Applied Materials, Inc.

Intel Corporation

Leonard Michael Tedeschi

Yaoling Pan

Patrick John Tae

Daniel Thomas McCormick

Kartik Ramaswamy

Michael D Willwerth

Philip Allan Kraus

Lei Lian

Changhun Lee

Priyadarshi Panda

Dmitry Lubomirsky

Todd J Egan

Robert P Meagley

Olivier Joubert

Benjamin Schwarz

Pengyu Han

Prashant Aji

Ping Han Hsieh

Eli Mor

Adauto Diaz, Jr

Lili Ji

Alex J Tom

Rajinder Dhindsa

Jennifer Y Sun

Mark Joseph Saly

Kelvin Chan

Kallol Bera

Vahid Firouzdor

Phillip A Criminale

Andreas Schmid

Denis M Koosau

Sumanth Banda

Ashish Goel

Daniel Sang Byun

Vijaykumar Krithivasan

Charles Hardy

Lisa J Enman

Xiaopu Li

Mikhail Taraboukhine

Kiyki-Shiy N Shang

Changgong Wang

Sivasankar Nagarajan

Albert Barrett Hicks, Iii

Shimin Mao

Chih-shun Lu

Anantha Subramani

Teng-Fang Kou

Benjamin C E Schwarz

Capacitive sensors and capacitive sensing locations for plasma chamber condition monitoring are described. In an example, a plasma processing chamber includes a chamber wall surrounding a processing region. A chamber lid is over the chamber wall and above the processing region. A chamber floor is beneath the chamber wall and below the processing region. A support pedestal is in the processing region and below the chamber lid and above the chamber floor, and the support pedestal surrounded by the chamber wall. A capacitive sensor module can be in an opening of the chamber wall. The chamber lid can include a capacitive sensor module. The chamber floor can include an evacuation port and a capacitive sensor module within or adjacent to the evacuation port. The support pedestal can include a ring structure surrounding a substrate support region, and a capacitive sensor module in an opening of the ring structure.

Capacitive sensors and capacitive sensing locations for plasma chamber condition monitoring

A cool cluster comprises one or more transfer chambers; a plurality of process chambers connected to the one or more transfer chambers; and a computing device of the tool cluster. The computing device is to receive first measurements generated by sensors of a first process chamber during or after a process is performed within the first process chamber; determine that the first process chamber is due for maintenance based on processing the first measurements using a first trained machine learning model; after maintenance has been performed on the first process chamber, receive second measurements generated by the sensors during or after a seasoning process is performed within the first process chamber; and determine that the first process chamber is ready to be brought back into service based on processing the second measurements using a second trained machine learning model.

Autonomous substrate processing system

A substrate processing system comprises an etch chamber configured to perform an etch process on a substrate, the etch chamber comprising an optical sensor to generate one or more optical measurements of a film on the substrate during and/or after the etch process. The system further comprises a computing device operatively connected to the etch chamber, wherein the computing device is to: receive the one or more optical measurements of the film; determine, for each optical measurement of the one or more optical measurements, a film thickness of the film; determine an etch rate of the film based on the one or more optical measurements using the determined film thickness of each optical measurement of the one or more optical measurements; and determine a process parameter value of at least one process parameter for a previously performed process that was performed on the substrate based on the etch rate.

Etch feedback for control of upstream process

Embodiments disclosed herein include a sensor assembly. In an embodiment, the sensor assembly comprises a sensor module and a housing assembly. In an embodiment, the sensor module comprises a substrate, a capacitor with a first electrode and a second electrode on the substrate, and a capacitive-to-digital converter (CDC) electrically coupled to the first electrode and the second electrode. In an embodiment, the housing assembly is attached to the sensor module and comprises a shaft, wherein the shaft is hollow, and a cap over a first end of the shaft, wherein the cap has an opening to expose the capacitor.

Capacitive sensor housing for chamber condition monitoring

Methods and apparatus for a processing chamber are provided herein. The apparatus includes, for example, an inner volume defined in the processing chamber; a first sensor assembly coupled to a surface located in the inner volume of the processing chamber and including a first electrode configuration configured to measure an electrical characteristic associated with a film deposited within the inner volume of the processing chamber; and a second sensor assembly coupled to the surface located in the inner volume of the processing chamber in relative proximity to the first sensor assembly and including a second electrode configuration, different from the first electrode configuration, configured to measure the same electrical characteristic as the first electrode configuration.

