Asm America, Inc.

Applied Materials, Inc.

Yield Engineering Systems, Inc.

Kaiatech, Inc.

Ronald R Stevens

Lori D Washington

Sandeep Nijhawan

Nyi O Myo

Ravinder K Aggarwal

Alexander Tam

Gabriel Ormonde

Brian Hayes Burrows

Kenric T Choi

Sumedh Acharya

Jacob Grayson

James D Felsch

Jacob W Smith

Garry K Kwong

James Mitchener

David P Bour

Eric James Shero

Ivo Johannes Raaijmakers

Christopher F Lane

Michael W Halpin

M Ziaul Karim

Kenneth M Twain

Jie Su

Lei Jing

Mark William Curry

Armand Ferro

Craig Walter McCoy

Eli Vronsky

Brendan McDougall

Jed Hsu

Charudatta Galande

Taylor Nguyen

Craig Galloway

Steve Park

Rosemary Twist

Michelle (Meng) Shi

Ken Sautter

A batch processing oven comprising a processing chamber and a rack configured to be positioned in the processing chamber. The rack is configured to support a plurality of substrates and a plurality of panels in a stacked manner such that one or more substrates of the plurality of substrates are positioned between at least one pair of adjacent panels of the plurality panels. Vertical gaps separate each substrate of the one or more substrates from an adjacent substrate or panel on either side of the substrate.

Batch processing oven and operating methods

The invention provides an apparatus for treating surfaces of a container. The apparatus comprises an openable reaction chamber housing, an exhaust escapement and an electrode assembly. The electrode assembly comprises a probe assembly coupled with a power source, the probe assembly comprising an elongate wand body, and a helically configured primary electrode and a helically configured counter electrode disposed about an outer circumferential surface of the wand body in an alternating helical configuration. The elongate wand body has a fluid passageway defined therewithin, and one or more outlet openings that are formed on an outer circumferential surface of the wand body and that extend inward through said outer circumferential surface and upto the fluid passageway. One or both of the primary electrode and the counter electrode may be energizable by the power source.

Apparatus, probe assembly and methods for treating containers

A solder reflow oven includes a processing chamber that defines an enclosure. The enclosure includes a spindle configured to support a substrate and rotate the substrate about a central axis of the processing chamber. The spindle is also configured to move vertically along the central axis and position the substrate at different locations within the enclosure. The oven further includes a chemical delivery tube configured to direct a chemical vapor into the enclosure, a lamp assembly configured to heat a top surface of the substrate, and a lift assembly configured to move the spindle along the central axis.

Processing oven

An apparatus for treating the interior of containers includes a chamber for holding a container and provides precursor materials via an annulus formed by coaxially arranged electrodes at which plasma is created upon application of voltage and the container is treated.

Method and apparatus for treating containers

A method and apparatus that may be utilized for chemical vapor deposition and/or hydride vapor phase epitaxial (HVPE) deposition are provided. In one embodiment, a metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) process is used to deposit a Group III-nitride film on a plurality of substrates. A Group III precursor, such as trimethyl gallium, trimethyl aluminum or trimethyl indium and a nitrogen-containing precursor, such as ammonia, are delivered to a plurality of straight channels which isolate the precursor gases. The precursor gases are injected into mixing channels where the gases are mixed before entering a processing volume containing the substrates. Heat exchanging channels are provided for temperature control of the mixing channels to prevent undesirable condensation and reaction of the precursors.

Multi-gas straight channel showerhead

Methods are disclosed of determining a fill level of a precursor in a bubbler. The bubbler is fluidicly coupled with a substrate processing chamber through a vapor-delivery system. The bubbler and vapor-delivery system are backfilled with a known dose of a backfill gas. A pressure and temperature of the backfill gas are determined, permitting a total volume for the backfill gas in the bubbler and vapor-delivery system to be determined by application of a gas law. The fill level of the precursor in the bubbler is determined as a difference between (1) a total volume of the bubbler and vapor-delivery system and (2) the determined total volume for the backfill gas.

