Lam Research Corporation

Chris Kimball

Eric A Hudson

Andreas Fischer

Douglas L Keil

Tom Stevenson

Peter T Muraoka

Methods for stabilizing a ceramic contact surface of an electrostatic chuck, wherein the electrostatic chuck can be disposed within a reaction chamber of a semiconductor wafer processing assembly including a radio frequency source and a coolant gas supply are described herein. The method may include: clamping electrostatically a conditioning wafer to the ceramic contact surface of the electrostatic chuck; and cycling an output power of the radio frequency source and an output pressure of the coolant gas supply for multiple hot/cold cycles. Each of the hot/cold cycles includes a hot abrasion state and a cold abrasion state. At the hot abrasion state, the output power of the radio frequency source is relatively high and the output pressure of the coolant gas supply is relatively low to yield a relatively hot conditioning wafer. At the cold abrasion state, the output power of the radio frequency source is relatively low and the output pressure of the coolant gas supply is relatively high to yield a relatively cool conditioning wafer.

Methods for stabilizing contact surfaces of electrostatic chucks

A method of fault detection for use in a plasma processing chamber is provided. The method comprises monitoring plasma parameters within a plasma chamber with a single planar ion flux (PIF) probe, analyzing the resulting information, measuring the plasma parameters as a function of time and analyzing the resulting data. The data can be observed, characterized, compared with reference data, digitized, processed, or analyzed to reveal a specific fault. The PIF probe is preferably positioned at a grounded surface within the reactor. Chamber faults that can be detected include a build-up of process by-products in the process chamber, a helium leak, a match re-tuning event, a poor stabilization rate, and a loss of plasma confinement.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Chris Kimball