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.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 15, 2020
Filed:
Nov. 13, 2017
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Hemant P. Mungekar, Campbell, CA (US);
William Pryor, Georgetown, TX (US);
Zhijun Jiang, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
Implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to methods for cleaning processing chambers. More specifically, implementations described herein relate to methods for determining processing chamber cleaning endpoints. In some implementations, a 'virtual sensor' for detecting a cleaning endpoint is provided. The 'virtual sensor' is based on monitoring trends of chamber foreline pressure during cleaning of the chamber, which involves converting solid deposited films on the chamber parts into gaseous byproducts by reaction with etchants like fluorine plasma for example. Validity of the “virtual sensor” has been confirmed by comparing the “virtual sensor” response with infrared-based optical measurements. In another implementation, methods of accounting for foreline pressure differences due to facility design and foreline clogging over time.