Patents by Inventor Hari K. Ponnekanti
Hari K. Ponnekanti has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Publication number: 20130109133Abstract: Embodiments of the invention generally relate to methods for performing rear-point-contact processes on substrates, particularly solar cell substrates. The methods generally include disposing a substrate on a substrate support which functions as a mask during deposition of a passivation layer on a back surface of the substrate. A process gas is introduced to an area between the back surface of the substrate and the substrate support in order to deposit the passivation layer on the back surface of the substrate. The deposited passivation layer has openings therethrough in order to facilitate electrical contact of the substrate with a metallization layer subsequently formed over the passivation layer. The passivation layer is formed without requiring a separate patterning and etching process of the passivation layer.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 12, 2012Publication date: May 2, 2013Inventors: Michel R. Frei, Hemant P. Mungekar, Hari K. Ponnekanti
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Publication number: 20130012030Abstract: An apparatus and methods for depositing amorphous and microcrystalline silicon films during the formation of solar cells are provided. In one embodiment, a method and apparatus is provided for generating and introducing hydrogen radicals directly into a processing region of a processing chamber for reaction with a silicon-containing precursor for film deposition on a substrate. In one embodiment, the hydrogen radicals are generated by a remote plasma source and directly introduced into the processing region via a line of sight path to minimize the loss of energy by the hydrogen radicals prior to reaching the processing region.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 17, 2010Publication date: January 10, 2013Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Annamalai Lakshmanan, Jianshe Tang, Dustin W. Ho, Francimar C. Schmitt, Alan Tso, Tom K. Cho, Brian Sy-Yuan Shieh, Hari K. Ponnekanti, Chris Eberspacher, Zheng Yuan
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Publication number: 20100196599Abstract: A method and apparatus for increasing the throughput of substrate processing systems is provided. A processing chamber configured for attachment to a cluster tool for processing substrates has dual, staggered processing regions. The processing regions are isolated from one another such that a substrate may be processed in each region simultaneously.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 20, 2007Publication date: August 5, 2010Inventors: Hari K Ponnekanti, Karl M. Brown, Jibing Zeng, Yin Bai, Fang Lin, Shaowen Lei
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Patent number: 7655092Abstract: The present invention provides an apparatus for vacuum processing generally comprising an enclosure having a plurality of isolated chambers formed therein, a gas distribution assembly disposed in each processing chamber, a gas source connected to the plurality of isolated chambers, and a power supply connected to each gas distribution assembly.Type: GrantFiled: October 6, 2003Date of Patent: February 2, 2010Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Kevin Fairbairn, Jessica Barzilai, Hari K. Ponnekanti, W. N. (Nick) Taylor
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Patent number: 7049606Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention is an electron beam treatment apparatus that includes: (a) a chamber; (b) a cathode having a surface of relatively large area that is exposed to an inside of the chamber; (c) an anode having holes therein that is disposed inside the chamber and spaced apart from the cathode by a working distance; (d) a wafer holder disposed inside the chamber facing the anode; (e) a source of negative voltage whole output is applied to the cathode to provide a cathode voltage; (f) a source of voltage whose output is applied to the anode; (g) a gas inlet adapted to admit gas into the chamber at an introduction rate; and (h) a pump adapted to exhaust gas from the chamber at an exhaust rate, the introduction rate and the exhaust rate providing a gas pressure in the chamber; wherein values of cathode voltage, gas pressure, and the working distance are such that there is no arcing between the cathode and anode and the working distance is greater than an electron mean free path.Type: GrantFiled: October 30, 2003Date of Patent: May 23, 2006Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Alexandros T. Demos, Hari K. Ponnekanti, Jun Zhao, Helen R. Armer
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Patent number: 6831284Abstract: An electron beam apparatus that includes a vacuum chamber, a large-area cathode disposed in the vacuum chamber, and a first power supply connected to the cathode. The first power supply is configured to apply a negative voltage to the cathode sufficient to cause the cathode to emit electrons toward a substrate disposed in the vacuum chamber. The electron beam apparatus further includes an anode positioned between the large-area cathode and the substrate. The anode is made from aluminum. The electron beam apparatus further includes a second power supply connected to the anode, wherein the second power supply is configured to apply a voltage to the anode that is positive relative to the voltage applied to the cathode.Type: GrantFiled: November 21, 2002Date of Patent: December 14, 2004Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Alexandros T. Demos, Hari K. Ponnekanti, Jun Zhao, Helen R. Armer, William R. Livesay, Scott C. Woods
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Publication number: 20040099817Abstract: An electron beam apparatus that includes a vacuum chamber, a large-area cathode disposed in the vacuum chamber, and a first power supply connected to the cathode. The first power supply is configured to apply a negative voltage to the cathode sufficient to cause the cathode to emit electrons toward a substrate disposed in the vacuum chamber. The electron beam apparatus further includes an anode positioned between the large-area cathode and the substrate. The anode is made from aluminum. The electron beam apparatus further includes a second power supply connected to the anode, wherein the second power supply is configured to apply a voltage to the anode that is positive relative to the voltage applied to the cathode.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 21, 2002Publication date: May 27, 2004Inventors: Alexandros T. Demos, Hari K. Ponnekanti, Jun Zhao, Helen R. Armer, William R. Livesay, Scott C. Woods
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Publication number: 20040069225Abstract: The present invention provides an apparatus for vacuum processing generally comprising an enclosure having a plurality of isolated chambers formed therein, a gas distribution assembly disposed in each processing chamber, a gas source connected to the plurality of isolated chambers, and a power supply connected to each gas distribution assembly.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 6, 2003Publication date: April 15, 2004Applicant: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.Inventors: Kevin Fairbairn, Jessica Barzilai, Hari K. Ponnekanti, W.N. (Nick) Taylor
