Applied Materials, Inc.

Lam Research Corporation

International Business Machines Corporation

Tony Ray Kroeker

Jeffrey C Hudgens

Gregory A Tomasch

Robert M McAndrew

Nicolas J Bright

Iqbal A Shareef

Benjamin W Mooring

Mark Ian Wagner

Ben Mooring

Elmer L Kroeker

Larry Cook

Ronda K Nixon

Robert N Sage

A processing chamber for post-wet-etch removing of drying fluid (DF) is disclosed. The chamber includes a chamber wall surrounding a processing volume and a plurality of nozzles disposed annularly about the processing volume and arranged into a set of nozzle rows that includes at least one nozzle row. The chamber also includes a plenum and a set of manifolds coupled to the plurality of nozzles to deliver the supercritical COto the plurality of nozzles. Each nozzle has a nozzle outlet directed toward an interior portion of the processing volume and the nozzles are configured to flow the supercritical COtoward the substrates in a manner that minimizes recirculation loops and vortices.

Methods and apparatus for displacing fluids from substrates using supercritical CO2

A cluster tool includes a transfer chamber connected to a plurality of vacuum chambers. An additional process chamber connected to the transfer chamber includes a high pressure chamber assembly seated on a housing. The high pressure chamber assembly, which is adjustable between an open position and a closed position, includes an upper chamber portion and a lower chamber portion. Hydraulic cylinders mounted on the upper chamber portion and having chamber rods that attach to the lower chamber portion are configured to move the lower chamber relative to the upper chamber portion between the two positions. When the two portions are brought together into the closed, the high pressure chamber assembly forms a high pressure chamber suitable for processing wafers with supercritical CO. Once the high pressure chamber is formed, a region between lower chamber portion and a housing may be evacuated to form a vacuum chamber outside a portion of the high pressure chamber.

Cluster tool process chamber having integrated high pressure and vacuum chambers

The present invention provides a load lock having a vertically movable lid, an internal robot, and a wafer lifting mechanism and further provides a method of transferring wafers through a load lock directly to a process chamber. An atmospheric transfer robot shuttles wafers to and from the lifting mechanism while the lid is raised and the lifting mechanism then transfers wafers to and from the internal robot. The load lock is directly attached to a process chamber and communicates therewith via a slit valve which is selectively opened and closed. The internal robot is extended and retracted through the slit valve aperture in order to transfer a wafer to and from the process chamber. In one embodiment the lifting mechanism is comprised of vertically movable lift pins disposed through the bottom of the load lock. In another embodiment the lifting mechanism includes two pairs of lift forks disposed through the cover of the load lock. Each pair of forks is capable of independent rotational and vertical movement and each pair is adapted to handle a single wafer.

Single wafer load lock with internal wafer transport

A single slot valve shaft is in a vacuum body between adjacent vacuum chambers, such as a process module and a transport module. Separate valves are provided on the single shaft actuator for each of two valve body slots, each body slot being closed or opened according to the position of the single shaft. The separate valves allow a vacuum condition to be maintained in the transport module while an adjacent process module is open to the atmosphere for servicing. The single shaft allows access to an open valve for servicing the open valve by way of stops that limit drive travel and hold the valve in an open, but not vertically-spaced, position relative to a respective slot. The open valve is easily reached by a gloved hand of a service worker. The single shaft is mounted on a first cradle, and the first cradle is mounted on a second cradle. Two separate shaft drives move the two cradles to position the single shaft to locate the valves between the slots to open one slot and close the other slot. Another separate shaft drive moves the single shaft vertically down from the open position and away from the slots to expose seal surfaces around the slots for cleaning.

Single shaft, dual cradle vacuum slot valve

Methods of implementing a single shaft, dual cradle vacuum slot valve

A functional load lock apparatus having two or more load lock chambers mounted on a central chamber which can be mounted on a single opening in a vacuum chamber such as a substrate processing platform for making integrated circuits on silicon wafers. Each load lock chamber preferably has a semi-cylindrical valve which remains sealed when the load lock chamber is open to atmospheric pressure. A wafer cassette holder positioned within each load lock chamber can be loaded and unloaded while the semi-cylindrical valves seal the vacuum chamber from atmospheric pressure. The semi-cylindrical valve pivots to an open position when the load lock chamber is under vacuum and the entire wafer cassette moves from the load lock chamber to the central chamber.

Three chamber load lock apparatus

Single shaft dual cradle vacuum slot valve

A functional load lock apparatus having two or more load lock chambers mounted on a central chamber which can be mounted on a single opening in a vacuum chamber such as a substrate processing platform for making integrated circuits on silicon wafers. Each load lock chamber preferably has a semi-cylindrical valve which remains sealed when the load lock chamber is open to atmospheric pressure. A wafer cassette holder positioned within each load lock chamber can be loaded and unloaded while the semi-cylindcical valves seal the vacuum chamber from atmospheric pressure. The semi-cylindrical valve pivots to an open position when the load lock chamber is under vacuum and the entire wafer cassette moves from the load lock chamber to the central chamber.

