Applied Materials, Inc.

Other

Applied Materical, Inc.

Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez

Jianhua Zhou

Amit Kumar Bansal

Ganesh Balasubramanian

Thomas E Nowak

Sanjeev Baluja

Ramprakash Sankarakrishnan

Dale Robert Du Bois

Mohamad A Ayoub

Bok Hoen Kim

Xinhai Han

Jian J Chen

Zheng John Ye

Tuan Anh Nguyen

Hichem M'Saad

Masaki Ogata

Scott A Hendrickson

Jeongmin Lee

Jian Li

Karthik Janakiraman

Alexandros T Demos

Deenesh Padhi

Kwangduk Douglas Lee

Nagarajan Rajagopalan

Patrick Reilly

Shankar Venkataraman

Jay D Pinson, Ii

Hari K Ponnekanti

Ren-Guan Duan

Abdul Aziz Khaja

Dmitry A Dzilno

Zhijun Jiang

Xing Lin

Todd J Egan

Tom K Cho

Edward W Budiarto

Terrance Y Lee

Michael Wenyoung Tsiang

Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan

Daemian Raj Benjamin Raj

Shailendra Srivastava

Prashant Kumar Kulshreshtha

Abhijit Basu Mallick

Li-Qun Xia

Dale R Dubois

Hiroji Hanawa

Kelvin Chan

Derek R Witty

Vinay K Prabhakar

Kalyanjit Ghosh

Bo Xie

Paul Brillhart

Mukund Srinivasan

Yihong Chen

Martin Jay Seamons

Edward P Hammond

Jeffrey C Hudgens

Zhenjiang Cui

Chen-An Chen

Mark A Fodor

Zhong Qiang Hua

Annamalai Lakshmanan

Sanjay G Kamath

Sohyun Park

Andrzej Kaszuba

Srinivas D Nemani

Michael Robert Rice

Ellie Y Yieh

Takashi Shimizu

Charles T Carlson

Rui Cheng

David Walter Groechel

Jason M Schaller

Mandyam Sriram

Tza-Jing Gung

Tsutomu Tanaka

Amir Hamed Al-Bayati

Benjamin B Riordon

Paul Zachary Wirth

Ajit Balakrishna

Ziqing Duan

Vishwas Kumar Pandey

Swaminathan T Srinivasan

Mei-Yee Shek

Vladimir Zubkov

Praket Prakash Jha

David H Quach

Diwakar N Kedlaya

Umesh M Kelkar

Zubin Huang

Matthew James Busche

Tejas Ulavi

Sarah Michelle Bobek

Jonghoon Baek

Tzu-Fang Huang

Venkata Sharat Chandra Parimi

Mayur G Kulkarni

John Joseph Mazzocco

Sudhir R Gondhalekar

Yao-Hung Yang

Exemplary substrate processing systems may include a plurality of processing regions. The systems may include a transfer region housing defining a transfer region fluidly coupled with the plurality of processing regions. The systems may include a plurality of substrate supports. Each substrate support of the plurality of substrate supports may be vertically translatable between the transfer region and an associated processing region of the plurality of processing regions. The systems may include a transfer apparatus including a rotatable shaft extending through the transfer region housing. The transfer apparatus may also include an end effector coupled with the rotatable shaft. The systems may include an exhaust foreline including a plurality of foreline tails. Each foreline tail of the plurality of foreline tails may be fluidly coupled with a separate processing region of the plurality of processing regions. The systems may include a plurality of throttle valves.

Multiple process semiconductor processing system

A radio frequency (RF) source may be used to generate a capacitively coupled plasma to perform a plasma-based process on a substrate in a plasma processing chamber. A controller may cause the RF source and a switching element to route an RF signal to electrodes in the pedestal that generate the plasma in the processing chamber as part of a recipe performed on a substrate during etch or deposition processes. Between processes, the controller may cause the same RF source to generate a second RF signal that is instead routed by the switching element to inductive coils to generate an inductively coupled plasma for a cleaning process to remove film deposits on the interior of the plasma processing chamber.

