The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Aug. 07, 2018

Filed:

Jun. 06, 2017
Applicant:

Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);

Inventors:

Jaeyoung Kim, Santa Clara, CA (US);

James Hoffman, San Jose, CA (US);

Atsushi Kitani, Nara, JP;

Young Taek Kwon, Santa Clara, CA (US);

Assignee:

APPLIED MATERIALS, INC., Santa Clara, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 21/67 (2006.01); H01L 21/677 (2006.01); H01L 21/02 (2006.01); H01L 21/683 (2006.01); H01L 21/66 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 21/67276 (2013.01); H01L 21/02274 (2013.01); H01L 21/67017 (2013.01); H01L 21/67201 (2013.01); H01L 21/67253 (2013.01); H01L 21/67748 (2013.01); H01L 21/683 (2013.01); H01L 22/20 (2013.01);
Abstract

Implementations described herein generally relate to a method and apparatus for processing substrates in a processing system. The method includes identifying, in a buffer chamber coupled to a transfer chamber of a processing system, a first substrate that has been in the buffer chamber longer than a predetermined duration and identifying a first destination chamber of the processing system for the first substrate. After identifying the first substrate, a buffer chamber time-out operation is performed. The buffer time out operation includes suspending movement of substrates from a load lock chamber to the transfer chamber and removing the first substrate from the buffer chamber.


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