Applied Materials, Inc.

Applied Material, Inc.

Michael C Kuchar

Michael Robert Rice

Dean C Hruzek

Travis Morey

Ofer Amir

Jeffrey C Hudgens

Eric Andrew Englhardt

Adam J Wyatt

Robert B Lowrance

Charles T Carlson

William Tyler Weaver

Vinay K Shah

Kirk Van Katwyk

Van Hoskins

Mike Rice

Sushant Suresh Koshti

Dave Silvetti

Angela Rose Sico

Andrew Nguyen

Paul Benjamin Reuter

Steven Victor Sansoni

John Joseph Mazzocco

Song-Moon Suh

Michael Meyers

Mario David Silvetti

Yuanhong Guo

Penchala N Kankanala

Matvey Farber

Sheng Michael Guo

Marek W Radko

Yuji Murayama

Robert Irwin Decottignies

Robert M McAndrew

Pingping Gou

Shaofeng Chen

Mitchell DiSanto

Nagendra Madiwal

Anurag Bansal

Nagendra V Madiwal

Schubert S Chu

Nir Merry

Nyi O Myo

Paul Zachary Wirth

Leon Volfovski

Douglas R McAllister

Aaron Webb

Nicholas Michael Bergantz

Karuppasamy Muthukamatchi

Helder T Lee

Miriam Schwartz

Songjae Lee

Andrew Paul Harbert

Theodoss Costuros

Sivakumar Ramalingam

Kumaresan Kuppannan

Joseph Vincent

Vijayabaskar Soundarrajan

Pandu Maddherla

Mainframe of dual-robot substrate processing system

Mainframe with integrated lid

A substrate processing system includes a factory interface having a controlled environment and a transfer chamber. The transfer chamber includes four first facets and three second facets, where each of the three second facets has a width that is narrower than that of each of the four first facets. A first processing chamber is attached to one of the four first facets. A first auxiliary chamber is attached to a first of the three second facets, where the first auxiliary chamber is smaller than the first processing chamber. A load lock is attached to a second of the three second facets and to the factory interface. A robot is attached to a bottom of the transfer chamber, the robot adapted to transfer substrates to and from the first processing chamber, the first auxiliary chamber, and the load lock.

Semiconductor processing tool platform configuration with reduced footprint

A method includes machining a raw surface of a metal component to remove first native oxide from a metal base of the metal component to generate an as-machined surface of the metal component. A second native oxide is formed on the metal base of the as-machined surface of the metal component subsequent to the machining. The method further includes, subsequent to the machining, performing operations to generate a finished surface of the metal component. The operations include a surface machining of the as-machined surface of the metal component to remove the second native oxide.

Organic contamination free surface machining

Mainframe of substrate processing system

A method includes receiving a metal component including a raw surface that includes a metal base, a first native oxide disposed on the metal base, and hydrocarbons disposed on the metal base. The method further includes machining the raw surface of the metal component to remove the first native oxide and a first portion of the hydrocarbons from the metal base. The machining generates an as-machined surface of the metal component including the metal base without the first native oxide and without the first portion of the hydrocarbons. The method further includes performing a surface machining of the as-machined surface of the metal component to remove a second portion of the hydrocarbons. The method further includes surface treating the metal component to remove a third portion of the hydrocarbons. The method further includes performing a cleaning of the metal component and drying the metal component.

Disclosed are a slit valve apparatus and a method for controlling a slit valve. The slit valve apparatus includes a slit valve assembly and a servo-control system in communication with the slit valve assembly. The slit valve assembly includes at least one gate able to transition between an open position and a closed position, at least one pneumatic actuator, at least one proportional pneumatic valve including a plurality of controllers, and a continuous position sensor. The servo-control system includes a centralized controller that generates a control signal and adjusts the movement of the at least one gate based on the position trajectory for the gate, a linear position measurement of the gate from the continuous position sensor, and fluid pressure/flow measurements from the plurality of controllers.

Slit valve pneumatic control

Disclosed is a wafer processing system, a dual gate system, and methods for operating these systems. The dual gate system may have a first gate, a second gate, a gate connector coupled to the first gate and to the second gate, and actuator coupled to the gate connector. The actuator is configured to seal the first gate against a first slot or open the first slot via vertical motion. The actuator is also configured to seal the second gate against a second slot or open the second slot via a combination of vertical motion and horizontal motion.

Dual gate and single actuator system

A method includes receiving, by a first loadlock chamber of the loadlock system, a first object from a factory interface via a first opening. The first object is transferred into the first loadlock chamber via a first robot arm. The factory interface is at a first state. The first loadlock chamber is configured to receive different types of objects. The method further includes sealing a first loadlock door against the first opening to create a first sealed environment at the first state in the first loadlock chamber and causing the first sealed environment of the first loadlock chamber to be changed to a second state. The method further includes actuating a second loadlock door to provide a second opening between the first loadlock chamber and a transfer chamber. The first object is to be transferred from the first loadlock chamber to the transfer chamber via a second robot arm.

Multi-object capable loadlock system

A transfer chamber configured to be used during semiconductor device manufacturing is described. Transfer chamber includes at least one first side of a first width configured to couple to one or more substrate transfer units (e.g., one or more load locks or one or more pass-through units), and at least a second set of sides of a second width that is different than the first width, the second set of sides configured to couple to one or more processing chambers. A total number of sides of the transfer chamber is at least seven. Transfers within the transfer chamber are serviceable by a single robot. Process tools and methods for processing substrates are described, as are numerous other aspects.

Transfer chambers with an increased number of sides, semiconductor device manufacturing processing tools, and processing methods

Growing community of inventors

Georgetown, TX, United States of America

Michael C Kuchar