Patents by Inventor Andrew James PFAU

Andrew James PFAU 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).

  • Publication number: 20250003908
    Abstract: In some examples, a Vacuum Pre-treatment Module (VPM) metrology system is provided for measuring a sheet resistance of a layer on a substrate. The system may comprise an eddy sensor including a sender sensor and a receiver sensor defining a gap between them for accepting an edge of a substrate to be tested. A sensor controller receives measurement signals from the eddy sensor. A data processor processes the measurement signals and generates sheet resistance values for the layer on the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2024
    Publication date: January 2, 2025
    Inventors: Manish Ranjan, Andrew James Pfau, Douglas Hill, Douglas Koeller, Burton Williams, Shantinath Ghongadi
  • Patent number: 12180607
    Abstract: An electrochemical deposition system includes: an electrochemical deposition chamber including an electrolyte for electrochemical deposition; a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate and including a first cathode that is electrically connected to the substrate; a first actuator configured to adjust a vertical position of the substrate holder within the electrochemical deposition chamber; an anode submerged in the electrolyte; a second cathode arranged between the first cathode and the anode; a first optical probe configured to measure a first reflectivity of the substrate at a first distance from a center of the substrate while the substrate is submerged within the electrolyte during the electrochemical deposition; and a controller configured to, based on the first reflectivity, selectively adjust at least one of power applied to the first cathode, power applied to the second cathode, power applied to the anode, and the vertical position of the substrate holder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2024
    Assignee: LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION
    Inventors: Andrew James Pfau, Shantinath Ghongadi, Jr., Zhian He, Manish Ranjan
  • Patent number: 12105039
    Abstract: In some examples, a Vacuum Pre-treatment Module (VPM) metrology system is provided for measuring a sheet resistance of a layer on a substrate. The system may comprise an eddy sensor including a sender sensor and a receiver sensor defining a gap between them for accepting an edge of a substrate to be tested. A sensor controller receives measurement signals from the eddy sensor. A data processor processes the measurement signals and generates sheet resistance values for the layer on the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2024
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventors: Manish Ranjan, Andrew James Pfau, Douglas Hill, Douglas Koeller, Burton Williams, Shantinath Ghongadi
  • Publication number: 20240055282
    Abstract: Methods provided herein may include illuminating a region on a wafer within a semiconductor processing tool, the wafer having a layer of a material that is at least semi-transparent to light and has a measurable extinction coefficient, and the region being a first fraction of the wafer's surface, detecting light reflected off the material and off a surface underneath the material using one or more detectors and generating optical data corresponding to the detected light, generating a metric associated with a property of the material on the wafer by applying the optical data to a transfer function that relates the optical data to the metric associated with the property of the material on the wafer, determining an adjustment to one or more processing parameters for a processing module, and performing or modifying a processing operation in the processing module according to the adjusted one or more processing parameters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 4, 2022
    Publication date: February 15, 2024
    Inventors: Liu Yang, Mengping LI, Shantinath Ghongadi, Andrew James Pfau
  • Publication number: 20220349850
    Abstract: In some examples, a Vacuum Pre-treatment Module (VPM) metrology system is provided for measuring a sheet resistance of a layer on a substrate. The system may comprise an eddy sensor including a sender sensor and a receiver sensor defining a gap between them for accepting an edge of a substrate to be tested. A sensor controller receives measurement signals from the eddy sensor. A data processor processes the measurement signals and generates sheet resistance values for the layer on the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Publication date: November 3, 2022
    Inventors: Manish Ranjan, Andrew James Pfau, Douglas Hill, Douglas Koeller, Burton Williams, Shantinath Ghongadi
  • Publication number: 20220228287
    Abstract: An electrochemical deposition system includes: an electrochemical deposition chamber including an electrolyte for electrochemical deposition; a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate and including a first cathode that is electrically connected to the substrate; a first actuator configured to adjust a vertical position of the substrate holder within the electrochemical deposition chamber; an anode submerged in the electrolyte; a second cathode arranged between the first cathode and the anode; a first optical probe configured to measure a first reflectivity of the substrate at a first distance from a center of the substrate while the substrate is submerged within the electrolyte during the electrochemical deposition; and a controller configured to, based on the first reflectivity, selectively adjust at least one of power applied to the first cathode, power applied to the second cathode, power applied to the anode, and the vertical position of the substrate holder.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2020
    Publication date: July 21, 2022
    Inventors: Andrew James PFAU, Shantinath GHONGADI, Zhian HE, Manish RANJAN
  • Publication number: 20210366768
    Abstract: Various embodiments include methods and apparatuses to moisturize a substrate prior to an electrochemical deposition process. In one embodiment, a method to control substrate wettability includes placing a substrate in a pre-treatment chamber, controlling an environment of the pre-treatment chamber to moisturize a surface of the substrate; and placing the substrate into a plating cell. Other methods and systems are disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2019
    Publication date: November 25, 2021
    Inventors: Zhian HE, Shantinath GHONGADI, Hyungjun HUR, Ludan HUANG, Jingbin FENG, Douglas HILL, Thomas BURKE, Manish RANJAN, Andrew James PFAU