Applied Materials, Inc.

Jim Carducci

Hamid Noorbakhsh

Michael D Welch

Siamak Salimian

Hongching Shan

Paul E Luscher

Evans Yip Lee

Kaushik Vaidya

A plasma reactor embodying the invention includes a wafer support and a chamber enclosure member having an interior surface generally facing the wafer support. At least one miniature gas distribution plate for introducing a process gas into the reactor is supported on the chamber enclosure member and has an outlet surface which is a fraction of the area of the interior surface of said wafer support. A coolant system maintains the chamber enclosure member at a low temperature, and the miniature gas distribution plate is at least partially thermally insulated from the chamber enclosure member so that it is maintained at a higher temperature by plasma heating.

Plasma reactor cooled ceiling with an array of thermally isolated plasma heated mini-gas distribution plates

The present invention provides a robot and a method of using the robot for transferring objects, namely substrates, through a process system. The robot provides a pair of movable arms mounted to a drive member adapted to move the arms in a rotational path to produce coordinated movements of extension, retraction, and rotation. A pair of upper struts pivotally mounted to the arms at one end pivotally connect to a first blade at their apogee ends to form a frog-leg type assembly. Likewise, a pair of lower struts pivotally mounted to the arms at one end pivotally connect to a second blade, which is radially aligned with the first blade, at their apogee ends to form a frog-leg type assembly. The pivotal connection of the upper struts to the arms are offset from the pivotal connections of the lower struts to the arms to produce a different rate of radial movement of the first blade to the second blade during extension and retraction of the blades. The robot facilitates substrate transfers, such as removal of a processed substrate and insertion of an unprocessed substrate within a processing chamber through a single entry of the robot blades into the processing chamber.

Single drive, dual plane robot

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Jim Carducci