Texas Instruments Corporation

David R Wyke

Sima Salamati-Saradh

Richard L Guldi

Farris D Malone

Mary C Adams

Ingrid G Jenkins

Johnson J Lin

A method and system for cleaning a reticle. There is provided a clean chamber and a reticle having a pair of opposing edges and a pair of opposing surfaces which is to be cleaned disposed in the clean chamber. A gas inert to the reticle is directed in a direction tangential to each of the surfaces of the reticle and along one the edge of the reticle. The gas is exhausted from a location spaced from the other of the pair of opposing edges and remote form the one edge. An optional monitor monitors the particles in the exhausted gas. The gas is preferably applied in pulses which have a pulse length of from about 0.05 second to about 1 second and a pulse repetition rate of from about 0.5/second to about 40/second. The gas is preferably ionized and preferably is applied at a pressure of from about 20 psi to about 120 psi. The stepper chamber is vibrationally isolated from the blow-off chamber. Also, the controller for the cleaning operation is synchronized with the stepper operation to avoid cleaning while the stepper operation is ongoing.

Method and apparatus for in-situ reticle cleaning at photolithography tool

A system for cleaning a reticle. There is provided a clean chamber and a reticle having a pair of opposing edges and a pair of opposing surfaces which is to be cleaned disposed in the clean chamber. A gas inert to the reticle is directed in a direction tangential to each of the surfaces of the reticle and along one the edge of the reticle. The gas is exhausted from a location spaced from the other of the pair of opposing edges and remote form the one edge. An optional monitor monitors the particles in the exhausted gas. The gas is preferably applied in pulses which have a pulse length of from about 0.05 second to about 1 second and a pulse repetition rate of from about 0.5/second to about 40/second. The gas is preferably ionized and preferably is applied at a pressure of from about 20 psi to about 120 psi. The stepper chamber is vibrationally isolated from the blow-off chamber. Also, the controller for the cleaning operation is synchronized with the stepper operation to avoid cleaning while the stepper operation is ongoing.

Apparatus for in-situ reticle cleaning at photolithography tool

A method of processing wafers containing a gate oxide assembly (,) is disclosed that reduces gate oxide damage during wafer production due to damage caused by charging. The method comprises creating an oxide gate assembly (,) on a silicon layer (,) in a production line chamber followed by the deposition of a polysilicon layer (,). Following the creation of the gate oxide assembly (,) a pressure of at least 1.2 Torr is maintained while lowering the power within the production line chamber. The invention can be used with a gate oxide layer (,) of less than 1000 angstroms.

Method for reducing gate oxide damage caused by charging

A method and structure for a titanium tungsten (TiW)/tungsten local interconnect (136) for cells (100) of semiconductor device includes steps and structure resulting from sputtering a titanium tungsten (TiW) layer (128) on semiconductor structure (100) and then forming a tungsten layer over the TiW layer (128). Then, the method is to pattern a layer of resistive polymer (32) such as photoresist in a predetermined lithographic pattern over the structure (100). This forms the local interconnect (136) from the TiW layer (128). Then, by dry etching, the process removes exposed portions of the tungsten and TiW layers. A wet strip process removes resistive polymer (32) from the semiconductor structure (100) to yield TiW/tungsten interconnect (136) for the semiconductor structure (100). Alternatively a single TiW layer is used in which exposed portions of the TiW layer are removed by a wet etch.

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McKinney, TX, United States of America

David R Wyke