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:
Feb. 14, 2012
Filed:
Nov. 30, 2007
Yu Chang, San Jose, CA (US);
William Kuang, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Ronald D Dedore, Scotts Valley, CA (US);
Jitendra R. Bhimjiyani, Cupertino, CA (US);
Wesley W Zhang, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Yu Chang, San Jose, CA (US);
William Kuang, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Ronald D Dedore, Scotts Valley, CA (US);
Jitendra R. Bhimjiyani, Cupertino, CA (US);
Wesley W Zhang, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A control system and method for controlling two motors determining the azimuthal and circumferential position of a magnetron rotating about the central axis of the sputter chamber in back of its target sputtering and capable of a nearly arbitrary scan path, e.g., with a planetary gear mechanism. A system controller periodically sends commands to the motion controller which closely controls the motors. Each command includes a command ticket, which may be one of several values. The motion controller accepts only commands having a command ticket of a different value from the immediately preceding command. One command selects a scan profile stored in the motion controller, which calculates motor signals from the selected profile. Another command instructs a dynamic homing command which interrogates sensors of the position of two rotating arms to determine if the arms in the expected positions. If not, the arms are rehomed.