Applied Materials, Inc.

Dongming Iu

Norman L Tam

Lara Hawrylchak

Wolfgang R Aderhold

Ji-Dih Hu

Joseph Michael Ranish

Matthew Spuller

Mehran Behdjat

Samuel C Howells

Oleg V Serebryanov

Kong Lung Samuel Chan

Kartik Bhupendra Shah

Paul Brillhart

Satheesh Kuppurao

Matthew D Scotney-Castle

Leonid Mark Tertitski

Michael Liu

David K Carlson

Aaron Muir Hunter

Shashank Sharma

Stephen Moffatt

Abhilash J Mayur

Mehmet Tugrul Samir

Shu-Kwan Danny Lau

Anzhong Chang

Anh Ngoc Nguyen

Douglas R McAllister

Kailash Kiran Patalay

Zuoming Zhu

Surajit Kumar

Vilen K Nestorov

Elizabeth Neville

Herman Diniz

Preetham Rao

Chaitanya Anjaneyalu Prasad

Yanjun Xia

Eric Rieske

Steve Aboagye

Gia Pham

Niraj Merchant

Michael P Kamp

Pradeep Sampath Kumar

Jau-Jiun Chen

Kong Lung Chan

The present disclosure relates to heating a substrate in a rapid thermal processing (RTP) chamber. The chamber may contain a rotatable assembly configured to accommodate and rotate the substrate while a heat source inside the RTP chamber applies heat to the substrate. The rotatable assembly is partially disposed outside the RTP chamber. A seal may formed around the rotatable assembly and maintain a vacuum inside the RTP chamber while the rotatable assembly rotates. The rotatable assembly may configured to accommodate various-sized substrates.

Rotatable thermal processing chamber

Embodiments of the disclosure generally relate to a semiconductor processing chamber. In one embodiment, semiconductor processing chamber is disclosed and includes a chamber body having a bottom and a sidewall defining an interior volume, the sidewall having a substrate transfer port formed therein, and one or more absorber bodies positioned in the interior volume in a position opposite of the substrate transfer port.

Thermal chamber with improved thermal uniformity

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to methods, systems, and apparatus for conducting a radical treatment operation on a substrate prior to conducting an annealing operation on the substrate. In one implementation, a method of processing semiconductor substrates includes pre-heating a substrate, and exposing the substrate to species radicals. The exposing of the substrate to the species radicals includes a treatment temperature that is less than 300 degrees Celsius, a treatment pressure that is less than 1.0 Torr, and a treatment time that is within a range of 8.0 minutes to 12.0 minutes. The method includes annealing the substrate after the exposing of the substrate to the species radicals. The annealing includes exposing the substrate to molecules, an anneal temperature that is 300 degrees Celsius or greater, an anneal pressure that is within a range of 500 Torr to 550 Torr, and an anneal time that is less than 4.0 minutes.

Methods, systems, and apparatus for conducting a radical treatment operation prior to conducting an annealing operation

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to apparatus, systems and methods for managing organic compounds in thermal processing chambers. A gas line can be in fluid communication with the thermal processing chamber and an exhaust pump can be coupled to the thermal processing chamber by an exhaust conduit and controlled by an effluent flow control valve. The apparatus includes a sampling line with an organic compound sensor coupled to the exhaust conduit. The organic compound sensor can be in communication with a control module which can control operating parameters for processing a substrate.

System and method for managing substrate outgassing

Implementations described herein relate to pressure control for vacuum chuck substrate supports. In one implementation, a process chamber defines a process volume and a vacuum chuck support is disposed within the process volume. A pressure controller is disposed on a fluid flow path upstream from the vacuum chuck and a flow restrictor is disposed on the fluid flow path downstream from the vacuum chuck. Each of the pressure controller and flow restrictor are in fluid communication with a control volume of the vacuum chuck.

