Patents Assigned to Applied Material
  • Patent number: 11456161
    Abstract: The systems and methods discussed herein are associated with substrate support pedestals used in processing chambers to manufacture semiconductors, electronics, optics, and other devices. The substrate support pedestals include an electrostatic chuck body bonded to a cooling base via a bond layer. A gas flow passage is formed between a top surface of the electrostatic chuck body and a bottom surface of the cooling base, and a porous plug is positioned in the gas flow passage. The gas flow passage passes through a hole in the bond layer and the porous plug and has a swept volume physically shielded from an inside edge of the hole in the bond layer, protecting the bond layer from erosion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Joseph Larosa, Stephen Prouty
  • Publication number: 20220301915
    Abstract: Exemplary support assemblies may include an electrostatic chuck body defining a support surface that defines a substrate seat. The assemblies may include a support stem coupled with the chuck body. The assemblies may include a heater embedded within the chuck body. The assemblies may include a first bipolar electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body between the heater and support surface. The assemblies may include a second bipolar electrode embedded within the chuck body between the heater and support surface. The assemblies may include at least one inner capacitive sensor embedded within the electrostatic chuck body at a position proximate a center of the substrate seat. The assemblies may include at least one outer capacitive sensor embedded within the electrostatic chuck body at a position proximate a peripheral edge of the substrate seat.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2021
    Publication date: September 22, 2022
    Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Job George Konnoth Joseph, Syam Sundeep Boosa, Gopu Krishna, Rupankar Choudhury
  • Publication number: 20220301913
    Abstract: Semiconductor substrate support assemblies may include an electrostatic chuck body having a substrate support surface. The electrostatic chuck body may define a plurality of protrusions extending from the substrate support surface. The assemblies may include an electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body. The electrode may define apertures through the electrode in line with the plurality of protrusions extending from the substrate support surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2021
    Publication date: September 22, 2022
    Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Sumanth Banda, Vladimir Knyazik, Stephen D. Prouty
  • Publication number: 20220301127
    Abstract: A system for optimizing images may include a camera sensor configured to capture a first image, and an image pipeline configured to receive the first image from the camera sensor. The image pipeline may identify a plurality of regions in the first image, and generate a second image from the plurality of regions in the first image. The second image may be smaller than the first image such that the second image can be more efficiently processed by a neural network. The system may also include a neural network configured to receive the second image from the image pipeline and train the neural network using the second image or process the second image using the neural network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2021
    Publication date: September 22, 2022
    Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventor: Itai Leshniak
  • Publication number: 20220301887
    Abstract: Embodiments of this disclosure provide methods for etching ruthenium. A halide-containing-gas is flowed into a substrate processing chamber, and then an oxygen-containing gas is flowed into the substrate processing chamber. The methods may include atomic layer etching (ALE). The methods may be conducted at higher processing chambers, permitting deposition and etching of ruthenium to be conducted in the same processing chamber.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2021
    Publication date: September 22, 2022
    Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Nasrin Kazem, Jeffrey W. Anthis
  • Publication number: 20220302339
    Abstract: Exemplary processing methods of forming an LED structure on a backplane may include coupling a first transfer substrate with an LED source substrate. The LED source substrate may include a plurality of fabricated LEDs. The coupling of the first transfer substrate may be produced with a first coupling material extending between the first transfer substrate and each LED of the plurality of fabricated LEDs. The methods may include separating the LED source substrate from the LEDs. The methods may include coupling a second transfer substrate with the first transfer substrate. The coupling of the first transfer substrate may be produced with a second coupling material extending between the second transfer substrate and each LED of the plurality of fabricated LEDs. The methods may include separating the first transfer substrate from the second transfer substrate. The methods may include bonding the plurality of fabricated LEDs with a display backplane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2022
    Publication date: September 22, 2022
    Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Hou T. Ng, Nag Patibandla, Uma Sridhar, Sivapackia Ganapathiappan, Mingwei Zhu
  • Publication number: 20220301883
