Patents Assigned to Applied Material
  • Arrangement for the regulation of the electron beam power of an electron gun
    Patent number: 7808183
    Abstract: An arrangement for the regulation of the electron beam power of an electron gun, which comprises a filament cathode, a block cathode and an anode. Between the filament cathode and the block cathode is applied a first voltage, while between the block cathode and the anode a second voltage is applied. With the aid of a first closed-loop regulated system the filament cathode is regulated to a constant current value, which has a filament temperature sufficient for the maximum beam power of the block cathode. A second closed-loop regulated system, such including a block power regulator, which is acted upon by the difference between instantaneous block power value and nominal block power value, regulates the voltage between the filament cathode and the block cathode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignees: Applied Materials GmbH & Co. KG, ALD Vacuum Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Günter Klemm, Andreas Thiede, Hans-Jürgen Schneider
  • Small scanned magentron
    Patent number: 7807030
    Abstract: A small magnet assembly having a magnet assembly of area less than 10% of the target area, is scanned in a retrograde planetary or epicyclic path about the back of a target being plasma sputtered including an orbital rotation about the center axis of the target and a planetary rotation about another axis rotating about the target center axis. The magnet assembly passes through the target center, thus allowing full target coverage. A properly chosen ratio of the two rotations about respective axes produces a much slower magnet velocity near the target periphery than at the target center. A geared planetary mechanism includes a rotating drive plate, a fixed center gear, and an idler and a follower gear rotatably supported in the drive plane supporting a cantilevered magnet assembly on the side of the drive plate facing the target.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Ilyoung Richard Hong, James Tsung, Daniel Clarence Lubben, Peijun Ding, Nirmalya Maity
  • Ion implanters
    Patent number: 7807984
    Abstract: Components in an ion implanter that may see incidence of the ion beam include a chamber having an elongate slot opening defined by edges so that a central portion of the ion beam enters the component through the opening with the edges clipping at least a peripheral portion of the ion beam. The arrangement mitigates the problem of sputtered material escaping back out from the component and becoming entrained in the ion beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregory Robert Alcott, Adrian Murrell, Matthew Castle, Martin Hilkene
  • Methods for reducing damage to substrate layers in deposition processes
    Patent number: 7807568
    Abstract: Methods of processing a substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of processing a substrate may include providing a substrate to a process chamber comprising a dielectric layer having a feature formed therein. A barrier layer may be formed within the feature. A coating of a first conductive material may be formed atop the barrier layer. A seed layer of the first conductive material may be formed atop the coating. The feature may be filled with a second conductive material. In some embodiments, the seed layer may be formed while maintaining the substrate at a temperature of greater than about 40 degrees Celsius.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Xinyu Fu, Arvind Sundarrajan
  • Frequency doubling using spacer mask
    Patent number: 7807578
    Abstract: A method for fabricating a semiconductor mask is described. A semiconductor stack having a sacrificial mask and a spacer mask is first provided. The sacrificial mask is comprised of a series of lines and the spacer mask has spacer lines adjacent to the sidewalls of the series of lines. Next, the spacer mask is cropped. Finally, the sacrificial mask is removed to provide a cropped spacer mask. The cropped spacer mask doubles the frequency of the series of lines of the sacrificial mask.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher D. Bencher, Keiji Horioka
  • Hydrogen ashing enhanced with water vapor and diluent gas
    Patent number: 7807579
    Abstract: An oxygen-free hydrogen plasma ashing process particularly useful for low-k dielectric materials based on hydrogenated silicon oxycarbide materials. The main ashing step includes exposing a previously etched dielectric layer to a plasma of hydrogen and optional nitrogen, a larger amount of water vapor, and a yet larger amount of argon or helium. Especially for porous low-k dielectrics, the main ashing plasma additionally contains a hydrocarbon gas such as methane. The main ashing may be preceded by a short surface treatment by a plasma of a hydrogen-containing reducing gas such as hydrogen and optional nitrogen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Chan-Syun Yang, Changhun Lee
  • Slit valve
    Patent number: 7806383