Radio frequency source for inductively coupled and capacitively coupled plasmas in substrate processing chambers

Exemplary processing systems may include a chamber body. The systems may include a pedestal configured to support a semiconductor substrate. The systems may include a faceplate. The chamber body, the pedestal, and the faceplate may define a processing region. The faceplate may be coupled with an RF power source. The systems may include a remote plasma unit. The remote plasma unit may be coupled at electrical ground. The systems may include a discharge tube extending from the remote plasma unit towards the faceplate. The discharge tube may define a central aperture. The discharge tube may be electrically coupled with each of the faceplate and the remote plasma unit. The discharge tube may include ferrite extending about the central aperture of the discharge tube.

Semiconductor processing chamber to accommodate parasitic plasma formation

Exemplary semiconductor processing systems may include a chamber body including sidewalls and a base. The chamber body may define an interior volume. The systems may include a substrate support extending through the base of the chamber body. The substrate support may be configured to support a substrate within the interior volume. The systems may include a faceplate positioned within the interior volume of the chamber body. The faceplate may define a plurality of apertures through the faceplate. The systems may include a leveling apparatus seated on the substrate support. The leveling apparatus may include a plurality of piezoelectric pressure sensors.

Semiconductor substrate support leveling apparatus

A faceplate for a substrate process chamber comprises a first and second surface. The second surface is shaped such that the second surface includes a peak and a distance between the first and second surface varies across the width of the faceplate. The second surface of the faceplate is exposed to a processing volume of the process chamber. Further, the faceplate may be part of a lid assembly for the process chamber. The lid assembly may include a blocker plate facing the first surface of the faceplate. A distance between the blocker plate and the first surface is constant.

Faceplate having a curved surface

Exemplary substrate processing systems may include a chamber body defining a transfer region. The systems may include a lid plate seated on the chamber body. The lid plate may define a plurality of apertures. The systems may include a plurality of lid stacks equal to a number of the plurality of apertures. The systems may include a plurality of substrate support assemblies equal to the number of apertures defined through the lid plate. Each assembly may be disposed in one of the processing regions and may include an electrostatic chuck body defining a substrate support surface that defines a substrate seat. Each assembly may include a heater embedded within the chuck body. Each assembly may include bipolar electrodes between the heater and the substrate support surface. Each assembly may include a conductive mesh embedded within the body between the heater and bipolar electrodes.

Bipolar esc with balanced RF impedance

A chucking system reduces differences in chucking forces that are applied by two electrodes of an electrostatic chuck, to a substrate disposed atop the chuck. Initial chucking voltages are applied to each of two electrodes, and an initial current provided to at least a first electrode of the two electrodes is measured. A process is initiated that affects a DC voltage of the substrate, then a modified current provided to at least the first electrode is measured. A modified chucking voltage for a selected one of the two electrodes is determined that will reduce chucking force imbalance across the substrate based at least on the initial current and the modified current. The modified chucking voltage is then provided to the selected one of the two electrodes.

Real time bias detection and correction for electrostatic chuck

Exemplary semiconductor processing systems include a processing chamber defining a processing region. The semiconductor processing systems may include a foreline coupled with the processing chamber. The foreline may define a fluid conduit. The semiconductor processing systems may include a foreline trap coupled with a distal end of the foreline. The semiconductor processing systems may include a removable insert provided within an interior of the foreline trap. The semiconductor processing systems may include a throttle valve coupled with the foreline trap downstream of the removable insert.

Actively cooled foreline trap to reduce throttle valve drift

Exemplary support assemblies may include an electrostatic chuck body defining a support surface that defines a substrate seat. The assemblies may include a support stem coupled with the chuck body. The assemblies may include a heater embedded within the chuck body. The assemblies may include a first bipolar electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body between the heater and support surface. The assemblies may include a second bipolar electrode embedded within the chuck body between the heater and support surface. Peripheral edges of one or both of the first and second bipolar electrodes may extend beyond an outer periphery of the seat. The assemblies may include an RF power supply coupled with the first and second bipolar electrodes. The assemblies may include a first floating DC power supply coupled with the first bipolar electrode. The assemblies may include a second floating DC power supply coupled with the second bipolar electrode.

