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:
Feb. 24, 2004

Filed:

Apr. 12, 2002
Applicant:
Inventors:

Kent Rossman, Orlando, FL (US);

Leonard Jay Olmer, Orlando, FL (US);

Phillip Nguyen, Kissimmee, FL (US);

Assignee:

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

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 2/131 ; H01L 2/1469 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 2/131 ; H01L 2/1469 ;
Abstract

Methods are provided for identifying root causes of particle issues and for developing particle-robust process recipes in plasma deposition processes. The presence of in situ particles within the substrate processing system is detected over a period of time that spans multiple distinct processing steps in the recipe. The time dependence of in situ particle levels is determined from these results. Then, the processing steps are correlated with the time dependence to identify relative particle levels with the processing steps. This information provides a direct indication of which steps result in the production of particle contaminants so that those steps may be targeted for modification in the development of particle recipes.


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