Patents Represented by Attorney Peter J. Sgarbossa
  • Patent number: 5716877
    Abstract: A system for extending the tuning ranges of various parameters that control plasma ignition within a process chamber effectively reduces the RF power level necessary for plasma ignition within the process chamber. A central conductor is coaxially disposed within a conduit that conveys a process gas to the process chamber. The process gas is energized within the conduit by application of an RF power source thereto. In particular, process gas molecules flowing through the conduit are excited by the RF power which is coupled to the central conductor. The excited process gas is then injected into the process chamber. An RF or microwave power source is supplied to the process chamber using conventional techniques to stimulate the excited gas and thereby ignite a plasma therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: February 10, 1998
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventor: Simon Yavelberg
  • Patent number: 5714036
    Abstract: A programmable halogen lamp assembly radiantly heats a post-etch wafer in a semiconductor wafer processing environment to evolve corrosive, chlorine based compounds that reside on or in the processed wafer, preferably during wafer unloading to minimize throughput loss, and preferably under vacuum to prevent the onset of a corrosion reaction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 1995
    Date of Patent: February 3, 1998
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: George Wong, Yan Rozenzon, Jeffrey Schmidt
  • Patent number: 5707486
    Abstract: A plasma reactor preferably uses a split electrode which surrounds a plasma dome region of the reactor, is driven by high frequency energy selected from VHF and UHF and produces an electric field inside the electrode, parallel to the wafer support electrode. A static axial magnetic field may be used which is perpendicular to the electric field. The above apparatus generates a high density, low energy plasma inside a vacuum chamber for etching metals, dielectrics and semiconductor materials. Relatively lower frequency, preferably RF frequency, auxiliary bias energy applied to the wafer support cathode controls the cathode sheath voltage and controls the ion energy independent of density. Various etch processes, deposition processes and combined etch/deposition processes (for example, sputter/facet deposition) are disclosed. The triode (VHF/UHF split electrode plus RF wafer support electrode) provides processing of sensitive devices without damage and without microloading, thus providing increased yields.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 13, 1998
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventor: Kenneth S. Collins
  • Patent number: 5685916
    Abstract: In accordance with the present invention, the plasma dry cleaning rate of semiconductor process chamber walls can be improved by placing a non-gaseous dry cleaning enhancement material in the position which was occupied by the workpiece during semiconductor processing. The non-gaseous dry cleaning enhancement material is either capable of generating dry cleaning reactive species and/or of reducing the consumption of the dry cleaning reactive species generated from the plasma gas feed to the process chamber. When process chamber non-volatile contaminant deposits are removed from plasma process chamber surfaces during plasma dry cleaning by placing a non-gaseous source of reactive-species-generating material within the plasma process chamber, the non-gaseous source of reactive-species-generating material need not be loacted upon or adjacent the workpiece support platform: however, this location provides excellent cleaning results in typical process chamber designs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 11, 1997
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Yan Ye, Charles Steven Rhoades, Gerald Z. Yin
  • Patent number: 5636098
    Abstract: An erosion resistant electrostatic chuck 20 for holding a substrate 45 having a peripheral edge 50, in an erosive environment, comprises an electrostatic member 25 including (i) an electrode 30, and (ii) an insulator 35 covering the electrode. A barrier 55 is circumferentially disposed about the electrostatic member 25. The barrier 55 comprises a first contact surface 60 capable of being pressed against the peripheral edge 50 of the substrate 45 to form a seal around the substrate 45 to reduce exposure of the electrostatic member 25 of the chuck 20 to the erosive environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 3, 1997
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph Salfelder, Dennis Grimard, John F. Cameron, Chandra Deshpandey, Robert Ryan, Michael G. Chafin
  • Patent number: 5631803
    Abstract: An electrostatic chuck (20) for holding a substrate (40) in a process chamber (50) comprises a base (25) supporting a resilient insulator (30). The insulator (30) comprises (i) an electrode (35) embedded therein; (ii) a top surface (34) with a peripheral edge (32); and (iii) cooling grooves (45) for holding coolant in the top surface (34), the tips (125) of the cooling grooves (45) and the peripheral edge (32) of the insulator (30) defining an edge gap (130) having a width w. The width w of the edge gap (130) is sized sufficiently small that the coolant in the grooves (45) cools the perimeter (120) of the substrate (40) held on the chuck (20). The insulator (30) is sufficiently thick that when a substrate (40) is electrostatically held on the chuck (20) and coolant is held in the cooling grooves (45), the insulator (30) in the edge gap (130) resiliently conforms to the substrate (40) so that substantially no coolant leaks out from the tips (125) of the cooling grooves (45).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 20, 1997
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: John F. Cameron, Joseph F. Salfelder, Chandra Deshpandey
  • Patent number: 5607542
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for generating a medium density plasma in a reactive ion etching chamber. A conventional reactive ion etching technique, using multiple electrodes for capacitive coupling of power into the chamber to establish and sustain a plasma, is combined with inductive coupling for plasma enhancement only. A first source of high frequency power is coupled to at least one of the electrodes to generate the plasma under conditions similar to those used in a conventional reactive ion etching system, and a second source of high frequency power is coupled to an inductive coil surrounding the plasma, to enhance the plasma density without adversely affecting wafers being processed in the chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 1994
    Date of Patent: March 4, 1997
    Assignee: Applied Materials Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Wu, Gerald Z. Yin
  • Patent number: 5605637
    Abstract: A plasma chamber, and a related method for its use, in which the direct current (dc) bias on a wafer-supporting cathode is reduced by including a plasma shield that blocks plasma from reaching a region of the chamber and thereby reduces the effective surface area of a grounded anode electrode. The plasma shield has a number of narrow slits through it, small enough to preclude the passage of plasma through the shield, but large enough to permit pumping of process gases through the shield. The dc bias is further controllable by installing a chamber liner of dielectric or other material to cover a selected portion of the inside walls of the chamber. The liner also facilitates cleaning of the chamber walls to remove deposits resulting from plasma polymerization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 1994
    Date of Patent: February 25, 1997
    Assignee: Applied Materials Inc.