Bipolar electrostatic chuck to limit DC discharge

Exemplary semiconductor processing systems include a processing chamber, a power supply, and a chuck disposed at least partially within the processing chamber. The chuck includes a chuck body defining a vacuum port. The chuck also includes first and second coplanar electrodes embedded in the chuck body and connected to the power supply. In some examples, coplanar electrodes include concentric electrodes defining a concentric gap in between. Exemplary semiconductor processing methods may include activating the power supply for the electrostatic chuck to secure a semiconductor substrate on the body of the chuck and/or activating the vacuum port defined by the body of the electrostatic chuck. Some processing can be carried out at increased pressure, while other processing can be carried out at reduced pressure with increased chucking voltage.

Multi-pressure bipolar electrostatic chucking

Exemplary semiconductor processing chambers may include a substrate support including a top surface. A peripheral edge region of the top surface may be recessed relative to a medial region of the top surface. The chambers may include a pumping liner disposed about an exterior surface of the substrate support. The chambers may include a liner disposed between the substrate support and the pumping liner. The liner may be spaced apart from the exterior surface to define a purge lumen between the liner and the substrate support. The chambers may include an edge ring seated on the peripheral edge region. The edge ring may extend beyond a peripheral edge of the substrate support and above a portion of the liner. A gap may be formed between a bottom surface of the edge ring and a top surface of the liner. The gap and the purge lumen may be fluidly coupled.

Hardware to prevent bottom purge incursion in application volume and process gas diffusion below heater

A processing chamber may include a gas distribution member, a substrate support, and a pumping liner. The gas distribution member and the substrate support may at least in part define a processing volume. The pumping liner may define an internal volume in fluid communication with the processing volume via a plurality of apertures of the pumping liner circumferentially disposed about the processing volume. The processing chamber may further include a flow control mechanism operable to direct fluid flow from the internal volume of the pumping liner into the processing volume via a subset of the plurality of apertures of the pumping liner during fluid distribution into the processing volume from the gas distribution member.

Semiconductor processing chambers and methods for cleaning the same

A fluid delivery device is disclosed. The fluid delivery device includes a fluid flow meter. The fluid flow meter is enclosed in an insulated box. An intake is provided on the insulated box for providing a forced cooling gas flow over the fluid flow meter. An exhaust is provided on the insulated box from which the forced cooling gas exits the insulated box.

Thermally stable flow meters for precision fluid delivery

Exemplary support assemblies may include an electrostatic chuck body defining a substrate support surface. The substrate support assemblies may include a support stem coupled with the electrostatic chuck body. The substrate support assemblies may include a heater embedded within the electrostatic chuck body. The substrate support assemblies may include a first bipolar electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body between the heater and the substrate support surface. The first bipolar electrode may include at least two separated mesh sections, with each mesh section characterized by a circular sector shape. The substrate support assemblies may include a second bipolar electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body between the heater and the substrate support surface. The second bipolar electrode may include a continuous mesh extending through the at least two separated mesh sections of the first bipolar electrode.

High temperature bipolar electrostatic chuck

A method of processing a substrate according to a PECVD process is described. Temperature profile of the substrate is adjusted to change deposition rate profile across the substrate. Plasma density profile is adjusted to change deposition rate profile across the substrate. Chamber surfaces exposed to the plasma are heated to improve plasma density uniformity and reduce formation of low quality deposits on chamber surfaces. In situ metrology may be used to monitor progress of a deposition process and trigger control actions involving substrate temperature profile, plasma density profile, pressure, temperature, and flow of reactants.

PECVD process

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San Carlos, CA, United States of America

Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez