The Boc Group, Inc.

Edwards Vacuum LLC

Frank Jansen

Peter Martin Pozniak

Benjamin R Roberts

Abraham I Belkind

Colin John Dickinson

Sohrab Zarrabian

Joseph Countrywood

Daimhin Paul Murphy

Zoltan Orban

Olivier J Blachier

Steven K Krommenhoek

C John Dickinson

Charlie Sherwood

The present invention relates to turbomolecular vacuum pumps and an arrangement for reducing or eliminating an accumulated static charge in the rotor caused by an interaction of the rotor with either electrically charged or neutral particles in the pumped media. Electrical charge exchange between the rotor and the electrically grounded stator is effected through a wire or other means of electrical contact, or through charge emission devices such as a field emission tip. In either case, electrostatic charges in the rotor are reduced or eliminated.

Turbomolecular pump with static charge control

An apparatus and method for processing a microelectronic substrate comprises a main chamber and a movable boundary. The main chamber comprises a main chamber wall enclosing a main chamber interior. The movable boundary is disposed within the main chamber interior, and is movable between a first position and a second position. At the first position, the movable boundary at least partially defines a sub-chamber in which a substrate can be processed. The sub-chamber is fluidly isolated from the main chamber interior, and provides an environment suitable for a high-pressure processing of the substrate such as cleaning or surface preparation. The sub-chamber can be maintained at a high pressure while the main chamber is maintained at either a low pressure, an atmospheric pressure, or at a vacuum. The apparatus can be directly coupled to an external substrate handling and/or fabrication module, such that the main chamber interior provides a buffer between the sub-chamber and the external module. At the second position of the movable boundary, the substrate can be loaded into or removed from the apparatus, such as by transfer to or from any external module provided.

Substrate processing apparatus and related systems and methods

A method and system are disclosed for plating objects. At least one aspect associated with the object plating is monitored to determine the amount of at least one byproduct created during the plating and/or the reduction in the amount of at least one plating component. Based on this monitored aspect, an adjustment is made to the flow rate of substances added to a plating cell and/or the flow rate of used plating substances drained from the plating cell. The used plating substances are purified to remove at least some of the byproduct and then the purified plating substances are combined with at least one component before passing back into the plating cell to reuse at least some of the plating substances. The method and system could be used during the plating of semiconductor wafers with copper.

Object plating method and system

A method and apparatus for producing a liquid mixture in which mixture components are mixed to produce a product stream having a predetermined connection of a specified component. This mixing occurs within a fluidic network designed such that the components mix in inlet branches to form a first intermediate mixture having a lower concentration than that desired in the product stream. The specified component is metered into the intermediate product stream to produce a second intermediate product stream that is blended to produce a third intermediate product stream. The concentration of the specified component within the third intermediate product stream is measured and the metering pump is appropriately adjusted. The third intermediate product stream then passes through a recycle loop in which recycled product is mixed with an intermediate product stream to produce a liquid mixture stream that is divided into the recycle stream and a product stream.

Apparatus for producing liquid mixture having predetermined concentration of a specific component

A method and apparatus for producing a liquid mixture in which mixture components are mixed to produce a product stream having a predetermined concentration of a specified component. This mixing occurs within a fluidic network designed such that the components mix in inlet branches to form a first intermediate mixture having a lower concentration than that desired in the product stream. The specified component is metered into the intermediate product stream to produce a second intermediate product stream that is blended to produce a third intermediate product stream. The concentration of the specified component within the third intermediate product stream is measured and the metering pump is appropriately adjusted. The third intermediate product stream then passes through a recycle loop in which recycled product is mixed with an intermediate product stream to produce a liquid mixture stream that is divided into the recycle stream and a product stream.

Method for producing a liquid mixture having a predetermined concentration of a specified component

A gas purged counter-electrode prevents the counter-electrode from being covered with dielectric material by flowing gas past a surface of a metal element. The gas purged counter-electrode produces a relatively high-density plasma which effectively acts as the counter-electrode for a coating system. The gas purged counter-electrodes can be used with PECVD or sputtering systems.

Plasma apparatus and method

An array of hollow cathodes can be made by mounting a housing connected to a source of plasma precursor gas and to a source of power in a vacuum chamber, said housing having a plurality of uniformly spaced openings in a wall thereof into which a plasma can be generated. A substrate to be treated is mounted parallel to and spaced a preselected distance from said openings. In operation, a plurality of plasma torches is created extending from the openings which can plasma etch and remove coatings on said substrate.

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Frank Jansen