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:
Oct. 13, 1998
Filed:
Mar. 24, 1995
Shamouil Shamouilian, San Jose, CA (US);
Manoocher Birang, Los Gatos, CA (US);
John F Cameron, Los Altos, CA (US);
Chandra Deshpandey, Fremont, CA (US);
Alfred Goldspiel, Watsonville, CA (US);
Ron Northrup, San Jose, CA (US);
Semyon Shertinsky, San Francisco, CA (US);
Sasson Somekh, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
An electrostatic chuck (20) for holding a substrate (45) is described. One version of the chuck (20) suitable for mounting on a base (25), comprises (i) an electrostatic member (33) having an electrode (50) therein, and (ii) an electrical lead (60) extending through the base (25) to electrically engage the electrode (50) of the electrostatic member (33). When the chuck (20) is used to hold a substrate (45) in a process chamber (80) containing erosive process gas, the substrate (45) covers and substantially protects the electrical lead (60) from erosion by the erosive process gas. In a preferred version of the chuck (20), an electrical connector (55) forming an integral extension of the electrode (50), electrically connects the electrode (50) to a voltage supply terminal (70) used to operate the chuck (20). The electrical connector (55) comprises (i) an electrical lead (60) that extends through the base (25), and (ii) an electrical contact (65) on the electrical lead (60), the contact sized sufficiently large to directly contact and electrically engage the voltage supply terminal (70). The electrode (50) of the chuck (20) can comprise first and second electrodes (130), (135) electrically isolated from one another by an electrical isolation void (52), the electrodes sized and configured so that the electrical isolation void (52) can serve as a cooling groove (105) for holding coolant for cooling the substrate (45) held on the chuck (20). Preferably, the two electrode chuck (20) is used in conjunction with a switching system capable of operating the chuck (20) in either a monopolar mode or in a bipolar mode. Erosion resistance of the chuck (20) is further enhanced by a masking gas assembly (115) which directs a masking gas at an exposed portion of the insulator (35), to protect the exposed portion of the insulator (35) from the erosive gas contained in the process chamber (80).