Applied Materials, Inc.

Cercom, Inc.

Mark A Fodor

David Wingto Cheung

Sebastien Raoux

Ganesh Balasubramanian

Kevin P Fairbairn

Charles N Dornfest

Mohamad A Ayoub

Craig A Bercaw

William N Taylor

Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan

Amit Kumar Bansal

Judy H Huang

Dale Robert Du Bois

Chiu Chan

Ben Pang

Deenesh Padhi

Karthik Janakiraman

Thomas E Nowak

William Nixon Taylor, Jr

John M White

Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez

Christopher F Lane

Jianhua Zhou

Hang Yu

Dale R Dubois

Juan Carlos Rocha

Siu Fai Cheng

Robert Kim

Binh Nguyen

Mandar Mudholkar

David Silvetti

Sophia M Velastegui

S&eacute;bastien Raoux

Hiroyuki Steven Tomosawa

Fred Conrad Redeker

Bok Hoen Kim

Hichem M'Saad

Tsutomu Tanaka

Son Truong Nguyen

Amir Hamed Al-Bayati

Hari K Ponnekanti

Himanshu Pokharna

Ramprakash Sankarakrishnan

Chen-An Chen

Tomoyuki Fujii

Hideyoshi Tsuruta

Ryusuke Ushikoshi

Yen-Kun Victor Wang

Peter Wai-Man Lee

Eller Y Juco

Patrick Reilly

Shahid Shaikh

Inna Shmurun

Mario David Silvetti

Joseph C Werner

Andrzei Kaszuba

Chau H Nguyen

Soovo Sen

Harold H Mortensen

Ashish Shah

Kazutoshi Maehara

Kelly Fong

H Steven Tomozawa

Eui Kyoon Kim

Kentaro Wada

Sebastion Raoux

Dale Du Bois

Embodiments of the invention contemplate a shadow ring that provides increased or decreased and more uniform deposition on the edge of a wafer. By removing material from the top and/or bottom surfaces of the shadow ring, increased edge deposition and bevel coverage can be realized. In one embodiment, the material on the bottom surface is reduced by providing a recessed slot on the bottom surface. By increasing the amount of material of the shadow ring, the edge deposition and bevel coverage is reduced. Another approach to adjusting the deposition at the edge of the wafer includes increasing or decreasing the inner diameter of the shadow ring. The material forming the shadow ring may also be varied to change the amount of deposition at the edge of the wafer.

Shadow ring for modifying wafer edge and bevel deposition

An apparatus and method are provided for controlling the intensity and distribution of a plasma discharge in a plasma chamber. In one embodiment, a shaped electrode is embedded in a substrate support to provide an electric field with radial and axial components inside the chamber. In another embodiment, the face plate electrode of the showerhead assembly is divided into zones by isolators, enabling different voltages to be applied to the different zones. Additionally, one or more electrodes may be embedded in the chamber side walls.

Tunable ground planes in plasma chambers

An apparatus for plasma processing a substrate is provided. The apparatus comprises a processing chamber, a substrate support disposed in the processing chamber, a shield member disposed in the processing chamber below the substrate support, and a lid assembly coupled to the processing chamber. The lid assembly comprises a conductive gas distributor coupled to a power source, and an electrode separated from the conductive gas distributor and the chamber body by electrical insulators. The electrode is also coupled to a source of electric power. The substrate support is formed with a stiffness that permits very little departure from parallelism. The shield member thermally shields a substrate transfer opening in the lower portion of the chamber body. A pumping plenum is located below the substrate support processing position, and is spaced apart therefrom.

Confined process volume PECVD chamber

A heater liner assembly suitable for covering the interior of a plasma processing chamber is provided. In some embodiments, a liner assembly for a processing chamber can include a heating element embedded in a body. A flange extending outward from an outer diameter of the body includes an upper surface having a sealing surface and at least one pad that extends from the upper surface of the flange to an elevation beyond the sealing surface. The pad contributes to control of the temperature of the liner assembly by maintaining the liner assembly spaced apart from the processing chamber.

Processing chamber with heated chamber liner

Embodiments described herein relate to a substrate processing system that integrates substrate edge processing capabilities. Illustrated examples of the processing system include, without limitations, a factory interface, a loadlock chamber, a transfer chamber, and one or more twin process chambers having two or more processing regions that are isolatable from each other and share a common gas supply and a common exhaust pump. The processing regions in each twin process chamber include separate gas distribution assemblies and RF power sources to provide plasma at selective regions on a substrate surface in each processing region. Each twin process chamber is thereby configured to allow multiple, isolated processes to be performed concurrently on at least two substrates in the processing regions.

Systems for plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and bevel edge etching

The present invention comprises an apparatus and method for centering a substrate in a process chamber. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a substrate support having a support surface adapted to receive the placement of a substrate and a reference axis substantially perpendicular to the support surface, and a plurality of centering members extending above the support surface. Each centering member is biased into a first position and is movable to a second position by interacting with an opposing member. A movement between the first position and the second position thereby causes each centering member to releasably engage with a peripheral edge of the substrate to push the substrate in a direction toward the reference axis.

Apparatus and method for centering a substrate in a process chamber

A substrate support comprises a ceramic disc with an electrode that is chargeable through an electrode terminal. An electrical connector connects an external power source to the electrode terminal. The electrical connector has a pair of opposing pincer arms, a groove sized to fit around the electrode terminal, and a pair of through holes to receive a tightening assembly capable of tightening the opposing pincer arms about the electrode terminal.

