Applied Materials, Inc.

William Norman Sterling

John M White

Beom Soo Park

Yoshiaki Tanase

Lan Duong

Dongsuh Lee

Soo Young Choi

Shinichi Kurita

Wendell T Blonigan

Gaku Furuta

Yi Cui

Sam Hyungsam Kim

Takayuki Matsumoto

Jae-Chull Lee

Paul Geoffrey Brown

Billy C Leung

Paul Andrew Haworth

The present disclosure generally relates to a substrate support for use in a substrate processing chamber. A roughened substrate support reduces arcing within the chamber and also contributes to uniform deposition on the substrate. A substrate support may have a substrate support body having a surface roughness of between about 707 micro-inches and about 834 micro-inches. The substrate support may have an anodized coating on the substrate support.

Roughened substrate support

Gas diffuser assembly

The present invention generally includes a shadow frame with alignment inserts that may permit the shadow frame to be properly aligned on the susceptor. The shadow frame may have one or more alignment inserts. The alignment inserts may be coupled to a cavity formed in the bottom surface of the shadow frame. The alignment inserts may be shaped to receive an alignment button that may be present on the susceptor. Thus, as the susceptor raises to the processing position and retrieves the shadow frame, the shadow frame may align properly on the susceptor.

Shadow frame having alignment inserts

In certain aspects, a load lock chamber is provided that includes a body having at least one sealing surface wall including a sealing surface. The sealing surface wall has an opening adjacent the sealing surface adapted to input or output a substrate. The body further includes a plurality of side walls. The load lock chamber also includes a top coupled to the body. The top includes one or more openings that divide the top into a first portion and a second portion. The load lock chamber further includes one or more top sealing members adapted to cover each opening of the top. Each top sealing member absorbs a movement of the first portion of the top relative to the second portion of the top. Numerous other aspects are provided.

Methods and apparatus for sealing a chamber

A method and apparatus for reducing arcing in a plasma processing system when processing large area substrates which contain one or more holes. In one embodiment of the invention, a substrate support member includes an electrically insulating insert located beneath a hole in an insulating, large area substrate. The insulating insert is made of aluminum oxide, and is located within a hole in the support member such that the insert is disposed beneath a hole in a glass substrate. The substrate support member is made of aluminum with an anodized surface.

Susceptor with insulative inserts

Embodiments of an apparatus for sealing a substrate transfer passage in a chamber are provided. In one embodiment, an apparatus for sealing a substrate transfer passage in a chamber includes an elongated door member coupled to an actuator by a ball joint. The ball joint is configured to allow movement of the door member relative to the lever arm around a center of the ball joint. In one embodiment, a sealing face of the elongated door is curved. In another embodiment, the chamber is one of a chemical vapor deposition chamber, a load lock chamber, a metrology chamber, a thermal processing chamber, or a physical vapor disposition chamber, a load lock chamber, a substrate transfer chamber or a vacuum chamber.

Valve door with ball coupling

Methods and apparatus for accommodating thermal expansion of a showerhead. In a first aspect of the invention, the showerhead is movably supported by resting a rim of the showerhead on a support shelf. In a second aspect, the showerhead is suspended from the chamber wall by a plurality of hangers that are connected to the showerhead, the chamber wall, or both by pins that slide within slots so as to permit the hangers to slide radially to accommodate thermal expansion of the showerhead in the radial direction. In a third aspect, the showerhead is suspended from the wall of the vacuum chamber by a plurality of rods or flexible wires. In a fourth aspect, the showerhead is connected near its perimeter to a second material having a greater thermal expansion coefficient than the showerhead. In a fifth aspect, a heater is mounted behind the showerhead to reduce the temperature differential between the top and bottom surfaces of the showerhead or to reduce heat transfer from the workpiece to the showerhead.

Showerhead mounting to accommodate thermal expansion

Generally, an end effector assembly for a substrate transfer robot is provided. In one embodiment, an end effector assembly for supporting a quadrilateral substrate during substrate transfer includes an end effector having an inner edge support disposed on a first end and a first outer edge support disposed on a distal end. The first end of the end effector is adapted for coupling to a robot linkage. The first inner edge support has a face that is oriented parallel to and facing the face of the first outer edge support. This configuration of edge supports captures the substrate to the end effector thereby minimizing substrate slippage during transfer. In another embodiment, lateral guides may be utilized to further enhance capturing the substrate along the edges of the substrate open between the inner and outer edge supports.

End effector assembly for supporting a substrate

Embodiments of the invention generally provide a slit valve door seal. In one embodiment, a slit valve door seal includes a ring-shaped base having a center axis and at least one finger extending from the base. The finger is oriented substantially parallel to the center axis, wherein the base and the finger define a single, one-piece seal member. The seal is particularly suitable for using in sealing substrate access passages formed in load lock chambers.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

William Norman Sterling