Patents by Inventor Edward P. Hammond, IV
Edward P. Hammond, IV 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).
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Patent number: 10109462Abstract: A tuning apparatus enables control of the flow of radio-frequency (RF) current in a plasma processing chamber at multiple RF frequencies. The apparatus is configured to provide a first path to ground from the chamber for RF power at a first frequency and a second path to ground from the chamber for RF power at a second frequency, where the first path to ground and the second path to ground each include a variable energy storage element. When adjusted, the variable energy storage element in the first path to ground modifies the impedance of the first path to ground, thereby changing RF current flow through the first path to ground at the first frequency. Adjusting the variable energy storage element in the second path to ground modifies the impedance of the second path to ground, thereby changing RF current flow through the second path to ground at the second frequency.Type: GrantFiled: March 13, 2018Date of Patent: October 23, 2018Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.Inventors: Edward P. Hammond, IV, Abdul Aziz Khaja, Tza-Jing Gung
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Publication number: 20180261431Abstract: A tuning apparatus enables control of the flow of radio-frequency (RF) current in a plasma processing chamber at multiple RF frequencies. The apparatus is configured to provide a first path to ground from the chamber for RF power at a first frequency and a second path to ground from the chamber for RF power at a second frequency, where the first path to ground and the second path to ground each include a variable energy storage element. When adjusted, the variable energy storage element in the first path to ground modifies the impedance of the first path to ground, thereby changing RF current flow through the first path to ground at the first frequency. Adjusting the variable energy storage element in the second path to ground modifies the impedance of the second path to ground, thereby changing RF current flow through the second path to ground at the second frequency.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 13, 2018Publication date: September 13, 2018Inventors: Edward P. HAMMOND, IV, Abdul Aziz KHAJA, Tza-Jing GUNG
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Publication number: 20180204750Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method and an apparatus for monitoring plasma behavior inside a plasma processing chamber. In one example, a method for monitoring plasma behavior includes acquiring at least one image of a plasma, and determining a plasma parameter based on the at least one image.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 18, 2018Publication date: July 19, 2018Inventors: Sidharth BHATIA, Edward P. HAMMOND, IV, Bhaskar KUMAR, Anup Kumar SINGH, Vivek Bharat SHAH, Ganesh BALASUBRAMANIAN
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Publication number: 20180119281Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to apparatus for reducing arcing and parasitic plasma in substrate processing chambers. The apparatus generally include a processing chamber having a substrate support, a backing plate, and a showerhead disposed therein. A showerhead suspension electrically couples the backing plate to the showerhead. An electrically conductive bracket is coupled to the backing plate and spaced apart from the showerhead. The electrically conductive bracket may include a plate, a lower portion, an upper portion, and a vertical extension. The electrically conductive bracket contacts an electrical isolator.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 21, 2017Publication date: May 3, 2018Inventors: Jonghoon BAEK, Edwin C. SUAREZ, Tsutomu TANAKA, Edward P. HAMMOND, IV, Jeonghoon OH
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Patent number: 9850576Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to apparatus for reducing arcing and parasitic plasma in substrate processing chambers. The apparatus generally include a processing chamber having a substrate support, a backing plate, and a showerhead disposed therein. A showerhead suspension electrically couples the backing plate to the showerhead. An electrically conductive bracket is coupled to the backing plate and spaced apart from the showerhead. The electrically conductive bracket may include a plate, a lower portion, an upper portion, and a vertical extension. The electrically conductive bracket contacts an electrical isolator.Type: GrantFiled: December 30, 2010Date of Patent: December 26, 2017Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.Inventors: Jonghoon Baek, Edwin C. Suarez, Tsutomu Tanaka, Edward P. Hammond, IV, Jeonghoon Oh
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Publication number: 20170352569Abstract: A heated support assembly is disclosed which includes a body comprising aluminum nitride doped with magnesium oxide having a volume resistivity of about 1×1010 ?-cm at about 600 degrees Celsius, an electrode embedded in the body, and a heater mesh embedded in the body.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 2, 2017Publication date: December 7, 2017Inventors: Abdul Aziz KHAJA, Xing LIN, Edward P. HAMMOND, IV, Juan Carlos ROCHA-ALVAREZ, Chidambara A. RAMALINGAM, Ganesh BALASUBRAMANIAN, Ren-Guan DUAN, Jianhua ZHOU, Jonathan J. STRAHLE
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Publication number: 20170345698Abstract: A support assembly for a semiconductor processing chamber is provided and includes a body comprising a heater, and a puck coupled to the body, the puck comprising a chucking electrode embedded in a dielectric material, wherein, when a radio frequency power of about 13.56 megahertz is applied to a substrate receiving surface of the body, an electrical resistance (R) of the body is about 0.460 Ohms, or less, and an electrical reactance (X) of the body is about 10.9 Ohms, or greater.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 26, 2017Publication date: November 30, 2017Inventors: Edward P. HAMMOND, IV, Zheng John YE, Abdul Aziz KHAJA
