Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Comp. Ltd.

Chi-Yun Tseng

Shao-Yen Ku

Chun-Li Chou

Tsai-Pao Su

Yu-Yen Hsu

Sheng-Chi Shih

Ming-Jung Chen

Hobin Chen

Ming-Chien Wen

Rui-Ping Chuang

Chuan-Yuan Lu

Su-Yi Doung

Tzu Yang Chung

An apparatus comprises a process chamber, and a loadlock connected to the process chamber. The loadlock is configured to have a wafer holder disposed therein. The wafer holder is configured to store a plurality of wafers, and is configured to transport the plurality of wafers away from the loadlock.

Methods for transporting wafers between wafer holders and chambers

A system and method for etching a substrate is provided. An embodiment comprises utilizing an inert carrier gas in order to introduce a liquid etchant to a substrate. The inert carrier gas may prevent undesirable chemical reactions from taking place during the etching process, thereby helping to reduce the number of defects that occur to the substrate and other structures during the etching process.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacture

An apparatus for transferring wafers by a robot blade and a method for using the apparatus are disclosed. In the apparatus, a robot blade that is equipped with distance sensors mounted in a bottom surface of the blade is provided which senses the distance between the bottom surface of the robot blade and an adjacent surface below the robot blade such that any possible scratching of the adjacent surface is eliminated. The adjacent surface below the robot blade may be a wafer surface in a wafer cassette, or a wafer pedestal surface in a process machine. The distance sensors are mounted in recesses in the bottom surface of the blade which may be suitably capacitance sensors, ultrasonic sensors or optical sensors. The distance sensed by the distance sensors is analyzed by a controller and compared to a predetermined value of a minimum allowable distance such that any danger of scratching the adjacent surface is eliminated.

Apparatus and method for transferring wafers by robot

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Longtan, Taiwan

Chi-Yun Tseng