Cascade Microtech, Inc.

Novellus Systems Incorporated

Jeffrey Alan Hawkins

Leonard A Hayden

Ron A Peters

R Mark Dougherty

Jonathan David Reid

Evan E Patton

Dinesh S Kalakkad

Steven T Mayer

Bryan L Buckalew

Kousik Ganesan

Charles Lorenzo Merrill

Jason Daniel Marchetti

An apparatus for conditioning deionized water and delivering it to a semiconductor wafer in a post electrofill module includes a degassing station configured to remove dissolved gas from the deionized water flow, a heating station configured to heat the deionized water flow, and a nozzle configured to deliver the deionized water flow to the wafer. The heating and degassing are performed before the delivery of the deionized water flow to the wafer. In some implementations the degassing station includes a contact degasser or an inert gas bubbler, and the heating station is configured to heating the deionized water flow to a temperature of between about 35-40&#xb0; C. In some embodiments the deionized water flow is passed through the degassing station before being passed through the heating station.

Deionized water conditioning system and methods

A probe station for probing a test device has a chuck element for supporting the test device. An electrically conductive outer shield enclosure at least partially encloses such chuck element to provide EMI shielding therefor. An electrically conductive inner shield enclosure is interposed between and insulated from the outer shield enclosure and the chuck element, and at least partially encloses the chuck element.

Probe station having multiple enclosures

Certain mechanisms of a plating apparatus address problems associated with interaction between plating solutions or other processing solutions and the components of the plating apparatus (such as the electrical contacts). For example, a circumferential spray skirt around the interface of a 'cup' and 'cone' in the plating apparatus protects these features during plating. A shield mechanism contacts the cup and/or cone at the periphery of their interface to provide a fluid resistant seal. In some cases, the cone includes an outer circumferential lip that engages a complementary surface of the cup for this purpose. Further, a mechanism is provided for raising and lowering the work piece with the cone in order to allow in situ rinsing of the work piece and/or regions of the cup.

Clamshell apparatus with crystal shielding and in-situ rinse-dry

The present invention includes apparatus and methods for measuring impedance of a layer of deposited metal on a substrate and controlling deposition uniformity during electroplating. A first circuit delivers plating current to a metal layer on the substrate, and a second circuit, electrically isolated from the first, measures the impedance. Methods of the invention provide multi-point sheet resistance measurements before and during an electroplating process on a substrate. In a specific example, resistance is measured via a copper seed layer during electroplating.

Clamshell apparatus with dynamic uniformity control

Probe station having inner and outer shielding

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Portland, OR, United States of America

Jeffrey Alan Hawkins