Patents Examined by Margaret D Klunk
  • Patent number: 11004661
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for substrate etching are described herein. A processing chamber described herein includes a source module, a process module, a flow module, and an exhaust module. An RF source may be coupled to the chamber and a remote plasma may be generated in the source module and a direct plasma may be generated in the process module. Cyclic etching processes described may use alternating radical and direct plasmas to etch a substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Toan Q. Tran, Soonam Park, Junghoon Kim, Dmitry Lubomirsky
  • Patent number: 10985078
    Abstract: An apparatus for use in a processing chamber is provided. A consumable is within the processing chamber. A scale is positioned to measure a mass of the consumable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventor: Ian Kenworthy
  • Patent number: 10964559
    Abstract: A wafer etching apparatus and a method for controlling an etch bath of a wafer is provided. The wafer etching apparatus includes an etching tank comprising an etch bath, an etch bath recycle system connected to the etching tank, a real time monitor (RTM) system connected to the etching tank, and a control system coupled with the RTM system and the etch bath recycle system. The wafer etching apparatus and the method for controlling an etch bath of the wafer both control the silicate concentration in the etch bath to stable an etching selectivity with respect to silicon oxide and silicon nitride.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tai-I Yang, Chih-Shen Yang, Tien-Lu Lin
  • Patent number: 10927457
    Abstract: A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in this embodiment includes a reactor, a pump, an exhaust pipe and a mesh member. The reactor houses a semiconductor substrate to treat the semiconductor substrate. The pump exhausts a gas inside the reactor. The exhaust pipe connects between the reactor and the pump. The mesh member is located at a flow inlet of the pump for the gas or in the exhaust pipe and has a main plane having a plurality of meshes arranged thereon. The mesh member has a protrusion and/or protruding shape projecting upstream of the gas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: Toshiba Memory Corporation
    Inventors: Koji Nakahara, Kazuhiro Matsuo
  • Patent number: 10916440
    Abstract: Techniques are provided to remove the growth of colloidal silica deposits on surfaces of high aspect ratio structures during silicon nitride etch steps. A high selectivity overetch step is used to remove the deposited colloidal silica. The disclosed techniques include the use of phosphoric acid to remove silicon nitride from structures having silicon nitride formed in narrow gap or trench structures having high aspect ratios in which formation of colloidal silica deposits on a surface of the narrow gap or trench through a hydrolysis reaction occurs. A second etch step is used in which the hydrolysis reaction which formed the colloidal silica deposits is reversible, and with the now lower concentration of silica in the nearby phosphoric acid due to the depletion of the silicon nitride, the equilibrium drives the reaction in the reverse direction, dissolving the deposited silica back into solution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Derek Bassett, Wallace P. Printz, Antonio L. P. Rotondaro, Teruomi Minami, Takahiro Furukawa
  • Patent number: 10879046
    Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein include a substrate support having a sensor assembly, and processing chamber having the same. In one embodiment, a substrate support has a puck. The puck has a workpiece support surface and a gas hole exiting the workpiece support surface. A sensor assembly is disposed in the gas hole and configured to detect a metric indicative of a deflection of a workpiece disposed on the workpiece support surface, wherein the sensor assembly is configured to allow gas to flow past the sensor assembly when positioned in the gas hole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Wendell Glen Boyd, Jr., Govinda Raj, Matthew James Busche
  • Patent number: 10867832
    Abstract: Apparatus for holding semiconductor wafers during semiconductor manufacturing processes are disclosed. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a heat-conductive layer disposed on a supporting base. The apparatus also comprises a plurality of holes formed through the heat-conductive layer and the supporting base. The apparatus further comprises a plurality of heat-conductive lift pins that extend through the holes over the heat-conductive layer at the top end, and make a direct contact with a wafer substrate. The heat-conductive layer and the lift pins are connected to a heating circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Chen-Hua Yu, Chien Ling Hwang
  • Patent number: 10811266
    Abstract: Provided is a substrate liquid processing apparatus that processes a substrate with a processing liquid. The substrate liquid processing apparatus includes: a processing liquid storage unit configured to store the processing liquid therein; a processing liquid heating unit configured to heat the processing liquid, a controller configured to control the processing liquid heating unit; a temperature sensor; and a concentration sensor connected to the controller. The controller is configured to: measure a concentration of the processing liquid with the concentration sensor, measure a temperature of the processing liquid with the temperature sensor, calculate a boiling point corresponding to the measured concentration of the processing liquid, and control the output of the processing liquid heating unit, based on the boiling point and the measured temperature of the processing liquid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Fumihiro Kamimura, Hiromi Hara