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Publication number: 20040018070Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention are directed to substrate processing systems having substrate transferring mechanisms that are compact, have small footprints, and provide fast and efficient substrate transfer to achieve high throughput. In specific embodiments, a unit slab construction is used for the chambers around the substrate transferring mechanism, enabling efficient system construction with improved alignment and at a lower cost. The chambers may share gas, pump, and other utilizes. In one embodiment, an apparatus for processing substrates includes at least three robot blades each configured to support a substrate. A robot is coupled with the at least three robot blades to simultaneously move the robot blades between at least three chambers and simultaneously transfer each of the substrates supported on the robot blades from one chamber to another chamber.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 25, 2002Publication date: January 29, 2004Applicant: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.Inventors: Jun Zhao, Satish Sundar, Vinay K. Shah, Hari K. Ponnekanti, Mario Dave Silvetti, Michael Robert Rice, Avi Tepman, Farhad K. Moghadam
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Patent number: 6635115Abstract: The present invention provides an apparatus for vacuum processing generally comprising an enclosure having a plurality of isolated chambers formed therein, a gas distribution assembly disposed in each processing chamber, a gas source connected to the plurality of isolated chambers, and a power supply connected to each gas distribution assembly.Type: GrantFiled: May 19, 2000Date of Patent: October 21, 2003Assignee: Applied Materials Inc.Inventors: Kevin Fairbairn, Jessica Barzilai, Hari K. Ponnekanti, W. N. (Nick) Taylor
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Patent number: 6152070Abstract: The present invention provides an apparatus for vacuum processing generally comprising an enclosure having a plurality of isolated chambers formed therein, a gas distribution assembly disposed in each processing chamber, a gas source connected to the plurality of isolated chambers, and a power supply connected to each gas distribution assembly.Type: GrantFiled: November 18, 1996Date of Patent: November 28, 2000Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Kevin Fairbairn, Jessica Barzilai, Hari K. Ponnekanti, W. N. (Nick) Taylor
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Patent number: 6082950Abstract: A front end staging method and apparatus is provided to introduce and remove a set of wafers from a vacuum processing system. The system generally comprises a support platform, one or more wafer cassette turntables disposed on the platform, a wafer handler disposed adjacent the turntables, a wafer center finding device and a filter disposed to control particles in the vicinity of the wafers. The wafer cassette turntables are rotatably mounted to the support in the preferred embodiment. The processing system may also include one or more processing chambers, where each processing chamber defines a plurality of isolated processing regions therein. The wafer center finding device may include an optical sensor system including optimal emitters aligned with optical sensors.Type: GrantFiled: November 18, 1996Date of Patent: July 4, 2000Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Allen Altwood, Kelly Colborne, Kevin Fairbairn, Christopher Lane, Hari K. Ponnekanti, Satish Sundar
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Patent number: 6077157Abstract: A method and apparatus for exhausting gases out of multiple processing regions is provided and generally comprises first and second pumping channels disposed in first and second processing regions and connected to a pump via a common exhaust port.Type: GrantFiled: November 18, 1996Date of Patent: June 20, 2000Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Kevin Fairbairn, Hari K. Ponnekanti
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Patent number: 5911834Abstract: The present invention provides a method and apparatus for delivering one or more process gases and one or more cleaning gases into one or more processing regions. The gas distribution system includes a gas inlet and a gas conduit, each disposed to deliver one or more gases into the chamber via a desired diffusing passage. Also, a gas delivery method and apparatus for splitting a gas feed into multiple feed lines is provided having a gas filter disposed upstream from a splitting coupling disposed in the line.Type: GrantFiled: November 18, 1996Date of Patent: June 15, 1999Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Kevin Fairbairn, Hari K. Ponnekanti, David Cheung
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Patent number: 5855681Abstract: The present invention generally provides a cassette-to-cassette vacuum processing system which concurrently processes multiple wafers and combines the advantages of single wafer process chambers and multiple wafer handling for high quality wafer processing, high wafer throughput and reduced footprint. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the system is preferably a staged vacuum system which generally includes a loadlock chamber for introducing wafers into the system and which also provides wafer cooling following processing, a transfer chamber for housing a wafer handler, and one or more processing chambers each having two or more processing regions which are isolatable from each other and preferably share a common gas supply and a common exhaust pump. The processing regions also preferably include separate gas distribution assemblies and RF power sources to provide a uniform plasma density over a wafer surface in each processing region.Type: GrantFiled: November 18, 1996Date of Patent: January 5, 1999Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Dan Maydan, Sasson Somekh, Ashok Sinha, Kevin Fairbairn, Christopher Lane, Kelly Colborne, Hari K. Ponnekanti, W. N.(Nick) Taylor
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Patent number: 5844195Abstract: The present invention provides a remote plasma source mountable on a process chamber and connectable on one end to a gas inletting system and on the other end to a gas distribution system disposed in a process chamber. Preferably, a conventional microwave generator is utilized to deliver microwaves into a remote chamber to excite a gas passed therethrough into an excited state.Type: GrantFiled: November 18, 1996Date of Patent: December 1, 1998Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Kevin Fairbairn, Hari K. Ponnekanti, David Cheung, Tsutomu Tanaka, Malcal Kelka