Applied Materials, Inc.

Sebastien Raoux

David Wingto Cheung

Mark A Fodor

William N Taylor

Kevin P Fairbairn

Peter I Porshnev

Mandar Mudholkar

Judy H Huang

Ben Pang

Thomas E Nowak

Tsutomu Tanaka

Daniel O Clark

Shaun W Crawford

Mark William Curry

William Nixon Taylor, Jr

Shamouil Shamouilian

Michael Santiago Cox

Hari K Ponnekanti

Andreas Goebel

Canfeng Lai

Imad Yousif

Padmanabhan Krishnaraj

Moshe Sarfaty

Robbert M Vermeulen

Stefan A Wolff

Christopher Lyle Aardahl

Rick J Orth

Kenneth G Rappe

David Silvetti

Mukul Kelkar

Dave Silvetti

Allen Fox

Robert M Vermeulen

Ned Matthew

Russ Newman

Mike Woolston

In one aspect of the invention, a method for the improved operation of an electronic device manufacturing system is provided. The method includes providing information to an interface coupled to an electronic device manufacturing system having parameters, processing the information to predict a first parameter, and providing an instruction related to at least a second parameter of the electronic device manufacturing system wherein the instruction is based on the predicted first parameter. Numerous other aspects are provided.

Methods and apparatus for improving operation of an electronic device manufacturing system

A thermal reactor for use during the abatement of a semiconductor manufacturing process is provided, including a thermal reaction unit having: an interior porous wall that defines a central chamber, the interior porous wall formed from a plurality of stacked porous sections; at least one gas inlet in fluid communication with the central chamber and adapted to introduce gaseous waste stream to the central chamber; a thermal mechanism positioned within the central chamber and adapted to decompose the gaseous waste stream within the central chamber, thereby forming reaction products; and a fluid delivery system adapted to provide a fluid to the central chamber through the interior porous wall at a sufficient force to reduce deposition of reaction products on an inner surface of the interior porous wall of the central chamber; wherein at least one of the porous sections has one or more of: a property that varies within the porous section; and a property that differs from a property of at least one other porous section of the interior porous wall.

Apparatus for manufacturing a process abatement reactor

In certain embodiments, an apparatus is provided for use in removing pollutants from a gas stream. The apparatus includes a thermal reaction unit formed from a plurality of stacked porous ceramic rings. At least one of the stacked ceramic sections may be adapted to allow sensing of a characteristic of contents of the central chamber. In some embodiments, waste gas inlets to the thermal reaction unit may be angled to create a helical vortex within the thermal reaction unit. Other aspects are provided.

Methods and apparatus for sensing characteristics of the contents of a process abatement reactor

In one aspect, improved methods and apparatus for pressure control in an electronic device manufacturing system are provided. The method includes acquiring information related to a current state of the electronic device manufacturing system, determining a desired value of a first parameter of the electronic device manufacturing system based on the acquired information and adjusting at least one parameter of a pump to obtain the desired value of the first parameter of the electronic device manufacturing system.

Methods and apparatus for pressure control in electronic device manufacturing systems

A substrate processing apparatus has a process chamber and an effluent treatment reactor. The process chamber has a substrate support, a process gas supply, a gas energizer, and an exhaust conduit. The effluent treatment reactor has an effluent inlet to receive effluent from the exhaust conduit of the process chamber, a plasma cell having one or more electrodes electrically connected to a voltage source adapted to electrically bias the electrodes to couple energy to effluent received in the plasma cell, a scrubbing cell coaxially exterior to the plasma cell, the scrubbing cell having a scrubbing fluid inlet to introduce scrubbing fluid into effluent in the scrubbing cell and a scrubbing fluid outlet, and an effluent outlet to release the treated effluent.

Treatment of effluent from a substrate processing chamber

A method and system using spectral interference of light from plasma emissions collected at near grazing incidence to in-situ monitor and control the film thickness of a non-opaque film. Embodiments of this invention are particularly useful to all substrate processing chambers equipped to form an in-situ plasma within the chamber and which are used to deposit or etch non-opaque films. One embodiment of the method of the present invention forms a plasma within a substrate processing chamber to deposit a non-opaque film on a wafer substrate within the chamber. During the plasma deposition process, a plurality of wavelengths of radiation including those reflected from the top and bottom layer of the film being deposited upon a wafer surface are collected through an existing viewport, and conveyed to a spectrometer for measurements via an optical fiber attached near this viewport. These measurements are analyzed to determine the film's thickness. An alternate embodiment of the method of the present invention uses an interference filter to confine the spectral composition of the plasma emissions to an emission at a narrow wavelength interval and a photodiode to detect the intensity of the emission.

In-situ film thickness measurement using spectral interference at grazing incidence

A method of cleaning a semiconductor fabrication processing chamber involves recirculation of cleaning gas components. Consequently, input cleaning gas is utilized efficiently, and undesirable emissions are reduced. The method includes flowing a cleaning gas to an inlet of a processing chamber, and exposing surfaces of the processing chamber to the cleaning gas to clean the surfaces, thereby producing a reaction product. The method further includes removing an outlet gas including the reaction product from an outlet of the processing chamber, separating at least a portion of the reaction product from the outlet gas, and recirculating a portion of the outlet gas to the inlet of the processing chamber.

Semiconductor device fabrication chamber cleaning method and apparatus with recirculation of cleaning gas

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 method and apparatus for determining the composition of an effluent stream from a vacuum processing chamber. A cell placed in the effluent stream from the vacuum processing chamber creates a glow discharge from the constituents in the effluent stream. An optical detector measures a particular wavelength corresponding to the presence of a particular species. In one embodiment the output from the optical detector is used to determine the endpoint of a chamber cleaning process.

Method and apparatus for optical detection of effluent composition

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 a vacuum line in a CVD system

An apparatus for minimizing deposition in an exhaust line of a substrate processing chamber. The apparatus includes first and second electrodes having opposing surfaces that define a fluid conduit between them. The fluid conduit includes an inlet, an outlet and a collection chamber between the inlet and the outlet. The apparatus is connected at its inlet to receive the exhaust of the substrate processing chamber. The collection chamber is structured and arranged to collect particulate matter flowing through the fluid conduit and to inhibit egress of the particulate matter from the collection chamber. A plasma generation system supplies power to the electrodes to form a plasma from etchant gases within the fluid conduit. Constituents from the plasma react with the particulate matter collected in the collection chamber to form gaseous products that may be pumped out of the fluid conduit. 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.

Parallel plate apparatus for in-situ vacuum line cleaning for substrate processing equipment

A substrate processing system that includes a deposition chamber having a reaction zone, first and second electrodes, a mixed frequency RF power supply including a low frequency RF power source and a high frequency RF power source. The high frequency RF power supply provides enough power to form a plasma from a process gas introduced into the reaction zone and the low frequency RF power supply is configured to supply an asymmetrical waveform to either said first or second electrodes to bias the plasma toward the substrate.

Use of an asymmetric waveform to control ion bombardment during

A substrate processing system that includes a deposition chamber having a reaction zone, a plasma power source for forming a plasma within the reaction zone and an impedance tuner electrically coupled to the deposition chamber. When initially formed, the plasma has a first impedance level that can be adjusted by the impedance tuner to a second impedance level. In a preferred embodiment, the impedance tuner is a variable capacitor.

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Sebastien Raoux