    Inventors: Hongching Shan, Evans Lee, Robert Wu
  • Patent number: 5592358
    Abstract: An electrostatic chuck 20 for holding substrates 42 in a process chamber 40 containing a magnetic flux 43 comprises a base 22 having an upper surface adapted to support a substrate 42 thereon. An insulator 26 with an electrode 24 therein, is on the base 22. A magnetic shunt 34 comprising a ferromagnetic material is positioned (i) either on the base 22, or (ii) in the insulator 26, or (iii) directly below, and contiguous to, the base 22.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 1994
    Date of Patent: January 7, 1997
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Shamouil Shamouilian, John F. Cameron, Chandra Deshpandey, Yuh-Jia Su
  • Patent number: 5585012
    Abstract: A plasma etch reactor and a related method of its operation to provide self-cleaning of its top electrode, which is subject to being coated by polymer deposits during normal operation. In one form of the invention, radio-frequency (rf) power is applied to the top electrode on a continuous basis, but at a much lower power level than that of a primary rf power source used to supply power through a lower electrode, to generate and sustain a plasma in the reactor. The small rf power applied through the top electrode is selected to be of such a level as to remove deposits from the electrode continuously, as they are formed, but without removing any significant amount of electrode material. In another form of the invention, power is applied to the top electrode periodically during cleaning periods and power supply to the lower electrode is suspended during the cleaning periods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 1994
    Date of Patent: December 17, 1996
    Assignee: Applied Materials Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Wu, Hyman J. Levinstein, Hongching Shan
  • Patent number: 5567909
    Abstract: A combined wafer support and thermocouple assembly comprising a wafer support basket having a plurality of wafer support fingers, one of which includes a low mass, low heat constant support for supporting a thermocouple against the backside of a wafer positioned on the basket.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 1994
    Date of Patent: October 22, 1996
    Assignee: Applied Materials Inc.
    Inventors: Michael N. Sugarman, Michael Beesely, Shannon J. Kelsey, Robert J. Steger
  • Patent number: 5556501
    Abstract: A domed plasma reactor chamber uses an antenna driven by RF energy (LF, MF, or VHF) which is inductively coupled inside the reactor dome. The antenna generates a high density, low energy plasma inside the chamber for etching metals, dielectrics and semiconductor materials. Auxiliary RF bias energy applied to the wafer support cathode controls the cathode sheath voltage and controls the ion energy independent of density. Various magnetic and voltage processing enhancement techniques are disclosed, along with etch processes, deposition processes and combined etch/deposition processed. The disclosed invention provides processing of sensitive devices without damage and without microloading, thus providing increased yields.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 1993
    Date of Patent: September 17, 1996
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth S. Collins, Craig A. Roderick, John R. Trow, Chan-Lon Yang, Jerry Y. Wong, Jeffrey Marks, Peter R. Keswick, David W. Groechel, Jay D. Pinson, II, Tetsuya Ishikawa, Lawrence C. Lei, Masato M. Toshima, Gerald Z. Yin
  • Patent number: 5543688
    Abstract: A plasma generator having two groups of interleaved electrodes to which power is allied at high or radio frequency, to form a plasma in a region sufficiently removed from a substrate to avoid damage and unwanted exposure of the substrate to the plasma. In one embodiment of the invention, the electrodes are flat parallel plates. One group of electrodes includes all the odd-numbered plates and the other group includes all the even-numbered plates. In another embodiment of the invention, the electrodes are concentric cylinders instead of flat plates. In either case, plasma generation makes use of a relatively large electrode surface area in a small volume, and the resulting plasma is not in direct contact with the substrate being processed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 1994
    Date of Patent: August 6, 1996
    Assignee: Applied Materials Inc.
