Applied Materials, Inc.

Imad Yousif

Martin Jeffrey Salinas

Paul Benjamin Reuter

Samer Banna

Jared Ahmad Lee

Aniruddha Pal

Vladimir Knyazik

Kyle Tantiwong

Yan Rozenzon

Bojenna Keating

Andrew Nguyen

Kenneth S Collins

Shahid Rauf

Ajit Balakrishna

Ying Rui

Michael Robert Rice

Valentin Nikolov Todorow

Walter R Merry

Kartik Ramaswamy

Rajinder Dhindsa

Hiroji Hanawa

Ming Xu

Olivier Luere

Yogananda Sarode Vishwanath

Steven E Babayan

Sunil Srinivasan

Denis M Koosau

Nancy Fung

Gary Leray

Anchel Sheyner

Albert Wang

Dmitry Lubomirsky

Jennifer Y Sun

Thomas E Nowak

Steven C Shannon

James P Cruse

David Palagashvili

Roger Alan Lindley

Sebastien Raoux

Quoc Truong

Valentin N Todorov

Stefan A Wolff

Craig A Bercaw

Martin Jeff Salinas

Gerhard M Schneider

Dave Silvetti

James A Stinnett

Ying Xiao

Masao Drexel

Vincente Lim

Russ Newman

Ned Matthew

Apparatuses including a height-adjustable edge ring, and methods for use thereof are described herein. In one example, a process kit for processing a substrate is provided. The process kit has a support ring comprising an upper surface having an inner edge disposed at a first height and an outward edge disposed at a second height less than the first height, the inner edge having a greater thickness than the outward edge. An edge ring is disposed on the support ring, an inner surface of the edge ring interfaced with the inner edge of the support ring. A cover ring is disposed outward of the edge ring, the edge ring independently moveable relative to the support ring and the cover ring. Push pins are disposed inward of the cover ring, the push pins operable to elevate the edge ring while constraining radial movement of the support ring.

Wafer edge ring lifting solution

A gas distribution hub for a plasma chamber. The hub has a nozzle including a plurality of inner gas injection passage and a plurality of outer gas injection passages. The first plurality of gas injection passages are angularly spaced-apart arcuate channels at a first radial distance from a center of the hub, and the second plurality of gas injection passages are angularly spaced apart arcuate channels at a different second radial distance from the center of the hub.

Gas hub for plasma reactor

Examples of the present invention provide an apparatus for transferring substrates and confining a processing environment in a chamber. One example provides a hoop assembly for use in a processing chamber. The hoop assembly includes a confinement ring defining a confinement region therein. A hoop body mates with the confinement ring. The hoop body is slanted to reduce a thickness across a diameter of the hoop body. Three or more lifting fingers are attached to the hoop body and extend downwards. Each of the three or more lifting fingers has a contact tip positioned radially inward from the hoop body to form a substrate support surface below and spaced apart from the confinement region.

Method and apparatus for substrate transfer and radical confinement

Apparatuses including a height-adjustable edge ring, and methods for use thereof are described herein. In one example, a substrate support assembly includes a height-adjustable edge ring, and the substrate support assembly is located within a process chamber. The substrate support assembly includes an electrostatic chuck, an edge ring positioned on a portion of the electrostatic chuck, and one or more actuators to adjust the height of the edge ring via one or more push pins. The height-adjustable edge ring can be used to compensate for erosion of the edge ring over time. In addition, the height-adjustable edge ring can be removed from the process chamber via a slit valve opening without venting and opening the process chamber. The height-adjustable edge ring can be tilted by the one or more actuators in order to improve azimuthal uniformity at the edge of the substrate.

An annular lid plate of a plasma reactor has upper and lower layers of gas distribution channels distributing gas along equal length paths from gas supply lines to respective gas distribution passages of a ceiling gas nozzle.

Plasma reactor with highly symmetrical four-fold gas injection

Embodiments of the present invention provide a dual load lock chamber capable of processing a substrate. In one embodiment, the dual load lock chamber includes a chamber body defining a first chamber volume and a second chamber volume isolated from one another. Each of the lower and second chamber volumes is selectively connectable to two processing environments through two openings configured for substrate transferring. The dual load lock chamber also includes a heated substrate support assembly disposed in the second chamber volume. The heated substrate support assembly is configured to support and heat a substrate thereon. The dual load lock chamber also includes a remote plasma source connected to the second chamber volume for supplying a plasma to the second chamber volume.

Abatement and strip process chamber in a dual loadlock configuration

Abatement and strip process chamber in a dual load lock configuration

A gas injection system includes (a) a side gas plenum, (b) a plurality of N gas inlets coupled to said side gas plenum, (c) plural side gas outlets extending radially inwardly from said plenum, (d) an N-way gas flow ratio controller having N outputs coupled to said N gas inlets respectively, and (e) an M-way gas flow ratio controller having M outputs, respective ones of said M outputs coupled to said tunable gas nozzle and a gas input of said N-way gas flow ratio controller.

Nozzle for multi-zone gas injection assembly

Process kit components for use with a substrate support of a process chamber are provided herein. In some embodiments, a process kit ring may include a ring shaped body having an outer edge, an inner edge, a top surface and a bottom, wherein the outer edge has a diameter of about 12.473 inches to about 12.479 inches and the inner edge has a diameter of about 11.726 inches to about 11.728 inches, and wherein the ring shaped body has a height of about 0.116 to about 0.118 inches; and a plurality of protrusions disposed on the top surface of the ring shaped body, each of the plurality of protrusions disposed symmetrically about the ring shaped body.

Process kit components for use with an extended and independent RF powered cathode substrate for extreme edge tunability

Embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus for transferring substrates and confining a processing environment in a chamber. One embodiment of the present invention provides a hoop assembly for using a processing chamber. The hoop assembly includes a confinement ring defining a confinement region therein, and three or more lifting fingers attached to the hoop. The three or more lifting fingers are configured to support a substrate outside the inner volume of the confinement ring.

Side gas injection kit for multi-zone gas injection assembly

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for heating and supporting a substrate in a processing chamber. A substrate support assembly includes a heated plate having a substrate supporting surface on a front side and a cantilever arm extending from a backside of the heated plate. The heated plate is configured to support and heat a substrate on the substrate supporting surface. The cantilever arm has a first end attached to the heated plate near a central axis of the heated plate, and a second end extending radially outwards from the central axis.

Thin heated substrate support

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Imad Yousif