Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090084758 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHAPING GAS PROFILE NEAR BEVEL EDGE - A method for etching a bevel edge of a substrate in a processing chamber is provided. The method includes flowing an inert gas into a center region of the processing chamber defined above a center region of the substrate and flowing a mixture of an inert gas and a processing gas over an edge region of the substrate. The method further includes striking a plasma in the edge region, wherein the flow of the inert gas and the flow of the mixture maintain a mass fraction of the processing gas substantially constant. A processing chamber configured to clean a bevel edge of a substrate is also provided. | 04-02-2009 |
20090088887 | OFFSET CORRECTION TECHNIQUES FOR POSITIONING SUBSTRATES WITHIN A PROCESSING CHAMBER - A method for aligning a substrate to a process center of a support mechanism is provided. The method includes determining substrate thickness after substrate processing at a plurality of orientations and at a plurality of radial distances from a geometric center of the substrate. The method also includes deriving a set of process rate values from substrate thickness and process duration. The method further includes creating for a process rate an off-centered plot which represents a substantially concentric circle whose points are a circumference of the off-centered plot having substantially the first process rate. The method yet also includes applying a curve-fitting equation to the off-centered plot to determine a set of parameters. The method yet further includes teaching a set of robot arms the set of parameters, thereby enabling the set of robot arms to align another substrate that is supported by the support mechanism with the process center. | 04-02-2009 |
20090279989 | DYNAMIC ALIGNMENT OF WAFERS USING COMPENSATION VALUES OBTAINED THROUGH A SERIES OF WAFER MOVEMENTS - Methods and systems to optimize wafer placement repeatability in semiconductor manufacturing equipment using a controlled series of wafer movements are provided. In one embodiment, a preliminary station calibration is performed to teach a robot position for each station interfaced to facets of a vacuum transfer module used in semiconductor manufacturing. The method also calibrates the system to obtain compensation parameters that take into account the station where the wafer is to be placed, position of sensors in each facet, and offsets derived from performing extend and retract operations of a robot arm. In another embodiment where the robot includes two arms, the method calibrates the system to compensate for differences derived from using one arm or the other. During manufacturing, the wafers are placed in the different stations using the compensation parameters. | 11-12-2009 |
20100010754 | Artificial Lateral Line - An artificial sensor comprises at least one substrate, and a plurality of flow sensors disposed on the at least one substrate for providing a plurality of spatial-temporally varying signals representing a hydrodynamic stimulus. The plurality of flow sensors are spatially distributed on the at least one substrate. A processor is coupled to the plurality of flow sensors for receiving the signals and determining spatial-temporal information from the received signals. | 01-14-2010 |
20100175830 | LOW-K DAMAGE AVOIDANCE DURING BEVEL ETCH PROCESSING - A method for etching a bevel edge of a substrate is provided. A patterned photoresist mask is formed over the etch layer. The bevel edge is cleaned comprising providing a cleaning gas comprising at least one of a CO | 07-15-2010 |
20110146703 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING BEVEL EDGE - A method and apparatus for processing a bevel edge is provided. A substrate is placed in a bevel processing chamber and a passivation layer is formed on the substrate only around a bevel region of the substrate using a passivation plasma confined in a peripheral region of the bevel processing chamber. The substrate may undergo a subsequent semiconductor process, during which the bevel edge region of the substrate is protected by the passivation layer. Alternatively, the passivation layer may be patterned using a patterning plasma formed in an outer peripheral region of the processing chamber, the patterning plasma being confined by increasing plasma confinement. The passivation layer on outer edge portion of the bevel region is removed, while the passivation layer on an inner portion of the bevel region is maintained. The bevel edge of the substrate may be cleaned using the patterned passivation layer as a protective mask. | 06-23-2011 |
20110232566 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHAPING A GAS PROFILE NEAR BEVEL EDGE - A method for etching a bevel edge of a substrate in a processing chamber is provided. The method includes flowing an inert gas into a center region of the processing chamber defined above a center region of the substrate and flowing a mixture of an inert gas and a processing gas over an edge region of the substrate. The method further includes striking a plasma in the edge region, wherein the flow of the inert gas and the flow of the mixture maintain a mass fraction of the processing gas substantially constant. A processing chamber configured to clean a bevel edge of a substrate is also provided. | 09-29-2011 |
20130299089 | LOW-K DAMAGE AVOIDANCE DURING BEVEL ETCH PROCESSING - An apparatus for etching a bevel edge of a substrate includes a bevel etch chamber and a controller including non-transitory computer readable media. The computer readable media includes computer readable code for providing a cleaning gas comprising at least one of a CO | 11-14-2013 |