Applied Materials, Inc.

Novellus Systems Incorporated

Ming Xi

Michael Xiaoxuan Yang

Alfred W Mak

Hua Chung

Ken Kaung Lai

Jeong Soo Byun

Ashok K Sinha

Moris Kori

Lawrence Chung-Lai Lei

Mei Yin Chang

Avgerinos V Gelatos

George D Kamian

Hongbin Fang

Eugene Smargiassi

Stephen Yu-Hong Lau

Barry Lee Chin

Xinliang Lu

Sean M Seutter

Shulin Wang

Anh Ngoc Nguyen

Frederick C Wu

Hui Zhang

Karl Anthony Littau

Hyungsuk Alexander Yoon

Toshio Itoh

Ping Jian

Zvi Lando

Anzhong Chang

Chen-An Chen

Turgut Sahin

Yaxin Wang

Siqing Lu

James Forest Lee

Walter Benjamin Glenn

Russell C Ellwanger

Lisa Marie Gytri

Joseph Brett Harris

Jeff Gordon

Carmen Balderrama

Ramanujapuran A Srinivas

Srinivas Gandikota

Randhir P S Thakur

Lawrence C Lei

Salvador P Umotoy

Xiaoxiong Yuan

Yu Wen Chang

Fufa Chen

Henry Ho

Amit Khandelwal

Steven Aihua Chen

Robert L Jackson

Jong Hyun Yoo

Ravi Rajagopalan

Steve (Aihua) Chen

Madhu Moorthy

Yin Lin

Toshiaki Fujita

Cheryl A Knepfler

Ayad A Al-Shaikh

Mark M Hytros

Chao-Ming Huang

Dongxi Sun

Vinh Dang

Yehuda Demayo

Jianhua Hu

Michael Xi Yang

Kazuhiro Nishina

Ahmad A Khan

Joseph Castro

Dmitry Lubomirsky

Tetsuya Ishikawa

Ling Chen

Avi Tepman

Alexander N Lerner

Vincent W Ku

Fusen E Chen

Son Truong Nguyen

Arulkumar P Shanmugasundram

Christophe Marcadal

Allen L D'Ambra

Gwo-Chuan Tzu

Ruiping Wang

Lily L Pang

Paul F Smith

Ramanujapuram A Srinivas

Yeuk-Fai Edwin Mok

Keith K Koai

Jenny Lin

Li Wu

Bernardo Donoso

Yevgeniy Rabinovich

Eugene Tzou

Soonil Hong

Svetlana Sherman

Chiliang L Chen

Eric B Britcher

Anzhong (Andrew) Chang

Averginos V Gelatos

James Horng

Hyung-Suk A Yoon

Porogen accumulation in a UV-cure chamber is reduced by removing outgassed porogen through a heated outlet while purge gas is flowed across a window through which a wafer is exposed to UV light. A purge ring having specific major and minor exhaust to inlet area ratios may be partially made of flame polished quartz to improve flow dynamics. The reduction in porogen accumulation allows more wafers to be processed between chamber cleans, thus improving throughput and cost.

Method and apparatuses for reducing porogen accumulation from a UV-cure chamber

A purge ring for providing a gas to a wafer processing chamber includes an inlet ring wall defining a ring hole space. An outer perimeter of the inlet ring wall is elliptical. An outer perimeter of the ring hole space is circular. The inlet ring wall is a continuous structure surrounding the ring hole space. An inlet baffle formed within the inlet ring wall surrounds at least 180 degrees of the outer perimeter of the ring hole space. An inlet plenum arranged in a first end of the inlet ring wall provides the gas to the ring hole space through the inlet baffle. An exhaust channel is formed within the inlet ring wall in a second end of the inlet ring wall. An exhaust outlet hole arranged in the second end of the inlet ring wall exhausts the gas out of the ring hole space via the exhaust channel.