Differential capacitive sensor for in-situ film thickness and dielectric constant measurement

Methods of semiconductor processing may include forming a plasma of a carbon-containing material within a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber. The methods may include depositing a carbon-containing material on a backside of a substrate housed within the processing region of the semiconductor processing chamber. A front side of the substrate may be maintained substantially free of carbon-containing material. The methods may include performing an etch process on the front-side of the substrate. The methods may include removing the carbon-containing material from the backside of the substrate.

Chambers and coatings for reducing backside damage

The present disclosure generally relates to a method and apparatus for determining a metric related to erosion of a ring assembly used in an etching within a plasma processing chamber. In one example, the apparatus is configured to obtain a metric indicative of erosion on an edge ring disposed on a substrate support assembly in a plasma processing chamber. A sensor obtains the metric for the edge ring. The metric correlates to the quantity of erosion in the edge ring. In another example, the ring sensor may be arranged outside of a periphery of a substrate support assembly. The metric may be acquired by the ring sensor through a plasma screen.

Sensors and system for in-situ edge ring erosion monitor

Differential capacitive sensors for in-situ film thickness and dielectric constant measurement

Embodiments include process monitoring devices and methods of using such process monitoring devices. In one embodiment, the process monitoring device includes a substrate. The process monitoring device may also include a plurality of sensors formed on a support surface of the substrate. According to an embodiment, each sensor is capable of producing an output signal that corresponds to a processing condition. Furthermore, embodiments include a process monitoring device that includes a network interface device that is formed on the substrate. According to an embodiment each of the plurality of sensors is communicatively coupled to the network interface device. The network interface device allows for the output signals obtained from the sensors to be wirelessly transmitted to an external computer during processing operations.

Process monitor device having a plurality of sensors arranged in concentric circles

A substrate processing system comprises one or more transfer chambers; a plurality of process chambers connected to the one or more transfer chambers; and a computing device connected to each of the plurality of process chambers. The computing device is to receive first measurements generated by sensors of a first process chamber during or after a process is performed within the first process chamber; determine that the first process chamber is due for maintenance based on processing the first measurements using a first trained machine learning model; after maintenance has been performed on the first process chamber, receive second measurements generated by the sensors during or after a seasoning process is performed within the first process chamber; and determine that the first process chamber is ready to be brought back into service based on processing the second measurements using a second trained machine learning model.

Embodiments disclosed herein comprise a sensor. In an embodiment, the sensor comprises a substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite from the first surface. In an embodiment, the sensor further comprises a first electrode over the first surface of the substrate, and a second electrode over the first surface of the substrate and adjacent to the first electrode. In an embodiment, the sensor further comprises a barrier layer over the first electrode and the second electrode.

Capacitive sensor for chamber condition monitoring

Embodiments described herein include a resonant process monitor and methods of forming such a resonant process monitor. In an embodiment, the resonant process monitor includes a frame that has a first opening and a second opening. In an embodiment, a resonant body seals the first opening of the frame. In an embodiment, a first electrode on a first surface of the resonant body contacts the frame and a second electrode is on a second surface of the resonant body. Embodiments also include a back plate that seals the second opening of the frame. In an embodiment the back plate is mechanically coupled to the frame, and the resonant body, the back plate, and interior surfaces of the frame define a cavity.

Resonant process monitor

Capacitive sensors and capacitive sensing data integration for plasma chamber condition monitoring are described. In an example, a plasma chamber monitoring system includes a plurality of capacitive sensors, a capacitance digital converter, and an applied process server coupled to the capacitance digital converter, the applied process server including a system software. The capacitance digital converter includes an isolation interface coupled to the plurality of capacitive sensors, a power supply coupled to the isolation interface, a field-programmable gate-array firmware coupled to the isolation interface, and an application-specific integrated circuit coupled to the field-programmable gate-array firmware.

Capacitive sensing data integration for plasma chamber condition monitoring

Embodiments include devices and methods for detecting material deposition and material removal performed by a wafer processing tool. In an embodiment, one or more micro sensors mounted on a process chamber of the wafer processing tool are capable of operating under vacuum conditions and/or may measure material deposition and removal rates in real-time during a plasma-less wafer fabrication process. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Wafer processing tool having a micro sensor

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Leonard Michael Tedeschi