Tokyo Electron Limited

Hieu A Lam

Hongyu Henry Yue

John Christopher Shriner

James E Willis

Satoshi Harada

Kevin Andrew Chamness

Edward C Hume, Iii

David Fatke

The present invention presents a plasma processing system for etching a layer on a substrate comprising a process chamber, a diagnostic system coupled to the process chamber and configured to measure at least one endpoint signal, and a controller coupled to the diagnostic system and configured to determine in-situ at least one of an etch rate and an etch rate uniformity of the etching from the endpoint signal. Furthermore, an in-situ method of determining an etch property for etching a layer on a substrate in a plasma processing system is presented comprising the steps: providing a thickness of the layer; etching the layer on the substrate; measuring at least one endpoint signal using a diagnostic system coupled to the plasma processing system, wherein the endpoint signal comprises an endpoint transition; and determining the etch rate from a ratio of the thickness to a difference between a time during the endpoint transition and a starting time of the etching.

Method and apparatus for determining an etch property using an endpoint signal

A method for constructing a process performance prediction model for a material processing system, the method including the steps of: recording tool data for a plurality of observations during a process in a process tool, the tool data comprises a plurality of tool data parameters; recording process performance data for the plurality of observations during the process in the process tool, the process performance data comprises one or more process performance parameters; performing a partial least squares analysis using the tool data and the process performance data; and computing correlation data from the partial least squares analysis.

Method and system for predicting process performance using material processing tool and sensor data

A method of monitoring a processing system for processing a substrate during the course of semiconductor manufacturing is described. The method comprises acquiring data from the processing system for a plurality of observations. It further comprises constructing a principal components analysis (PCA) model from the data, wherein a weighting factor is applied to at least one of the data variables in the acquired data. The PCA mode is utilized in conjunction with the acquisition of additional data, and at least one statistical quantity is determined for each additional observation. Upon setting a control limit for the processing system, the at least one statistical quantity is compared with the control limit for each additional observation. When, for example, the at least one statistical quantity exceeds the control limit, a fault for the processing system is detected.

Process system health index and method of using the same

A method and apparatus is presented for using a pressure control system to monitor a plasma processing system. By monitoring variations in the state of the pressure control system, a fault condition, an erroneous fault condition, or a service condition can be detected. For example, the service condition can include monitoring the accumulation of residue between successive preventative maintenance events.

Method and apparatus for using a pressure control system to monitor a plasma processing system

A method of automatically configuring an Advanced Process Control (APC) system for a semiconductor manufacturing environment in which an auto-configuration script is generated for executing an auto-configuration program. The auto-configuration script activates default values for input to the auto-configuration program. The auto-configuration script is executed to generate an enabled parameter file output from the auto-configuration program. The enabled parameter file identifies parameters for statistical process control (SPC) chart generation.

Method for automatic configuration of processing system

A method and system for determining a substrate type during a seasoning process is presented. An optical signal is acquired from a process in a plasma processing system, and the optical signal is compared to a pre-determined threshold value. Depending upon the comparison, the substrate type is determined to be of a correct type, or an incorrect type.

Method and system of discriminating substrate type

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a material processing systeme () including a process tool () and a process performance control system (). The process performance control system () includes a process performance controller () coupled to the process tool (), where the process performance controller () includes a process performance prediction model (), a process recipe correction filter (), a process controller (), and process performance model correction algorithm (). The process performance prediction model () is configured to receive tool data from a plurality of sensors coupled to process tool () and to predict process performance data. The process recipe correction filter () is coupled to the process performance prediction model () and configured to receive predicted process performance data and generate a process recipe correction for run-to-run process control. The process controller () is coupled to the process recipe correction filter () and is configured to update a process recipe according to the process recipe correction.

Controlling a material processing tool and performance data

A plasma processing system that comprises a process chamber, a plasma source, a light detection device and a controller. The controller is useful for determining a seasoning state of the plasma processing system. The present invention further provides a method of determining the seasoning state of a plasma processing system comprising the steps of forming a first plasma in the process chamber utilizing the plasma source; measuring a first signal related to light emitted from the first plasma using the light detection device and storing the first signal using the controller; forming a second plasma in the process chamber utilizing the plasma source; measuring a second signal related to light emitted from the second plasma using the light detection device and storing the second signal using the controller; and correlating a change between the first signal and the second signal with a seasoning state of the plasma processing system.

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Richardson, TX, United States of America

Hieu A Lam