Purging of porogen from UV cure chamber

Method for reducing porogen accumulation from a UV-cure chamber

A method and apparatus for atomic layer deposition (ALD) is described. In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises a vacuum chamber body having a contiguous internal volume comprised of a first deposition region spaced-apart from a second deposition region, the chamber body having a feature operable to minimize intermixing of gases between the first and the second deposition regions, a first gas port formed in the chamber body and positioned to pulse gas preferentially to the first deposition region to enable a first deposition process to be performed in the first deposition region, and a second gas port formed in the chamber body and positioned to pulse gas preferentially to the second deposition region to enable a second deposition process to be performed in the second deposition region is provided.

Atomic layer deposition apparatus

A method of forming a material on a substrate is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes forming a tantalum nitride layer on a substrate disposed in a plasma process chamber by sequentially exposing the substrate to a tantalum precursor and a nitrogen precursor, followed by reducing a nitrogen concentration of the tantalum nitride layer by exposing the substrate to a plasma annealing process. A metal-containing layer is subsequently deposited on the tantalum nitride layer.

Formation of a tantalum-nitride layer

A method for removing species from a substrate includes arranging a purge ring in a chamber proximate to a pedestal. The purge ring includes an inlet portion and an exhaust portion. The inlet portion defines an inlet plenum and an inlet baffle. The inlet baffle includes a continuous slit that is substantially continuous around a peripheral arc not less than about 270&#xb0;. The exhaust portion includes an exhaust channel that is located substantially opposite the inlet baffle. The method further includes supplying ozone to the inlet plenum; at least partially defining a ring hole space having a periphery using the inlet portion and the exhaust portion; conveying gas from the inlet plenum into the ring hole space using the inlet baffle; conveying gas and other matter out of a purge space using the exhaust portion; and inhibiting deposition of material evolved from the substrate during curing using the purge ring.

An apparatus for purging a space in a processing chamber comprises a source of a purge gas; an inlet portion of a purge ring; an inlet baffle located in the inlet portion and fluidically connected to the source of purge gas; and an exhaust portion of the purge ring. The inlet portion and the exhaust portion define a ring hole space having a 360&#xb0; periphery. The inlet baffle preferably surrounds not less than 180&#xb0; of said periphery. The inlet baffle is operable to convey purge gas into the ring hole space. The exhaust portion is operable to convey purge gas and other matter out of the ring hole space. Cleaning of the purge ring and other structures in a processing chamber is conducted by flowing a cleaning gas through the inlet baffle. Some embodiments include a gas inlet plenum and an exhaust channel but not a purge ring.

An apparatus for purging a space in a processing chamber comprises a source of a purge gas; an inlet portion of a purge ring; an inlet baffle located in the inlet portion and fluidically connected to the source of purge gas; and an exhaust portion of the purge ring. The inlet portion and the exhaust portion define a ring hole space having a 360&#xb0; periphery. The inlet baffle preferably surrounds not less than 180&#xb0; of said periphery. The inlet baffle is operable to convey purge gas into the ring hole space. The exhaust portion is operable to convey purge gas and other matter out of the ring hole space. Cleaning of the purge ring and other structures in a processing chamber is conducted by flowing a cleaning gas through the inlet baffle. Methods and systems using a purge ring are particularly useful for purging and cleaning porogens from a UV curing chamber. Some embodiments include a gas inlet plenum and an exhaust channel but not a purge ring.

An apparatus for cyclical depositing of thin films on semiconductor substrates, comprising a process chamber having a gas distribution system with separate paths for process gases and an exhaust system synchronized with operation of valves dosing the process gases into a reaction region of the chamber.

Apparatus for cyclical depositing of thin films

A method and apparatus for atomic layer deposition (ALD) is described. The apparatus comprises a deposition chamber and a wafer support. The deposition chamber is divided into two or more deposition regions that are integrally connected one to another. The wafer support is movable between the two or more interconnected deposition regions within the deposition chamber.

An apparatus and method for forming an integrated barrier layer on a substrate is described. The integrated barrier layer comprises at least a first refractory metal layer and a second refractory metal layer. The integrated barrier layer is formed using a dual-mode deposition process comprising a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) step and a cyclical deposition step. The dual-mode deposition process may be performed in a single process chamber.

System and method for forming an integrated barrier layer

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Ming Xi