Vacuum chuck pressure control system

An apparatus for measuring a temperature of an assembly that is internal to a process chamber. The apparatus may include a light pipe positioned between a lamp radiation filtering window and the assembly, the light pipe has a first end with a bevel configured to redirect infrared radiation emitted from the assembly through the light pipe and has a second end distal to the first end, an optical assembly configured to collimate, filter, and focus infrared radiation from the second end of the light pipe, an optical detector configured to receive an output from the optical assembly and generate at least one signal representative of the infrared radiation, a temperature circuit that transforms the at least one signal into a temperature value, and a controller that is configured to receive the temperature value and to make adjustments to other process parameters of process chamber based on the temperature value.

Methods and apparatus for measuring edge ring temperature

Methods, systems, and apparatus provide for optically monitoring individual lamps of substrate processing chambers. In one aspect, the individual lamps are monitored to determine if one or more lamps are in need of replacement. A method includes using one or more camera coupled to a borescope to capture a plurality of images of one or more lamps in a substrate processing chamber. The plurality of images is analyzed to identify a change of mean light pixel intensity in an image reference region associated with each lamp. The method includes generating an alert based on the detection of the mean light pixel intensity change.

Methods, systems, and apparatus for optically monitoring individual lamps

Implementations described herein provide for thermal substrate processing apparatus including two thermal process chambers, each defining a process volume, and a substrate support disposed within each process volume. One or more remote plasma sources may be in fluid communication with the process volumes and the remote plasma sources may be configured to deliver a plasma to the process volumes. Various arrangements of remote plasma sources and chambers are described.

Plasma-enhanced anneal chamber for wafer outgassing

Examples described herein generally relate to apparatus and methods for rapid thermal processing (RTP) of a substrate. In one or more embodiments, a process chamber includes chamber body, a window disposed on a first portion of the chamber body, a chamber bottom, and a shield disposed on a second portion of the chamber body. The shield has a flat surface facing the window to reduce reflected radiant energy to a back side of a substrate disposed in the process chamber during operation. The process chamber further includes an edge support for supporting the substrate and a cooling member disposed on the chamber bottom. The cooling member is disposed in proximity of the edge support to cool the edge support during low temperature operation in order to improve the temperature uniformity of the substrate.

Thermal processing chamber with low temperature control

A semiconductor processing apparatus is described that has a body with a wall defining two processing chambers within the body; a passage through the wall forming a fluid coupling between the two processing chambers; a lid removably coupled to the body, the lid having a portal in fluid communication with the passage; a gas activator coupled to the lid outside the processing chambers, the gas activator having an outlet in fluid communication with the portal of the lid; a substrate support disposed in each processing chamber, each substrate support having at least two heating zones, each with an embedded heating element; a gas distributor coupled to the lid facing each substrate support; and a thermal control member coupled to the lid at an edge of each gas distributor.

Semiconductor processing chamber

Plasma outlet liner

Examples described herein generally relate to apparatus and methods for rapid thermal processing (RTP) of a substrate. In one example, a process chamber includes chamber body, a window disposed on a first portion of the chamber body, a chamber bottom, and a shield disposed on a second portion of the chamber body. The shield has a flat surface facing the window to reduce reflected radiant energy to a back side of a substrate disposed in the process chamber during operation. The process chamber further includes an edge support for supporting the substrate and a cooling member disposed on the chamber bottom. The cooling member is disposed in proximity of the edge support to cool the edge support during low temperature operation in order to improve the temperature uniformity of the substrate.

Thermal cooling member with low temperature control

The embodiments described herein generally relate to a flexible standoff for use with a lamphead assembly in a thermal processing chamber. In one embodiment, the lamphead assembly can include a lamphead with one or more fixed lamphead positions, a lamp bulb, a lamp base with a standoff contact adaptor and a flexible standoff capable of attaching and positioning the lamp assembly. The flexible standoff can include a socket configured to receive a lamp base of a lamp assembly, a housing configured to position a lamp bulb of a lamp assembly in thermal connection with a processing chamber, a contact adaptor configured to electrically connect to a power supply and a conductive material to electrically connect the socket and the contact adaptor.

Lamphead PCB with flexible standoffs

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Union City, CA, United States of America

Dongming Iu