A load lock wafer transfer face is provided at an acute angle with respect to a footprint dimension line, so the length of the footprint dimension line does not include the entire minimum length of the wafer transfer distance that must separate a robot from the wafer transfer face of a load lock. Two adjacent load locks provided for use with a robot have two load lock wafer transfer faces defining a nest, in that each such face is at an acute angle with respect to the footprint dimension line. A robot is mounted for rotation at a fixed location relative to wafer cassettes and to the nested load lock wafer transfer faces, avoiding use of a robot track to move transversely. Because the faces are at the acute angle, there is only a component of, and not the entire, minimum wafer transfer distance extending in the direction of the footprint dimension line. The robot is positioned at least partly in the nest formed by the adjacent load lock faces without requiring rotation of the base of the robot on a vertical axis at the same time as the arms of the robot are moved in an extend motion during wafer transfer into the load lock. The footprint of the modules may be substantially reduced, in that at least one dimension of the footprint is minimized, yet the robot may operate with only relatively simple extend motion to transfer the wafers into the load locks, avoiding more complex motions that include both transverse motion (i.e., on a linear track) and rotate motion.

Atmospheric wafer transfer module with nest for wafer transport robot

The present invention generally provides a robot that can transfer a workpiece, such as a silicon wafer, at increased speeds and accelerations/decelerations. More particularly, the present invention provides a robot wrist for mechanically clamping a workpiece to a workpiece handling member of an extendable robot arm. The wafer clamp selectively applies sufficient force to center the workpiece and prevent slippage and damage to the workpiece during rapid rotation and radial movement of the handling member. In one embodiment, a clamp for securing silicon wafers uses two independent clamp fingers to position and hold the wafer with minimal particle generation and wafer damage. The clamp is designed so that wafers are normally clamped except during full extension of the wafer handling member to deliver or pickup a wafer.

Mechanically clamping robot wrist

A dual sided slot valve is in a vacuum body between adjacent process and transport modules. Separate valves are provided for each of two valve body slots, one body slot being separately closed or opened independently of the other. The separate valves allow a vacuum in the transport module while an adjacent process module is open to the atmosphere for servicing. The valve allows access to an open valve for servicing the open valve in that one actuator motor stops the valve in an open, but not vertically-spaced, position relative to the respective slot. The open valve is more easily reached by a gloved hand of a service worker. A separate actuator motor moves the valve vertically down from the open position and away from the slot to expose the sealing surface around the slot for cleaning. The vertical distance of the vertically-moved valve from an access opening makes it difficult for the worker's glove to reach the valve for service. However, in the vertically-moved position the valve does not interfere with the ability to clean around the valve door. The dual sided slot valves are offset relative to each other to reduce the distance occupied by the valve body between the adjacent transport and process modules.

Dual sided slot valve and method for implementing the same

An adjustable length frog-leg type wafer handler is provided. The wafer handler has two arms each having an upper portion and a lower portion. The lower portion may extend between a normal position and an extended position, and/or the upper portion may extend between an normal position and a compressed position. The adjusted positions (i.e., extended or compressed) are assumed as the wafer handler moves through a center position. Thus, the inventive wafer handler has a normally smaller arm length (as compared to conventional frog leg configurations) which in turn allows a smaller core axis of rotation (i.e., a smaller bladeless arm length). Therefore the blade used with the adjustable wafer handler may be longer by an amount equal to the difference between the normal and the adjusted arm lengths, without increasing the overall (i.e., the length of the arm and blade) retracted axis of rotation. The longer blade allows wafer placement within a processing chamber without requiring the wafer handler itself to enter the processing chamber.

Adjustable frog-leg robot

A substrate handler for use in a chamber in a vacuum processing system has a single motor for controlling the substrate handler's rotation and extension functions. The single motor is connected to an operating assembly that operates in two modes to alternatively rotate or extend the substrate handler. The two modes are defined by the relative rotational motion of two drive mechanisms that are rotated by the single motor. When the relative rotational motion for the two drive mechanisms is in the same axial direction, then the operating assembly operates in the first mode. When the relative rotational motion for the two drive mechanisms is in the opposite axial direction, then the operating assembly operates in the second mode. The single motor operates one of the drive mechanisms and an assembly that alternatively operates the other drive mechanism in either the same or the opposite axial direction as the first drive mechanism. Under this operation, the substrate handler alternatively rotates or extends depending on whether the drive mechanisms rotate in the same or opposite axial directions.

Single motor control for substrate handler in processing system

A vacuum processing system has a wafer cooling system disposed on a lid of a transfer chamber so that heated wafers are cooled inside the transfer chamber. The wafer cooling system has a wafer lift assembly and a wafer cooler. The wafer cooler has a cooling plate and a coolant tank disposed through the transfer chamber lid. The wafer lift assembly has a lift actuator disposed on the top of the transfer chamber lid, guide rods to translate the lifting motion through the lid, and wafer supports inside the lid to raise the wafer to a position proximate to the cooling plate. The wafer cools by radiating heat up to the cooling plate, and the coolant tank transfers the heat from the cooling plate.

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Georgetown, TX, United States of America

Tony Ray Kroeker