Applied Materials, Inc.

Paul Dennis Connors

Kwangduk Douglas Lee

Prashant Kumar Kulshreshtha

Ganesh Balasubramanian

Dale Robert Du Bois

Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez

Jianhua Zhou

Hari K Ponnekanti

Kalyanjit Ghosh

Jeongmin Lee

Venkatanarayana Shankaramurthy

Karthik Thimmavajjula Narasimha

Mohsin Waqar

Saptarshi Basu

Liliya Krivulina

Brett Berens

Hiroyuki Ogiso

Rick Gilbert

Martin Lee Riker

Xiangjin Xie

Milind Gadre

Xiaoquan Min

Jiarui Wang

Xianmin Tang

Todd J Egan

Paul Benjamin Reuter

Fuhong Zhang

Abraham Ravid

Kevin Kashefi

Shirish A Pethe

Lanlan Zhong

Sergey Starik

Feng Bi

JuanCarlos Rocha-Alvarez

Jeffrey B Robinson

Junjie Pan

Yao Wu

Lewis Yuan Tse Lo

Process chamber collimator

Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate are provided herein. A method, for example, includes igniting a plasma at a first pressure within a processing volume of a process chamber; depositing sputter material from a target disposed within the processing volume while decreasing the first pressure to a second pressure within a first time frame while maintaining the plasma; continuing to deposit sputter material from the target while decreasing the second pressure to a third pressure within a second time frame less than the first time frame while maintaining the plasma; and continuing to deposit sputter material from the target while maintaining the third pressure for a third time frame that is greater than or equal to the second time frame while maintaining the plasma.

Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate

Implementations disclosed herein describe a bevel etch apparatus within a loadlock bevel etch chamber and methods of using the same. The bevel etch apparatus has a mask assembly within the loadlock bevel etch chamber. During an etch process, the mask assembly delivers a gas flow to control bevel etch without the use of a shadow frame. As such, the edge exclusion at the bevel edge can be reduced, thus increasing product yield.

Loadlock integrated bevel etcher system

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to methods and apparatus for depositing metal silicide layers on substrates and chamber components. In one embodiment, a method of forming a hardmask includes positioning the substrate having a target layer within a processing chamber, forming a seed layer comprising metal silicide on the target layer and depositing a tungsten-based bulk layer on the seed layer, wherein the metal silicide layer and the tungsten-based bulk layer form the hardmask. In another embodiment, a method of conditioning the components of a plasma processing chamber includes flowing an inert gas comprising argon or helium from a gas applicator into the plasma processing chamber, exposing a substrate support to a plasma within the plasma processing chamber and forming a seasoning layer including metal silicide on an aluminum-based surface of the substrate support.

Deposition of metal silicide layers on substrates and chamber components

Embodiments of the invention generally relate to methods for removing a boron-carbon layer from a surface of a processing chamber using water vapor plasma treatment. In one embodiment, a method for cleaning a surface of a processing chamber includes positioning the pedestal at a first distance from the showerhead, and exposing a deposited boron-carbon layer to a first plasma process where the first plasma process comprises generating a plasma that comprises water vapor and a first carrier gas by biasing a showerhead that is disposed over a pedestal, and positioning the pedestal at a second distance from the showerhead and exposing the deposited boron-carbon layer to a second plasma process where the second plasma process comprises generating a plasma that comprises water vapor and a second carrier gas by biasing the showerhead and biasing a side electrode relative to the showerhead.

Cleaning process for removing boron-carbon residuals in processing chamber at high temperature

Methods and systems for alignment of substrate-scale masks are described. The alignment methods presented may improve the uniformity and repeatability of processes which are impacted by the relative lateral position of a substrate-scale mask and a substrate. The methods involve measuring the 'overhang' of the substrate at multiple locations around the periphery of the substrate-scale mask. Based on the measurements, the relative position of the substrate relative to the substrate-scale mask is modified by adjustment of the substrate and/or mask position. The adjustment of the relative position is made in one adjustment in embodiments. A feature of hardware and methods involves the capability of making measurements and adjustments while a substrate processing system is fully assembled and possibly under vacuum.

Method of aligning substrate-scale mask with substrate

A process load lock apparatus is disclosed. The process load lock apparatus includes a load lock chamber adapted to couple between a mainframe section and a factory interface, the load lock chamber including an entry and an exit each having a slit valve, and a load lock process chamber located at a different level than the load lock chamber at the load lock location wherein the load lock process chamber is adapted to carry out a process on a substrate, such as oxide removal or other processes. Systems including the process load lock apparatus and methods of operating the process load lock apparatus are provided. A lift assembly including a containment ring is also disclosed, as are numerous other aspects.

Process load lock apparatus, lift assemblies, electronic device processing systems, and methods of processing substrates in load lock locations

Growing community of inventors

San Mateo, CA, United States of America

Paul Dennis Connors