    Abstract: Exemplary methods of etching gallium oxide from a semiconductor substrate may include flowing a first reagent in a substrate processing region housing the semiconductor substrate. The first reagent may include HX. X may be at least one of fluorine, chlorine, and bromine. The semiconductor substrate may include an exposed region of gallium oxide. Fluorinating the exposed region of gallium oxide may form a gallium halide and H2O. The methods may include flowing a second reagent in the substrate processing region. The second reagent may be at least one of trimethylgallium, tin acetylacetonate, tetramethylsilane, and trimethyltin chloride. The second reagent may promote a ligand exchange where a methyl group may be transferred to the gallium halide to form a volatile Me2GaY or Me3Ga. Y may be at least one of fluorine, chlorine, and bromine from the second reagent. The methods may include recessing a surface of the gallium oxide.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2022
    Publication date: September 22, 2022
    Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Feng Q. Liu, Lisa J. Enman, Lakmal C. Kalutarage, Mark J. Saly
  • Patent number: 11447866
    Abstract: Process chamber lids, processing chambers and methods using the lids are described. The lid includes a pumping liner with a showerhead, blocker plate and gas funnel positioned therein. A liner heater is positioned on the pumping liner to control temperature in the pumping liner. Gas is flowed into the gas funnel using a dead-volume free one-way valve with a remote plasma source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Muhannad Mustafa, Muhammad M. Rasheed, Mario D. Sanchez, Srinivas Gandikota, Wei V. Tang
  • Patent number: 11450546
    Abstract: Exemplary substrate support assemblies may include an electrostatic chuck body defining a substrate support surface. The support assemblies may include a support stem coupled with the electrostatic chuck body. The support assemblies may include an electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body proximate the substrate support surface. The support assemblies may include a ground electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body. The support assemblies may include one or more channels formed within the electrostatic chuck body between the electrode and the ground electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventor: Vijay D. Parkhe
  • Patent number: 11448601
    Abstract: A method and a system for obtaining information from a sample. The system may include (i) a spatial filter that includes a blocking element and an aperture; (ii) an illumination unit; and (iii) an optical unit that includes an optical objective assembly. The illumination unit may be configured to illuminate the optical objective assembly with oblique radiation. The optical objective assembly may be configured to (a) focus the oblique radiation onto the sample, (b) collect radiation from the sample to provide collected radiation, and (c) reflect the oblique radiation to provide back reflected radiation. The optical unit may be configured to (a) focus the collected radiation to provide focused collected radiation, (b) direct the focused collection radiation towards the aperture, (c) focus the back reflected radiation to provide focused back reflected radiation, and (d) direct the focused back reflected radiation towards the blocking element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Applied Materials Israel Ltd.
    Inventors: Boris Golberg, Roman Naidis
  • Patent number: 11450539
    Abstract: Electronic device processing systems including environmental control of the factory interface are described. One electronic device processing system has a factory interface having a factory interface chamber, a load lock apparatus coupled to the factory interface, one or more substrate carriers coupled to the factory interface, and an environmental control system coupled to the factory interface and operational to monitor or control one of: relative humidity, temperature, an amount of oxygen, or an amount of inert gas within the factory interface chamber. In another aspect, purge of a carrier purge chamber within the factory interface chamber is provided. Methods for processing substrates are described, as are numerous other aspects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Sushant S. Koshti, Dean C. Hruzek, Ayan Majumdar, John C. Menk, Helder T. Lee, Sangram Patil, Sanjay Rajaram, Douglas B. Baumgarten, Nir Merry
  • Patent number: 11446783
    Abstract: A method of controlling polishing includes polishing a substrate, monitoring the substrate during polishing with an in-situ monitoring system, filtering a signal from the monitoring system to generate a filtered signal, and determining at least one of a polishing endpoint or an adjustment for a polishing rate from the filtered signal. The filtering includes modelling a plurality of periodic disturbances at a plurality of different frequencies using a plurality of disturbance states, modelling an underlying signal using a plant state, and applying a linear prediction filter to the plant state and the plurality of disturbance states to generate a filtered signal representing the underlying signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventor: Sivakumar Dhandapani
  • Patent number: 11449711
    Abstract: There is provided a method of defect detection on a specimen and a system thereof. The method includes: obtaining a runtime image representative of at least a portion of the specimen; processing the runtime image using a supervised model to obtain a first output indicative of the estimated presence of first defects on the runtime image; processing the runtime image using an unsupervised model component to obtain a second output indicative of the estimated presence of second defects on the runtime image; and combining the first output and the second output using one or more optimized parameters to obtain a defect detection result of the specimen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Applied Materials Isreal Ltd.
