Advanced Ion Beam Technology, Inc.

Axcelis Technologies, Inc.

Novellus Systems Incorporated

Other

Tokyo Electron Limited

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc.

Veeco Instruments Inc.

Eclipse Ion Technology, Inc.

Proteros, LLC

John D Pollock

John W Vanderpot

Donald Wayne Berrian

Zhimin Wan

Erik Collart

Causon Ko-Chuan Jen

Don Berrian

Louise Smith Barriss

Alexander I Gurary

Robert E Kaim

Jiong Chen

Richard A Comunale

Robert White Milgate

Roger P Fremgen

George Christianson

Todd A Luse

William R Freischel

Iii Robert White Milgate

A rotating disk reactor for chemical vapor deposition includes a vacuum chamber and a ferrofluid feedthrough comprising an upper and a lower ferrofluid seal that passes a motor shaft into the vacuum chamber. A motor is coupled to the motor shaft and is positioned in an atmospheric region between the upper and the lower ferrofluid seal. A turntable is positioned in the vacuum chamber and is coupled to the motor shaft so that the motor rotates the turntable at a desired rotation rate. A dielectric support is coupled to the turntable so that the turntable rotates the dielectric support when driven by the shaft. A substrate carrier is positioned on the dielectric support in the vacuum chamber for chemical vapor deposition processing. A heater is positioned proximate to the substrate carrier that controls the temperature of the substrate carrier to a desired temperature for chemical vapor deposition.

Rotating disk reactor with ferrofluid seal for chemical vapor deposition

A variable aperture within an aperture device is used to shape the ion beam before the substrate is implanted by shaped ion beam, especially to finally shape the ion beam in a position right in front of the substrate. Hence, different portions of a substrate, or different substrates, can be implanted respectively by different shaped ion beams without going through using multiple fixed apertures or retuning the ion beam each time. In other words, different implantations may be achieved respectively by customized ion beams without high cost (use multiple fixed aperture devices) and complex operation (retuning the ion beam each time). Moreover, the beam tune process for acquiring a specific ion beam to be implanted may be accelerated, to be faster than using multiple fixed aperture(s) and/or retuning the ion beam each time, because the adjustment of the variable aperture may be achieved simply by mechanical operation.

Implant method and implanter by using a variable aperture

An ion implanter and an ion implant method are disclosed. Essentially, the wafer is moved along one direction and an aperture mechanism having an aperture is moved along another direction, so that the projected area of an ion beam filtered by the aperture is two-dimensionally scanned over the wafer. Thus, the required hardware and/or operation to move the wafer may be simplified. Further, when a ribbon ion beam is provided, the shape/size of the aperture may be similar to the size/shape of a traditional spot beam, so that a traditional two-dimensional scan may be achieved. Optionally, the ion beam path may be fixed without scanning the ion beam when the ion beam is to be implanted into the wafer, also the area of the aperture may be adjustable during a period of moving the aperture across the ion beam.

Ion implanter and ion implant method thereof

Techniques for low temperature ion implantation are provided to improve the throughput. During a low temperature ion implantation, an implant process may be started before the substrate temperature is decreased to be about to a prescribed implant temperature by a cooling process, and a heating process may be started to increase the substrate temperature before the implant process is finished. Moreover, one or more temperature adjust process may be performed during one or more portion of the implant process, such that the substrate temperature may be controllably higher than the prescribe implant temperature during the implant process.

Method for low temperature ion implantation

Techniques for low temperature ion implantation are provided to improve throughput. Specifically, the pressure of the backside gas may temporarily, continually or continuously increase before the starting of the implant process, such that the wafer may be quickly cooled down from room temperature to be essentially equal to the prescribed implant temperature. Further, after the vacuum venting process, the wafer may wait an extra time in the load lock chamber before the wafer is moved out the ion implanter, in order to allow the wafer temperature to reach a higher temperature quickly for minimizing water condensation on the wafer surface. Furthermore, to accurately monitor the wafer temperature during a period of changing wafer temperature, a non-contact type temperature measuring device may be used to monitor wafer temperature in a real time manner with minimized condensation.

A system, method, and apparatus for determining a profile of an ion beam are provided. The apparatus comprises a measuring device positioned along a path of the ion beam, a drive mechanism, and a first plate rotatably coupled to the drive mechanism. The drive mechanism is operable to rotate the first plate about a first axis through a path of the ion beam, therein selectively blocking the ion beam from reaching the measuring device. The apparatus may comprise a second plate further rotatably coupled to the drive mechanism, wherein the drive mechanism is operable to rotate the second plate about the first axis through the path of the ion beam independently from the rotation of the first plate, therein further selectively blocking the ion beam from reaching the measuring device. The drive mechanism may further linearly translate first plate and/or second plate through the ion beam.