  • Patent number: 10796932
    Abstract: Disclosed is a plasma processing device that provides an object to be treated with plasma treatment. A wafer as an object to be treated, which is attached on the upper surface of adhesive sheet held by a holder frame, is mounted on a stage. In a vacuum chamber that covers the stage therein, plasma is generated, by which the wafer mounted on the stage undergoes plasma treatment. The plasma processing device contains a cover member made of dielectric material. During the plasma treatment on the wafer, the holder frame is covered with a cover member placed at a predetermined position above the stage, at the same time, the wafer is exposed from an opening formed in the center of the cover member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tetsuhiro Iwai
  • Patent number: 10796921
    Abstract: The CMP polishing liquid for polishing palladium of this invention comprises an organic solvent, 1,2,4-triazole, a phosphorus acid compound, an oxidizing agent and an abrasive. The substrate polishing method is a method for polishing a substrate with a polishing cloth while supplying a CMP polishing liquid between the substrate and the polishing cloth, wherein the substrate is a substrate with a palladium layer on the side facing the polishing cloth, and the CMP polishing liquid is a CMP polishing liquid comprising an organic solvent, 1,2,4-triazole, a phosphorus acid compound, an oxidizing agent and an abrasive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: HITACHI CHEMICAL COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Hisataka Minami, Ryouta Saisyo, Jin Amanokura, Yuuhei Okada, Hiroshi Ono
  • Patent number: 10777432
    Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus includes a chamber body having an upper opening, a chamber lid part having a lower opening, and a shield plate arranged in a lid internal space of the chamber lid part. The radial dimension of the shield plate is greater than that of the lower opening. Covering the upper opening of the chamber body with the chamber lid part forms a chamber that internally houses a substrate. In the substrate processing apparatus, before the substrate is conveyed and the chamber is formed, the lid internal space of the chamber lid part is filled with the gas supplied from a gas supply part, in a state in which the shield plate overlaps with the lower opening. This allows the chamber to be quickly filled with the gas to achieve a desired low oxygen atmosphere after the formation of the chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Takeshi Yoshida
  • Patent number: 10714328
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes a supporter configured to support a wafer. The apparatus further includes a first member including a first portion that faces a first region on an upper face of the wafer and a second portion that intervenes between the wafer and the first portion. The apparatus further includes a second member including a third portion that faces a second region on the upper face of the wafer and a fourth portion that intervenes between the wafer and the third portion. The apparatus further includes a first liquid feeder configured to feed a first liquid for processing the wafer to the first region, a first gas feeder configured to feed a first gas between the wafer and the first portion, and a second gas feeder configured to feed a second gas between the wafer and the second portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: TOSHIBA MEMORY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomonori Harada, Tatsuhiko Koide, Katsuhiro Sato
  • Patent number: 10683573
    Abstract: A film forming apparatus of forming a film by supplying a process gas onto a substrate includes a rotation table having a loading region and is configured to revolve the substrate loaded on the loading region; a process gas supply mechanism configured to supply the process gas to a gas supply region to perform film formation on the substrate repeatedly passing through the gas supply region a plurality of times by revolution of the substrate; a first gear disposed on the other surface side of the rotation table and rotated in a rotation direction of the rotation table; a second gear configured with planetary gears engaging with the first gear, disposed to be revolved together with the loading region, and configured to rotate the loading region so as to allow the substrate to be rotated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Hitoshi Kato, Shigehiro Miura, Hiroyuki Kikuchi, Katsuyoshi Aikawa
  • Patent number: 10676817
    Abstract: Device for processing a substrate are described herein. An apparatus for controlling deposition on a substrate can include a chamber comprising a shadow frame support, a substrate support comprising a substrate supporting surface, a shadow frame with a shadow frame body including a first support surface, a second support surface opposite the first surface, and a detachable lip connected with the shadow frame body. The detachable lip can include a support connection, a first lip surface facing the substrate, a second lip surface opposite the first lip surface, a first edge positioned over the first support surface, and a second edge opposite the first edge to contact the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Qunhua Wang, Soo Young Choi, Robin L. Tiner, John M. White, Gaku Furuta, Beom Soo Park
