lamphead positioned proximate to the lower structure with one or more fixed lamphead positions formed therein, the lamphead comprising a first surface proximate the lower structure and a second surface opposite the first surface, wherein the first surface comprises an absorptive coating and one or more lamp assemblies each comprising a radiation generating source and positioned in connection with the one or more fixed lamphead positions.

Absorbing lamphead face

Embodiments of the invention generally relate to susceptor support shafts and process chambers containing the same. A susceptor support shaft supports a susceptor thereon, which in turn, supports a substrate during processing. The susceptor support shaft reduces variations in temperature measurement of the susceptor and/or substrate by providing a consistent path for a pyrometer focal beam directed towards the susceptor and/or substrate, even when the susceptor support shaft is rotated. The susceptor support shafts also have a relatively low thermal mass which increases the ramp up and ramp down rates of a process chamber. In some embodiments, a custom made refractive element can be removably placed on the top of the solid disc to redistribute secondary heat distributions across the susceptor and/or substrate for optimum thickness uniformity of epitaxy process.

Susceptor support shaft with uniformity tuning lenses for EPI process

Methods and apparatus for determining an endpoint of a process chamber cleaning process are provided. In some embodiments, a processing system having an endpoint detection system may include a process chamber having internal surfaces requiring periodic cleaning due to processes performed in the process chamber; and an endpoint detection system that includes a light detector positioned to detect light reflected off of a first internal surface of the process chamber; and a controller coupled to the light detector and configured to determine an endpoint of a cleaning process based upon the detected reflected light.

A substrate processing apparatus is provided. The substrate processing apparatus includes a vacuum chamber having a dome and a floor. A substrate support is disposed inside the vacuum chamber. A plurality of thermal lamps are arranged in a lamphead and positioned proximate the floor of the vacuum chamber. A reflector is disposed proximate the dome, where the reflector and the dome together define a thermal control space. The substrate processing apparatus further includes a plurality of power supplies coupled to the thermal lamps and a controller for adjusting the power supplies to control a temperature in the vacuum chamber.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Balasubramanian Ramachandran