Applied Materials, Inc.

Juan Chacin

Roger N Anderson

Craig Metzner

Aaron Muir Hunter

Sundar Ramamurthy

Brian Hayes Burrows

Ann P Waldhauer

Kailash Kiran Patalay

Vedapuram S Achutharaman

Hali J Forstner

Sairaju Tallavajula

According to one aspect of the invention, an apparatus for reducing auto-doping of the front side of a substrate and reducing defects on the backside of the substrate during an epitaxial deposition process for forming an epitaxial layer on the front side of the substrate comprising: a means for forming a wafer gap region between the backside of the substrate and a susceptor plate, having an adjustable thickness; a means for ventilating auto-dopants out of the wafer gap region with a flow of inert gas, while inhibiting or prohibiting the flow of inert gas over the front side of the substrate; and a means for flowing reactant gases over the surface of the front side of the substrate, while inhibiting or prohibiting the flow of reactant gases near the surface of the backside of the substrate.

Wafer processing hardware for epitaxial deposition with reduced auto-doping and backside defects

A film formation systemincludes a processing chamberbounded by sidewallsand a top cover. In one embodiment, a susceptoris rotatably disposed in the system, and overlaps with a first peripheral memberdisposed around the sidewalls. A radiant heating systemis disposed under the susceptorto heat the substrate. In another embodiment, the top coverhas equally spaced pyrometersfor measuring the temperature of the substrateacross a number of zones. The temperature of the substrateis obtained from pyrometric data from the pyrometers

Apparatus temperature control and pattern compensation

A method including removing an impurity from a gas stream to a processing chamber at a point of use. An apparatus with a point of use purifier on a gas stream. An apparatus including a shelf having dimensions suitable for placement within a thermal processing including a body of a material that renders the body opaque to radiation frequency range used for a temperature measurement of a substrate in a thermal processing chamber.

High temperature anneal with improved substrate support

A retuning process particularly useful with an Ar/Hsmoothing anneal by rapid thermal processing (RTP) of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer performed after cleavage. The smoothing anneal or other process is optimized including a radial temperature profile accounting for the edge ring and exclusion zone and the vertically structured SOI stack or other wafer gross structure. The optimized smoothing conditions are used to oxidize a bare silicon wafer and a reference thickness profile obtained from it is archived. After extended processing of complexly patterned production wafers, another bare wafer is oxidized and its monitor profile is compared to the reference profile, and the production process is adjusted accordingly. In another aspect, a jet of cooling gas is preferentially directed to the edge ring and peripheral portions of the supported SOI wafer to cool them relative to the inner wafer portions.

Edge temperature compensation in thermal processing particularly useful for SOI wafers

A film formation systemhas a processing chamberbounded by sidewallsand a top cover. In one embodiment, the top coverhas a reflective surfacefor reflecting radiant energy back onto a substrate, pyrometersfor measuring the temperature of the substrateacross a number of zones, and at least one emissometerfor measuring the actual emissivity of the substrate. In another embodiment, a radiant heating systemis disposed under the substrate support. The temperature of the substrateis obtained from pyrometric data from the pyrometers, and the emissometer

Film formation apparatus and methods including temperature and emissivity/pattern compensation

A method and apparatus for the formation of oxide in a manner having a planarizing effect on underlying material, e.g., silicon. In particular, an oxide having a nonuniform thickness profile is grown on the underlying material. The nonuniform thickness profile of the oxide is selected according to the nonuniform profile of the underlying material. Subsequent removal of the oxide leaves behind a planarized surface of the underlying material, as compared to the pre-oxidized surface.

Method and apparatus for planarization of a material by growing a sacrificial film with customized thickness profile

A substrate processing assembly includes an edge support and a heat distributing plate to absorb and transfer heat energy via radiation from a radiant heat source to a substrate on the edge support. The edge support defines a substrate support location to support a substrate at an edge of the substrate during processing. The assembly further includes a first heat distributing plate positioned generally parallel to the edge support. A plurality of edge support holding arms is coupled to the edge support. The plurality of edge support holding arms is also coupled to the first heat distributing plate to hold the first heat distributing plate spaced apart from the edge support. In another embodiment, the assembly can include a second heat distributing plate spaced apart from the edge support. In yet another embodiment, the substrate processing assembly can be used in a substrate processing apparatus that includes a chamber within which the assembly is located and a radiant heat source to provide radiant heat to the chamber. The structure of the processing assembly provides substrate processing assembly components that have a low thermal mass such that the temperature of the chamber can be quickly ramped up to operating temperature, thus significantly decreasing the time to process a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer.

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Juan Chacin