  • Patent number: 10658222
    Abstract: A substrate processing system includes a processing chamber and a pedestal arranged in the processing chamber. An edge coupling ring is arranged adjacent to a radially outer edge of the pedestal. A first actuator is configured to selectively move the edge coupling ring to a raised position, relative to the pedestal to provide clearance between the edge coupling ring and the pedestal to allow a robot arm to remove the edge coupling ring from the processing chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2020
    Assignee: LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION
    Inventors: Haoquan Yan, Robert Griffith O'Neill, Raphael Casaes, Jon McChesney, Alex Paterson
  • Patent number: 10643866
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a wet etching machine and an etching method. The wet etching machine including an etching chamber in which at least two etching layers are disposed. The etching layers are successively overlapped with each other from up to down, and each etching layer includes a first transfer carrier for receiving and transferring a substrate to be etched and a spraying apparatus disposed right above the first transfer carrier for spraying etching solution. When the total etching time is needed to be longer than the transfer time of the substrate without stopping the substrate, the present disclosure can solve the problems in the prior art of causing the takt time decreased due to the stopping time of the substrate is required to be increased or causing the area of the facility increased due to the number of the etching chambers connected in series is required to be increased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignees: BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD., HEFEI XINSHENG OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shengrong Li, Jaeyun Jung, Shikai Wang, Dongseob Kim, Jun Geng, Dengtao Li, Qianqian Li, Yadong Liang
  • Patent number: 10586694
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes performing a back surface processing to remove at least one of a scratch and a foreign material formed on a back surface of a substrate to be processed, a front surface of the substrate being retained in a non-contact state, contacting the back surface of the substrate to a stage to be retained, and providing a pattern on the front surface of the substrate by using lithography.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: Toshiba Memory Corporation
    Inventors: Masako Kodera, Hiroshi Tomita, Takeshi Nishioka
  • Patent number: 10544508
    Abstract: An apparatus for plasma processing a substrate is provided. The apparatus comprises a processing chamber, a substrate support disposed in the processing chamber, and a lid assembly coupled to the processing chamber. The lid assembly comprises a conductive gas distributor such as a face plate coupled to a power source, and a heater coupled to the conductive gas distributor. A zoned blocker plate is coupled to the conductive gas distributor and a cooled gas cap is coupled to the zoned blocker plate. A tuning electrode may be disposed between the conductive gas distributor and the chamber body for adjusting a ground pathway of the plasma. A second tuning electrode may be coupled to the substrate support, and a bias electrode may also be coupled to the substrate support.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2020
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez, Amit Kumar Bansal, Ganesh Balasubramanian, Jianhua Zhou, Ramprakash Sankarakrishnan
  • Patent number: 10529577
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a device of changing the gas flow pattern in the process chamber and a wafer processing method and system; a gas introduced from the gas inlet to the process chamber will process the wafer in the process chamber; a gas center ring is set in the process chamber to adjust the gas flow pattern, which includes a fixed component under the gas inlet and above the wafer, and a movable ring could locate in the first position or the second position respectively; when the movable ring is in the first position, the gas is delivered downwards to the wafer via the first opening set on the fixed component; when the movable ring is in the second position, the gas is delivered downwards to the wafer via the second opening set on the movable ring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: ADVANCED MICRO-FABRICATION EQUIPMENT INC. CHINA
    Inventors: TuQiang Ni, ZhiLin Huang
  • Patent number: 10520416
    Abstract: A substrate treating apparatus includes a circulating line having a treating tank for storing a phosphoric acid aqueous solution, a circulating pump for feeding the phosphoric acid aqueous solution, a heater for circulation for heating the phosphoric acid aqueous solution, a filter for filtering the phosphoric acid aqueous solution, the circulating line causing the phosphoric acid aqueous solution discharged from the treating tank to flow in order of the circulating pump, the heater for circulation and the filter, and returning the phosphoric acid aqueous solution from the filter to the treating tank. The apparatus also includes a branch pipe branching from the circulating line between the heater for circulation and the filter for extracting the phosphoric acid aqueous solution from the circulating line, and a concentration measuring station connected to the branch pipe for measuring silicon concentration in the phosphoric acid aqueous solution by potentiometry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomohiro Takahashi, Hiroyuki Araki