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:
Nov. 19, 2019

Filed:

Oct. 06, 2017
Applicant:

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

Inventor:

Blake Koelmel, Mountain View, CA (US);

Assignee:

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

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 21/68 (2006.01); H01L 21/67 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 21/681 (2013.01); H01L 21/67259 (2013.01);
Abstract

Devices and methods are provided for positioning and/or rotating a substrate without solid contact, such as by floating the wafer on a thin layer of gas. Since there is no solid contact with components of a processing chamber, features on the wafer are used to determine wafer position and rotational speed. Closed loop control systems are provided with capacitive sensors to monitor the position of the edge of the wafer in a horizontal plane. Control systems may also monitor the position of a wafer feature as it rotates, such as a notch in the edge of the wafer. Because the presence of a notch can disrupt sensors facing the edge of the wafer, methods and devices to reduce or eliminate this disruption are also provided.


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