Substrate support with clamping electrical connector

A substrate heater assembly for supporting a substrate of a predetermined standardized diameter during processing is provided. In one embodiment, the substrate heater assembly includes a body having an upper surface, a lower surface and an embedded heating element. A substrate support surface is formed in the upper surface of the body and defines a portion of a substrate receiving pocket. An annular wall is oriented perpendicular to the upper surface and has a length of at least one half a thickness of the substrate. The wall bounds an outer perimeter of the substrate receiving pocket and has a diameter less than about 0.5 mm greater than the predetermined substrate diameter.

Substrate heater assembly

An apparatus for preventing particulate matter and residue build-up within a vacuum exhaust line of a semiconductor processing device. The apparatus uses RF energy to form excite the constituents of particulate matter exhausted from a semiconductor processing chamber into a plasma state such that the constituents react to form gaseous products that may be pumped through the vacuum line. The apparatus may include a collection chamber structured and arranged to collect particulate matter flowing through the apparatus and inhibiting egress of the particulate matter from the apparatus. The apparatus may further include an electrostatic collector to enhance particle collection in the collection chamber and to further inhibit egress of the particulate matter.

Method and apparatus for cleaning an exhaust line in a semiconductor processing system

An apparatus for preventing particulate matter and residue build-up within a vacuum exhaust line of a semiconductor processing device. The apparatus uses RF energy to excite the constituents of particulate matter exhausted from a semiconductor processing chamber into a plasma state such that the constituents react to form gaseous products that may be pumped through the vacuum line. The apparatus may include a collection chamber structured and arranged to collect particulate matter flowing through the apparatus and inhibiting egress of the particulate matter from the apparatus. The apparatus may further include an electrostatic collector to enhance particle collection in the collection chamber and to further inhibit egress of the particulate matter.

Apparatus for cleaning an exhaust line in a semiconductor processing system

An apparatus for converting PFC gases exhausted from semiconductor processing equipment to less harmful, non-PFC gases. One embodiment of the apparatus includes a silicon filter and a plasma generation system. The plasma generation system forms a plasma from the effluent PFC gases. Constituents from the plasma react with silicon and/or oxygen in the filter and convert the effluent PFC gases to less harmful, non-PFC gaseous products and byproducts. Another embodiment includes a plasma generation system and a particle trapping and collection system. The particle trapping and collection system traps silicon containing residue from deposition processes that produces such residue, and the plasma generation system forms a plasma from the effluent PFC gases. Constituents from the plasma react with the collected residue to convert the effluent PFC gases to less harmful, non-PFC gaseous products and byproducts.

Method and apparatus for reducing perfluorocompound gases from substrate processing equipment emissions

A heating chamber assembly for heating or maintaining the temperature of at least one wafer, employs thick film heater plates stacked at an appropriate distance to form a slot between each pair of adjacent heater plate surfaces. The heating chamber assembly may be employed adjacent one or more processing chambers to form a preheat station separate from the processing chambers, or may be incorporated in the load lock of one or more such processing chambers. The thick film heater plates are more efficient and have a better response time than conventional heat plates. A chamber surrounding the stack of heater plates is pressure sealable and nay include a purge gas inlet for supply purge gas thereto under pressure. A door to the chamber opens to allow wafers to be inserted or removed and forms a pressure seal upon closing. The slots in the stack are alignable with the door for loading and unloading of wafers. The stack is mounted on a drive shaft that extends through the chamber where it interfaces with a drive that traverses the drive shaft in and out of the chamber to align various slots as desired.

Low profile thick film heaters in multi-slot bake chamber

A substrate processing system that includes a ceramic substrate holder having an RF electrode embedded within the substrate holder and a gas inlet manifold spaced apart from the substrate holder. The gas inlet manifold supplies one or more process gases through multiple conical holes to a reaction zone of a substrate processing chamber within the processing system and also acts as a second RF electrode. Each conical hole has an outlet that opens into the reaction zone and an inlet spaced apart from the outlet that is smaller in diameter than said outlet. A mixed frequency RF power supply is connected to the substrate processing system with a high frequency RF power source connected to the gas inlet manifold electrode and a low frequency RF power source connected to the substrate holder electrode. An RF filter and matching network decouples the high frequency waveform from the low frequency waveform. Such a configuration allows for an enlarged process regime and provides for deposition of films, including silicon nitride films, having physical characteristics that were previously unattainable.

Mixed frequency CVD process

An apparatus and method for preventing particulate matter and residue build-up within a vacuum exhaust line of a semiconductor-processing device. The apparatus includes a vessel chamber having an inlet, an outlet and a fluid conduit between the two that fluidly couples the outlet with the inlet. The fluid conduit includes first and second collection sections. The first collection section includes a first plurality of electrodes aligned parallel to a first plane and the second collection section includes a second plurality of electrodes aligned parallel to a second plane that is substantially perpendicular to the first plane. The electrodes are connected to a voltage differential to form an electrostatic particle collector that traps electrically charged particles and particulate matter flowing through the fluid conduit. Particles are collected on the electrodes within the fluid conduit during substrate processing operations such as CVD deposition steps. Then, during a chamber clean operation, unreacted etchant gases used to clean the substrate processing chamber are exhausted through the foreline and into the apparatus of the present invention where they react with the collected particles and powder to convert the solid material into gaseous matter that can be pumped through the foreline without damaging the vacuum pump or other processing equipment.

Heated electrostatic particle trap for in-situ vacuum line cleaning of a substrated processing

Growing community of inventors

Los Gatos, CA, United States of America

Mark A Fodor