Applied Materials, Inc.

International Business Machines Corporation

Other

Globalfoundries Inc.

Shankar Venkataraman

Nitin K Ingle

Dmitry Lubomirsky

Xinglong Chen

Ellie Y Yieh

Soonam Park

Jang-Gyoo Yang

Li-Qun Xia

Anchuan Wang

Qiwei Liang

Srinivas D Nemani

Randhir P Thakur

Zhijun Chen

Toan Q Tran

Zihui Li

Hiroshi Hamana

Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez

Kien Nai Chuc

Ju-Hyung Lee

Chen-An Chen

Adib M Khan

Ching-Mei Hsu

Jiayin Huang

Maosheng Zhao

Jingmei Liang

Zheng Yuan

Saurabh Garg

Inna Shmurun

Paul Edward Gee

Son Van Nguyen

Jay D Pinson, Ii

Matthew L Miller

Tae Seung Cho

Francimar Campana Schmitt

Chi-I Lang

Reza Arghavani

Satoru Kobayashi

Scott A Hendrickson

Gwendolyn D Jones

Kimberly Hinckley

Soova Sen

Mao D Lim

Vinod Robert Purayath

Farhad K Moghadam

Yi Zheng

Seon-Mee Cho

Dian Sugiarto

Xiaolin C Chen

Peter Wai-Man Lee

Hanh D Nguyen

Sasha Joseph Kweskin

Kedar Sapre

Francimar Campana

Michael Chapin

Abhijit Basu Mallick

Ashok K Sinha

Shambhu Nath Roy

Jonghoon Baek

Sidharth Bhatia

Ping Xu

Rohit Wagle

Chitra Venkatramani

Jing Tang

Sultan Malik

Sunil Bharadwaj

Kirby Hane Floyd

Ajay Bhatnagar

Manuel Hernandez

Son M Phi

Zilu Weng

Shin-Puu Jeng

David Wingto Cheung

Karthik Janakiraman

Wai-Fan Yau

Son Truong Nguyen

Rong Pan

Yunyao Li

Young Seen Lee

Jeong Soo Byun

Shivakumar Vaithyanathan

Frederic Gaillard

Praket Prakash Jha

Thanh Ngoc Pham

M Ziaul Karim

Won B Bang

Annamalai Lakshmanan

Zhong Qiang Hua

Dongqing Yang

Laura Chiticariu

Chung Kuang Chin

Tushar Mandrekar

Linlin Wang

Anjana M Patel

Junghoon Kim

Ying Yu

Shankar W Chandran

Kevin Mukai

Soovo Sen

Lun Tsuei

Swaroop Raghunatha

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a batch processing chamber that is adapted to simultaneously cure multiple substrates at one time. The batch processing chamber includes multiple processing sub-regions that are each independently temperature controlled. The batch processing chamber may include a first and a second sub-processing region that are each serviced by a substrate transport device external to the batch processing chamber. In addition, a slotted cover mounted on the loading opening of the batch curing chamber reduces the effect of ambient air entering the chamber during loading and unloading.

Batch curing chamber with gas distribution and individual pumping

Apparatus and methods for gas distribution assemblies are provided. In one aspect, a gas distribution assembly is provided comprising an annular body comprising an annular ring having an inner annular wall, an outer wall, an upper surface, and a bottom surface, an upper recess formed into the upper surface, and a seat formed into the inner annular wall, an upper plate positioned in the upper recess, comprising a disk-shaped body having a plurality of first apertures formed therethrough, and a bottom plate positioned on the seat, comprising a disk-shaped body having a plurality of second apertures formed therethrough which align with the first apertures, and a plurality of third apertures formed between the second apertures and through the bottom plate, the bottom plate sealingly coupled to the upper plate to fluidly isolate the plurality of first and second apertures from the plurality of third apertures.

Flow control features of CVD chambers

A wafer chuck assembly includes a puck, a shaft and a base. The puck includes an electrically insulating material that defines a top surface of the puck; a plurality of electrodes are embedded within the electrically insulating material. The puck also includes an inner puck element that forms one or more channels for a heat exchange fluid, the inner puck element being in thermal communication with the electrically insulating material, and an electrically conductive plate disposed proximate to the inner puck element. The shaft includes an electrically conductive shaft housing that is electrically coupled with the plate, and a plurality of connectors, including electrical connectors for the electrodes. The base includes an electrically conductive base housing that is electrically coupled with the shaft housing, and an electrically insulating terminal block disposed within the base housing, the plurality of connectors passing through the terminal block.