Ion beam profiler

A reciprocating drive system, method, and apparatus for scanning a workpiece are provided, wherein a motor comprising a rotor and stator operable to individually rotate about a first axis is operable to reciprocally translate the workpiece with respect to a stationary reference. A shaft rotatably driven by the rotor extends along the first axis, and a scan arm is operably coupled to the shaft, wherein the scan arm is operable to support the workpiece thereon. Cyclical counter rotations of the shaft by the motor are operable to rotate the scan arm, therein scanning the workpiece through the ion beam along a first scan path, wherein the stator acts as a reaction mass to the rotation of the rotor. A controller is further operable to control an electromagnetic force between the rotor and the stator, therein generally determining a rotational position of the rotor and the stator.

Reciprocating drive for scanning a workpiece

A method for reciprocally transporting a workpiece on a scan arm through an ion beam is provided, wherein the scan arm is operably coupled to a motor comprising a rotor and stator that are individually rotatable about a first axis. An electromagnetic force applied between the rotor and stator rotates the rotor about the first axis and translates the workpiece through the ion beam along a first scan path. A position of the workpiece is sensed and the electromagnetic force between the rotor and stator is controlled in order to reverse the direction of motion of the workpiece along the first scan path, and wherein the control is based, at least in part, on the sensed position of the workpiece. The stator further rotates about the first axis in reaction to the rotation of the rotor, particularly in the reversal of direction of motion of the workpiece, thus acting as a reaction mass to the rotation of one or more of the rotor, scan arm, and workpiece.

Method for reciprocating a workpiece through an ion beam

A reciprocating drive system and apparatus for scanning a workpiece through an ion beam are provided, wherein a motor comprising a rotor and stator operable to individually rotate about a first axis is operable to reciprocally translate the workpiece with respect to the ion beam. A shaft rotatably driven by the rotor extends along the first axis, and a scan arm is operably coupled to the shaft, wherein the scan arm is operable to support the workpiece thereon. Cyclical counter rotations of the shaft by the motor are operable to rotate the scan arm, therein scanning the workpiece through the ion beam along a first scan path, wherein the stator acts as a reaction mass to the rotation of the rotor. A controller is further operable to control an electromagnetic force between the rotor and the stator, therein generally determining a rotational position of the rotor and the stator.

Reciprocating drive for scanning a workpiece through an ion beam

A substrate positioning system is provided to facilitate the performing of certain processing on the substrate, such as ion implantation. The system comprises a linkage rotatably mounted to a base and an end effector member rotatably mounted to the linkage and configured for receiving a substrate. Through the synchronized rotation of the linkage about the base and the end effector member about the linkage, the system acts as a robotic unit to move the substrate to the desired location for performing processing thereon. In another aspect, the base is movable along an axis such that the system maintains a constant distance of travel for an ion beam incident on the substrate as the linkage and end effector member travel in a curved path.

Substrate positioning system

A method to rotate individual pad of a batch disk to an implant angle and lock them in place, with the pad surface having conical or near conical surface to minimize the implant angle variation across a wafer on the pad for both tilt angle and twist angle, at large tilt angle implant. The implanter includes a disk with multiple attached pads that can hold substrates securely when the hub is at rest or rotates. The disk rotates around its spin axis, which moves laterally at a programmed speed profile so that all substrates on the hub can get evenly touched by the fixed ion beam. The pad rotation axis is at an angle with the disk spin axis, and the angle is preferable 90 degrees. The nominal of the pad surface is at an angle, i.e., a tilt angle, relative to the incident ion beam. A rotation mechanism is applied to each individual pad to rotate the pad to the desired tilt angle. A locking mechanism is applied to each individual pad assembly to lock the pad at the desired tilt angle with minimum angle variation under high centrifugal force during fast disk spin. The locking mechanism includes: a) add brake to the rotation mechanism in the pad assembly so that the pad cannot rotate due to mechanical friction force or lock-key. B) use motor to hold the pad assembly. The sum of the friction torque and the motor holding torque should be larger than the centrifugal torque. A torque balancing mechanism is applied to pad mechanical design to minimize the total pad rotation torque under centrifugal force during fast disk spin by adding mass to counter balance the original wafer pad mass.

Apparatus and method for reducing implant angle variations across a large wafer for a batch disk

An ion implantation system contains, in the ion implantation chamber, a workpiece holder that scans vertically while tilting a wafer at an angle of rotation that is rotated out of a perpendicular orientation with respect to the axis of projection in an ion beam. The implant angle into an implant surface on wafer that is retained by the workpiece holder is adjusted by selective rotation of the workpiece holder about its path of motion. A Faraday cup scans the ion beam along the intended location of the implant surface to form a setup measurement plane. The ion beam quality is adjusted to enhance beam uniformity along the setup plane according to these tilt-angle measurements. A charge neutralizing device, such as a flood gun, is moved in operational alignment with the workpiece.

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Rowley, MA, United States of America

John D Pollock