    Inventor: Katsumi Morita
  • Patent number: 5534108
    Abstract: A magnetic field enhanced plasma etch reactor system and method of operation is disclosed. In the system and operation, modulated sinusoidal currents are generated and applied 90.degree. out of phase to opposing pairs of series connected electromagnets to produce a modified rotating magnetic field parallel to a substrate processed in the system. The modification of the rotating magnetic field, in turn, results in an improvement in the uniformity of the etch pattern over the upper surface of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 9, 1996
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Xue-Yu Qian, Gerald Yin, Graham W. Hills, Robert Steger
  • Patent number: 5482739
    Abstract: A process and apparatus for depositing silicon nitride on a substrate 28 is described. The substrate 28 is placed in a deposition zone 24 within a deposition chamber 22, and a process gas comprising a silicon containing gas and a nitrogen containing gas is introduced into the deposition zone 24 through an inlet gas conduit 30. The substrate 28 is heated to a temperature T.sub.d which is sufficiently high to cause the process gas to deposit silicon nitride on the substrate 28, and the resultant process gas byproducts are exhausted through an exhaust gas conduit 32. At least one of the inlet and exhaust gas conduits 30 and 32 are heated to a temperature T.sub.h within the range .DELTA.T.sub.h, wherein all the temperatures T.sub.h are sufficiently higher than T.sub.c the temperature at which process gas condenses in the gas conduits, so that substantially no condensate deposits in the gas conduits, and all the temperatures T.sub.h are sufficiently lower than the deposition temperature T.sub.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 9, 1996
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: H. Peter W. Hey, David W. Carlson
  • Patent number: 5474640
    Abstract: An apparatus suitable for marking a substrate comprises a holder for holding a substrate and a ground for electrically grounding the substrate. At least one needle electrode has a tip located proximate to the substrate so that there is a gap between the substrate and the tip. A high voltage source provides a current to the electrode tip to ionize the gas in the gap so that the ionized gas can impinge upon and mark the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 1993
    Date of Patent: December 12, 1995
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Yan Ye, Anand Gupta, Yuri Uritsky
  • Patent number: 5463460
    Abstract: An improved particle monitoring sensor is described which uses a variety of techniques to prolong the effective life of the optical surfaces within the particle monitoring sensor. Substantially inert purging gas is directed over the particle monitoring sensor windows, which are normally exposed to a harsh operating environment. The surfaces of these windows are heated by heating elements in direct thermal contact with the windows. In addition, a restrictive slit is placed over the detector window to reduce the exposed area and to increase the velocity of gas flowing over the window surface. While this slit reduces the detector's field of view, the signal loss is reduced by using a linearly polarized light source and aligning the elongated slit's major axis with the direction of polarization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 1993
    Date of Patent: October 31, 1995
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Boris Fishkin, Phil Salzman
  • Patent number: 5459632
    Abstract: Method and apparatus for releasing a workpiece, such as a semiconductor wafer, from an electrostatic chuck. A "dechucking" voltage is applied to the chuck electrode having the same polarity as was used to retain the workpiece, but having a different magnitude selected to minimize the electrostatic attractive force between the workpiece and the chuck. There is an optimum value for the dechucking voltage which minimizes this force. The optimum value can be determined empirically, or it can be determined by a method based on the value of the current pulse produced when the workpiece is first mounted on the chuck.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 1994
    Date of Patent: October 17, 1995
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Manoocher Birang, Grigory Pyatigorsky
  • Patent number: 5451290
    Abstract: Improved apparatus and a method for reducing polymerparticle contamination of semiconductor wafers being processed in a system for plasma-etching silicon dioxide. A quartz gas distribution plate contains a number of gas inlet holes having cross-sectional areas sufficiently small to prevent plasma from being present in the gas inlet holes to inhibit formation of polymer material and flaking of contamination particles therefrom. The gas inlet holes are formed on the surface of the quartz gas distribution plate directly over a wafer being processed. Alternatively, the gas inlet holes are formed in the quartz plate to radially extend to the peripheral edge of the quartz plate so that contamination particles, if any, fall outside the bounds of a wafer beneath the quartz plate. The method disclosed includes the step of feeding CHF.sub.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 1993
    Date of Patent: September 19, 1995
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventor: Joseph F. Salfelder
  • Patent number: 5427621
    Abstract: A novel and improved method of in-situ cleaning unwanted films and particles of a material from a surface situated inside a vacuum chamber by equipping such chamber with a means of generating a magnetic field having a magnetic flux density of at least 25 gauss, flowing at least one gas into the chamber and igniting a plasma and thus producing plasma ions of at least one gas, switching on the magnetic field generating means to a magnetic flux density of no less than 25 gauss and, reducing the magnetic field by a flux density of at least 10 gauss such that the unwanted films and particles of the material are dislodged from the surface by the sudden change in the magnetic flux density at the magnetic field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 1993
    Date of Patent: June 27, 1995
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventor: Anand Gupta