Low temperature chuck for plasma processing systems

Exemplary methods of forming a semiconductor structure may include forming a first silicon oxide layer overlying a semiconductor substrate. The methods may include forming a first silicon layer overlying the first silicon oxide layer. The methods may include forming a silicon nitride layer overlying the first silicon layer. The methods may include forming a second silicon layer overlying the silicon nitride layer. The methods may include forming a second silicon oxide layer overlying the second silicon layer. The methods may include removing the silicon nitride layer. The methods may include removing the first silicon layer and the second silicon layer. The methods may include forming a metal layer between and contacting each of the first silicon oxide layer and the second silicon oxide layer.

3D NAND gate stack reinforcement

Gas distribution assemblies are described including an annular body, an upper plate, and a lower plate. The upper plate may define a first plurality of apertures, and the lower plate may define a second and third plurality of apertures. The upper and lower plates may be coupled with one another and the annular body such that the first and second apertures produce channels through the gas distribution assemblies, and a volume is defined between the upper and lower plates.

Chemical control features in wafer process equipment

An exemplary system may include a chamber configured to contain a semiconductor substrate in a processing region of the chamber. The system may include a first remote plasma unit fluidly coupled with a first access of the chamber and configured to deliver a first precursor into the chamber through the first access. The system may still further include a second remote plasma unit fluidly coupled with a second access of the chamber and configured to deliver a second precursor into the chamber through the second access. The first and second access may be fluidly coupled with a mixing region of the chamber that is separate from and fluidly coupled with the processing region of the chamber. The mixing region may be configured to allow the first and second precursors to interact with each other externally from the processing region of the chamber.

Semiconductor processing systems having multiple plasma configurations

A wafer chuck assembly includes a puck, a shaft and a base. An insulating material defines a top surface of the puck, a heater element is embedded within the insulating material, and a conductive plate lies beneath the insulating material. The shaft includes a housing coupled with the plate, and electrical connectors for the heater elements and the electrodes. A conductive base housing couples with the shaft housing, and the connectors pass through a terminal block within the base housing. A method of plasma processing includes loading a workpiece onto a chuck having an insulating top surface, providing a DC voltage differential across two electrodes within the top surface, heating the chuck by passing current through heater elements, providing process gases in a chamber surrounding the chuck, and providing an RF voltage between a conductive plate beneath the chuck, and one or more walls of the chamber.

High temperature chuck for plasma processing systems

Methods of etching a patterned substrate may include flowing an oxygen-containing precursor into a first remote plasma region fluidly coupled with a substrate processing region. The oxygen-containing precursor may be flowed into the region while forming a plasma in the first remote plasma region to produce oxygen-containing plasma effluents. The methods may also include flowing a fluorine-containing precursor into a second remote plasma region fluidly coupled with the substrate processing region while forming a plasma in the second remote plasma region to produce fluorine-containing plasma effluents. The methods may include flowing the oxygen-containing plasma effluents and fluorine-containing plasma effluents into the processing region, and using the effluents to etch a patterned substrate housed in the substrate processing region.

Enhanced etching processes using remote plasma sources

Methods and systems for etching substrates using a remote plasma are described. Remotely excited etchants are formed in a remote plasma and flowed through a showerhead into a substrate processing region to etch the substrate. Optical emission spectra are acquired from the substrate processing region just above the substrate. The optical emission spectra may be used to determine an endpoint of the etch, determine the etch rate or otherwise characterize the etch process. A weak plasma may be present in the substrate processing region. The weak plasma may have much lower intensity than the remote plasma. In cases where no bias plasma is used above the substrate in an etch process, a weak plasma may be ignited near a viewport disposed near the side of the substrate processing region to characterize the etchants.

Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) for remote plasma monitoring

Substrate processing systems are described that have a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) unit positioned inside a process chamber. The CCP unit may include a plasma excitation region formed between a first electrode and a second electrode. The first electrode may include a first plurality of openings to permit a first gas to enter the plasma excitation region, and the second electrode may include a second plurality of openings to permit an activated gas to exit the plasma excitation region. The system may further include a gas inlet for supplying the first gas to the first electrode of the CCP unit, and a pedestal that is operable to support a substrate. The pedestal is positioned below a gas reaction region into which the activated gas travels from the CCP unit.

Semiconductor processing system and methods using capacitively coupled plasma

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Shankar Venkataraman