    Inventors: Ran Badanes, Ran Schleyen, Boaz Cohen, Irad Peleg, Denis Suhanov, Ore Shtalrid
  • Patent number: 11447865
    Abstract: Methods for atomic layer deposition (ALD) of plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) of low-K films are described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Shuaidi Zhang, Ning Li, Mihaela A. Balseanu, Bhaskar Jyoti Bhuyan, Mark Saly, Thomas Knisley
  • Patent number: 11446711
    Abstract: An apparatus for steam treatment of a carrier head or a substrate in a chemical mechanical polishing system includes a load cup, a pedestal in a cavity defined by the load cup, the pedestal configured to receive a substrate from or supply a substrate to a carrier head, a boiler to generate steam, one or more nozzles positioned to direct steam inwardly into the cavity defined by the load cup, and a supply line running from the boiler to the one or more nozzles to supply steam to the one or more nozzles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Haosheng Wu, Jianshe Tang, Hari Soundararajan, Shou-Sung Chang, Hui Chen, Chih Chung Chou, Alexander John Fisher, Paul D. Butterfield
  • Patent number: 11447868
    Abstract: Embodiments of the disclosure relate to apparatus and method for a tunable plasma process within a plasma processing chamber. In one embodiment of the disclosure, a heater assembly for a plasma processing chamber is disclosed. The heater assembly includes a resistive heating element, a first lead coupling the resistive heating element to an RF filter and a tunable circuit element operable to adjust an impedance between the resistive heating element and the RF filter. Another embodiment provides a method for controlling a plasma process in a plasma processing chamber by forming a plasma from a process gas present inside the plasma processing chamber and adjusting an impedance between a resistive heating element and an RF filter coupled between the resistive heating element and a power source for the resistive heating element, while the plasma is present in the plasma processing chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Nguyen, Kartik Ramaswamy, Michael G. Chafin, Yang Yang, Anilkumar Rayaroth, Lu Liu
  • Patent number: 11450759
    Abstract: Described is a method of manufacturing a gate-all-around electronic device. The method includes forming a thermal oxide layer though an enhanced in situ steam generation process in combination with atomic layer deposition of a low-? layer. The thin thermal oxide layer passivates the interface between the silicon layer and the dielectric layer of the GAA. A passivation process after the deposition of the low-? layer reduces the bulk trap and enhances the breakdown performance of the GAA transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven C. H. Hung, Benjamin Colombeau, Andy Lo, Byeong Chan Lee, Johanes F. Swenberg, Theresa Kramer Guarini, Malcolm J. Bevan
  • Patent number: 11449026
    Abstract: A method includes identifying a recipe for depositing a plurality of layers on a substrate in a processing chamber of a substrate processing system. The recipe includes iterations of a set of processes. Each iteration is for depositing at least one layer. The method further includes determining iteration adjustments to cause uniformity of the layers. Each iteration adjustment corresponds to a respective iteration. The method further includes determining multipliers to cause an adjustment in thickness of one or more layers of the layers. Each multiplier of the multipliers corresponds to a corresponding iteration. The method further includes storing the iteration adjustments and the multipliers as stored iteration adjustments and stored multipliers. The layers are deposited on substrates based on the recipe and the stored iteration adjustments and the stored multipliers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Venkatanarayana Shankaramurthy, Anton Baryshnikov, Brett Berens, Mitesh Sanghvi, Shuang Liu
  • Patent number: 11450525
    Abstract: Methods of depositing films are described. Specifically, methods of depositing metal oxide films are described. A metal oxide film is selectively deposited on a metal layer relative to a dielectric layer by exposing a substrate to an organometallic precursor followed by exposure to an oxidant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Liqi Wu, Hung Nguyen, Bhaskar Jyoti Bhuyan, Mark Saly, Feng Q. Liu, David Thompson
  • Patent number: 11450504
    Abstract: A method for improving the beam current for certain ion beams, and particularly germanium and argon, is disclosed. The use of argon as a second gas has been shown to improve the ionization of germane, allowing the formation of a germanium ion beam of sufficient beam current without the use of a halogen. Additionally, the use of germane as a second gas has been shown to improve the beam current of an argon ion beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Bon-Woong Koo, Ajdin Sarajlic, Ronald Johnson, Nunzio V. Carbone, Peter Ewing, Mervyn Deegan