Method for measuring precursor amounts in bubbler sources

A gaseous mixture is deposited onto a substrate surface using a showerhead. A first plenum of the showerhead has a plurality of channels fluidicly coupled with an interior of a processing chamber. A second plenum gas flows through a plurality of tubes extending from a second plenum of the showerhead through the channels into the interior of the processing chamber. The diameter of the tubes is smaller than the diameter of the channels such that a first plenum gas flows into the interior of the processing chamber through a space defined between the outer surface of the tubes and the surface of the channels. The length and diameter of the tubes determine the level of distribution and the molar ratio of the first gas and the second gas in the gaseous mixture that is deposited on the surface of the substrate.

System and method for depositing a gaseous mixture onto a substrate surface using a showerhead apparatus

A loadlock chamber for a semiconductor processing apparatus comprises an index platform or registration plate, a shaft extending through a wall of the chamber to actuate the platform, and a bellows located on the outside of the chamber to isolate the shaft from the external environment. A seal is placed between the bottom of the registration plate and the wall of the chamber so as to isolate the space under the registration plate and within the bellows from the remainder of the chamber when the platform is in a fully lowered position. A gutter is formed in a wall of the chamber below the registration plate to catch particulate matter, such as broken wafer particles. A method of accessing the interior of a loadlock chamber limits exposure of the space within the bellows to the external environment.

Bellows isolation for index platforms

A reactor chamber is positioned between a top array of heat lamps and a bottom array of heat lamps. At least one of the heat lamps forming the top and bottom arrays features a segmented filament such that power output along the length of the heat lamp differs. In one configuration, the heat lamp has a pair of high energy output regions spaced from each other by a lower energy output region. In some configurations, at least one of the heat lamps forming the top and bottom arrays is non-linear, such as U-shaped. In further configurations, a non-linear heat lamp has a segmented filament with segments or areas of different winding density.

Heat lamps for zone heating

A device that supports a substrate in a non-containing manner so as to controllably move the substrate within a substrate processing system. The device includes an end effector carrying support pads each having a vertical gas outlet and a horizontal outlet communicating with a gas supply to form a plurality of vertical gas jets and a plurality of horizontal gas jets. The vertical gas jets impinge on a lower surface of the substrate to urge the substrate into a fixed vertical position with respect to the support pads and the horizontal gas jets impinge on the substrate edge to urge the substrate into a fixed horizontal position with respect to the pads.

Non-contact end effector

A Bernoulli wand type semiconductor wafer pickup device that is adapted to regulate the temperature of a wafer while the wafer is being repositioned within a semiconductor processing system. In one embodiment, the device is comprised of a resistive heating element that is adapted to raise the temperature of the pickup device. In particular, by raising the temperature of the pickup device, a portion of the thermal radiation emitted from the device is absorbed by the wafer, thus providing a means for regulating the wafer temperature. In another embodiment, the device is adapted with the characteristics of a black body absorber so as to enable the device to optimally absorb thermal radiation from external radiant sources, thereby providing a means for increasing the temperature of the device. In another embodiment, the device is coated with reflective material that enables a large portion of thermal radiation emitted from the wafer to be reflected and absorbed back into the wafer. In another embodiment, the preexisting gas system of the pickup device is adapted with a gas beating device that is adapted to raise the temperature of the gas so as to regulate the temperature of the wafer.

Wafer holder

A stackable cassette for testing at least one separate wafer during the processing of a plurality of semiconductor wafers is disclosed. The stackable cassette includes a bottom surface which conforms to a top portion of a base cassette having a plurality of wafers. In addition, the stackable cassette includes two or more supports which extend vertically from the bottom surface and a top surface horizontally connected to the two supports. The supports include ribs which form channels for holding at least one wafer. When processing the plurality of wafers, the stackable cassette is placed on top of a base cassette. A specified processed wafer is placed within the stackable cassette. The stackable cassette is then removed for inspection of the test wafer.

Stackable cassette for use with wafer cassettes

Two FOUPs are stacked and moved together towards an equipment wall by a horizontal actuator. FOUP doors are withdrawn as a unit by a horizontal actuator, and lowered as a unit by a vertical actuator to provide access to the interior of the FOUPs.

Multi-stage single-drive FOUP door system

Growing community of inventors

Pleasanton, CA, United States of America

Ronald R Stevens