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:
Nov. 04, 2014
Filed:
Jan. 10, 2008
James D. Carducci, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Olga Regelman, Daly City, CA (US);
Kallol Bera, San Jose, CA (US);
Douglas A. Buchberger, Livermore, CA (US);
Paul Brillhart, Pleasanton, CA (US);
James D. Carducci, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Olga Regelman, Daly City, CA (US);
Kallol Bera, San Jose, CA (US);
Douglas A. Buchberger, Livermore, CA (US);
Paul Brillhart, Pleasanton, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention generally comprises a heated showerhead assembly that may be used to supply processing gases into a processing chamber. The processing chamber may be an etching chamber. When processing gas is evacuated from the processing chamber, the uniform processing of the substrate may be difficult. As the processing gas is pulled away from the substrate and towards the vacuum pump, the plasma, in the case of etching, may not be uniform across the substrate. Uneven plasma may lead to uneven etching. To prevent uneven etching, the showerhead assembly may be separated into two zones each having independently controllable gas introduction and temperature control. The first zone corresponds to the perimeter of the substrate while the second zone corresponds to the center of the substrate. By independently controlling the temperature and the gas flow through the showerhead zones, etching uniformity of the substrate may be increased.