    Abstract: Embodiments of a valve assembly for a process chamber having improved seal performance are provided herein. In some embodiments, a valve assembly for a process chamber includes a housing having an opening disposed in a wall thereof and through which a substrate may be transferred; a door movably coupled to the housing in a plane substantially parallel to the wall of the housing for selectively sealing the opening; a compressible sealing member disposed at least partly between an upper surface of the door and a corresponding surface of the housing for forming a seal therebetween by compression of the compressible sealing member in a direction substantially perpendicular to the wall when the door is in a closed position; and a mechanism for restricting the exposure of the compressible sealing member to an environment on a process chamber side of the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Toan Q. Tran, Dimitry Lubormirsky, Lun Tsuei, Won Bang
  • Halogen-free amorphous carbon mask etch having high selectivity to photoresist
    Patent number: 7807064
    Abstract: In one embodiment of the present invention, a halogen-free plasma etch processes is used to define a feature in a multi-layered masking stack including an amorphous carbon layer. In a particular embodiment, oxygen (O2), nitrogen (N2), and carbon monoxide (CO) are utilized to etch the amorphous carbon layer to form a mask capable of producing sub-100 nm features in a substrate film having a reduced line edge roughness value. In another embodiment, the present invention employs an O2 plasma pretreatment preceding the halogen-free amorphous carbon etch to first form an oxidized silicon region in a patterned photoresist layer to increase the selectivity of the amorphous carbon etch relative to a patterned photoresist layer containing unoxidized silicon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Jong Mun Kim, Judy Wang, Ajey M. Joshi, Jingbao Liu, Bryan Y. Pu
  • Determining endpoint in a substrate process
    Patent number: 7808651
    Abstract: An endpoint detection system for detecting an endpoint of a process comprises a polychromatic light source which emits polychromatic light. The light is reflected from a substrate. A light wavelength selector receives the reflected polychromatic light and determines a wavelength of light at which a local intensity of the reflected light is maximized during the process. In one version, the wavelength selector comprises a diffraction grating to generate a plurality of light beams having different wavelengths from the reflected polychromatic light and a light detector to receive the light beams having different wavelengths and generate an intensity signal trace of the intensity of each wavelength of the polychromatic reflected light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Lei Lian, Matthew F Davis
  • PULSED PLASMA HIGH ASPECT RATIO DIELECTRIC PROCESS
    Publication number: 20100248488
    Abstract: Radial distribution of etch rate is controlled by controlling the respective duty cycles of pulsed VHF source power applied to the ceiling and pulsed HF or MF bias power on the workpiece. Net average electrical charging of the workpiece is controlled by providing an electronegative process gas and controlling the voltage of a positive DC pulse on the workpiece applied during pulse off times of the pulsed VHF source power.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 23, 2010
    Publication date: September 30, 2010
    Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Ankur Agarwal, Kenneth S. Collins, Shahid Rauf, Kartik Ramaswamy, Thorsten B. Lill
  • BIASABLE COOLING PEDESTAL
    Publication number: 20100247804
    Abstract: In some embodiments, a method for cooling a substrate upon a biasable cooling pedestal for supporting a substrate during deposition within a plasma vapor deposition chamber may include a supplying a low pressure inert gas from the shaft of a liquid-chilled pedestal to flow through one or more channels within grooved a metal substrate support and a liquid-chilled body. By maintaining a cooling gas supply at a pressure well below that which may displace the weight of the substrate, the gas may enable even heat transfer between the cooling pedestal and the substrate to cool the substrate during deposition without the use of electrical or mechanical mechanisms for clamping the substrate in place.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 24, 2010
    Publication date: September 30, 2010
    Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventor: Shambhu Roy
  • Methods for forming a dielectric layer within trenches
    Patent number: 7803722
    Abstract: A method for forming a semiconductor structure includes reacting a silicon precursor and an atomic oxygen or nitrogen precursor at a processing temperature of about 150° C. or less to form a silicon oxide or silicon-nitrogen containing layer over a substrate. The silicon oxide or silicon-nitrogen containing layer is ultra-violet (UV) cured within an oxygen-containing environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc
    Inventor: Jingmei Liang
  • Pryometer for laser annealing system compatible with amorphous carbon optical absorber layer
    Patent number: 7804042
    Abstract: In a laser annealing system for workpieces such as semiconductor wafers, a pyrometer wavelength response band is established within a narrow window lying between the laser emission band and a fluorescence emission band from the optical components of the laser system, the pyrometer response band lying in a wavelength region at which the optical absorber layer on the workpiece has an optical absorption coefficient as great as or greater than the underlying workpiece. A multi-layer razor-edge interference filter having a 5-8 nm wavelength cut-off edge transition provides the cut-off of the laser emission at the bottom end of the pyrometer response band.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Jiping Li, Bruce E. Adams, Timothy N. Thomas, Aaron Muir Hunter, Abhilash J. Mayur, Rajesh S. Ramanujam
  • Method and apparatus for detecting defects in wafers including alignment of the wafer images so as to induce the same smear in all images
    Patent number: 7804993
    Abstract: A method for inspecting a wafer including a multiplicity of dies, the method including dividing an image of at least a portion of the wafer into a plurality of sub-images each representing a sub-portion of the wafer and selecting at least one defect candidate within each sub-image by comparing each sub-image to a corresponding sub-image of a reference including a representation, which is assumed to be faultless, of the portion of the wafer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials South East Asia Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuval Dorphan, Ran Zaslavsky, Mark Wagner, Dov Furman, Shai Silberstein
  • Method to deposit functionally graded dielectric films via chemical vapor deposition using viscous precursors
    Patent number: 7802538
    Abstract: A method of forming a graded dielectric layer on an underlying layer including flowing a mixture of a silicon-carbon containing gas, an oxygen containing gas and a carrier gas through a showerhead comprising a blocking plate and a faceplate to form an oxide rich portion of the graded dielectric layer, where the silicon-carbon containing gas has an initial flow rate, flowing the silicon-carbon containing gas at a first intermediate flow rate for about 0.5 seconds or longer, where the first intermediate flow rate is higher than the initial flow rate, and flowing the silicon-carbon containing gas at a fastest flow rate higher than the first intermediate flow rate to form a carbon rich portion of the graded dielectric layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Deenesh Padhi, Sohyun Park, Ganesh Balasubramanian, Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez, Li-Qun Xia, Derek R. Witty, Hichem M'Saad
  • Methods and apparatus for inkjetting spacers in a flat panel display
    Patent number: 7803420
    Abstract: Method of and apparatus for depositing a spacer on a substrate is provided. The invention includes depositing a first ink including an adhesive agent on a first area of the substrate and depositing a second ink including supporting elements on a second area of the substrate, the second area greater than and encompassing the first area. A portion of the second ink evaporates such that the supporting elements within the second ink migrate into the first area and bond to the adhesive agent in the first ink, forming a spacer. Numerous other aspects are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Si-Kyoung Kim, Sheng Sun, John M. White
  • Multi mode inspection method and apparatus
    Patent number: 7804590
    Abstract: An inspection system for inspecting an object, the system comprising an illuminator including at least one pulsed light source, a detector assembly, and a relative motion provider operative to provide motion of the object relative to the detector assembly, along an axis of motion, the detector assembly comprising a plurality of 2-dimensional detector units whose active areas are arranged at intervals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials South East Asia Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Dov Furman, Noam Dotan, Efraim Miklatzky
  • Physical vapor deposition plasma reactor with arcing suppression
    Patent number: 7804040
    Abstract: A physical vapor deposition reactor includes a vacuum chamber with a sidewall, a ceiling and a retractable wafer support pedestal near a floor of the chamber, and a vacuum pump coupled to the chamber, the retractable wafer support pedestal having an internal electrode and a grounded base with a conductive annular flange extending from the base. A metal sputter target at the ceiling is energized by a high voltage D.C. source. The reactor has an RF plasma source power generator with a frequency suitable for exciting kinetic electrons is coupled to either the sputter target or to the internal electrode of the pedestal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Karl M. Brown, Semyon Sherstinksy, Vineet H. Mehta, Wei W. Wang, John A. Pipitone, Kurt J. Ahmann, Armando Valverde, Jr.
  • Plasma, UV and ion/neutral assisted ALD or CVD in a batch tool
    Patent number: 7798096
    Abstract: A batch processing chamber includes a chamber housing, a substrate boat for containing a batch of substrates in a process region, and an excitation assembly for exciting species of a processing gas. The excitation assembly is positioned within the chamber housing and may include plasma, UV, or ion assistance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Maitreyee Mahajani, Joseph Yudovsky, Brendan McDougall
  • End effector pad for vacuum robot
    Patent number: D624716
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventor: Kyung-Tae Kim