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Publication number: 20170306494Abstract: A method and apparatus for a heated substrate support pedestal is provided. In one embodiment, the heated substrate support pedestal includes a body comprising a ceramic material, a plurality of heating elements encapsulated within the body A stem is coupled to a bottom surface of the body. A plurality of heater elements, a top electrode and a shield electrode are disposed within the body. The top electrode is disposed adjacent a top surface of the body, while the shield electrode is disposed adjacent the bottom surface of the body. A conductive rod is disposed through the stem and is coupled to the top electrode.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 26, 2017Publication date: October 26, 2017Inventors: Xing LIN, Vijay D. PARKHE, Jianhua ZHOU, Edward P. HAMMOND, IV, Jaeyong CHO, Zheng John YE, Zonghui SU, Juan Carlos ROCHA-ALVAREZ
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Publication number: 20170213702Abstract: A plasma source assembly for use with a processing chamber includes an inner RF feed connected to the inner edge of the electrode and an outer RF feed connected to the outer edge of the electrode. A capacitor is connected between the inner edge of the electrode and electrical ground to modulate the voltage of across the length of the electrode.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 24, 2017Publication date: July 27, 2017Inventors: Edward P. Hammond, IV, Tsutomu Tanaka, Anantha K. Subramani
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Publication number: 20170011891Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for plasma etching a substrate in a processing chamber. A focus ring assembly circumscribes a substrate support, providing uniform processing conditions near the edge of the substrate. The focus ring assembly comprises two rings, a first ring and a second ring, the first ring comprising quartz, and the second ring comprising monocrystalline silicon, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, silicon oxycarbide, silicon oxynitride, or combinations thereof. The second ring is disposed above the first ring near the edge of the substrate, and creates a uniform electric field and gas composition above the edge of the substrate that results in uniform etching across the substrate surface.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 26, 2016Publication date: January 12, 2017Inventors: Edward P. HAMMOND, IV, Jing ZOU, Rodolfo P. BELEN, Meihua SHEN, Nicolas GANI, Andrew NGUYEN, David PALAGASHVILI, Michael D. WILLWERTH
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Patent number: 8871064Abstract: A multi-step process performed in a plasma sputter chamber including sputter deposition from the target and argon sputter etching of the substrate. The chamber includes a quadruple electromagnetic coil array coaxially arranged in a rectangular array about a chamber axis outside the sidewalls of a plasma sputter reactor in back of an RF coil within the chamber. The coil currents can be separately controlled to produce different magnetic field distributions, for example, between a sputter deposition mode in which the sputter target is powered to sputter target material onto a wafer and a sputter etch mode in which the RF coil supports the argon sputtering plasma. A TaN/Ta barrier is first sputter deposited with high target power and wafer bias. Argon etching is performed with even higher wafer bias. A flash step is applied with reduced target power and wafer bias.Type: GrantFiled: January 28, 2010Date of Patent: October 28, 2014Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Tza-Jing Gung, Xinyu Fu, Arvind Sundarrajan, Edward P. Hammond, IV, Praburam Gopalraja, John C. Forster, Mark A. Perrin, Andrew S. Gillard
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Publication number: 20130273262Abstract: Methods and apparatus for controlling film deposition using a linear plasma source are described herein. The apparatus include a showerhead having openings therein for flowing a gas therethrough, a conveyor to support one or more substrates thereon disposed adjacent to the showerhead, and a power source for ionizing the gas. The ionized gas can be a source gas used to deposit a material on the substrate. The deposition profile of the material on the substrate can be adjusted, for example, using a gas-shaping device included in the apparatus. Additionally or alternatively, the deposition profile may be adjusted by using an actuatable showerhead. The method includes exposing a substrate to an ionized gas to deposit a film on the substrate, wherein the ionized gas is influenced with a gas-shaping device to uniformly deposit the film on the substrate as the substrate is conveyed proximate to the showerhead.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 13, 2012Publication date: October 17, 2013Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Manoj Vellaikal, Michael S. Cox, Hemant P. Mungekar, Chikuang C. Wang, Lin Zhang, Hari K. Ponnekanti, Michael P. Stewart, Edward P. Hammond, IV, Alexander S. Polyak
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Publication number: 20130171757Abstract: The present invention generally provides a high throughput substrate processing system that is used to form one or more regions of a solar cell device. In one configuration of a processing system, one or more solar cell passivating or dielectric layers are deposited and further processed within one or more processing chambers contained within the high throughput substrate processing system. The processing chambers may be, for example, plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) chambers, low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) chambers, atomic layer deposition (ALD) chambers, physical vapor deposition (PVD) or sputtering chambers, thermal processing chambers (e.g., RTA or RTO chambers), substrate reorientation chambers (e.g., flipping chambers) and/or other similar processing chambers.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 2, 2013Publication date: July 4, 2013Inventors: HARI K. PONNEKANTI, Alexander S. Polyak, James L'Heureux, Michael S. Cox, Christopher T. Lane, Edward P. Hammond, IV, Hemant P. Mungekar, Susanne Schlaefer, Wolfgang Buschbeck, Juergen Henrich, Andreas Lopp
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Patent number: 8236133Abstract: A gas distribution assembly for the ceiling of a plasma reactor includes a center fed hub and an equal path length distribution gas manifold underlying the center fed hub.Type: GrantFiled: June 20, 2008Date of Patent: August 7, 2012Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Dan Katz, David Palagashvili, Brian K. Hatcher, Theodoros Panagopoulos, Valentin N. Todorow, Edward P. Hammond, IV, Alexander M. Paterson, Rodolfo P. Belen
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Patent number: 8066895Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide apparatus and method for processing a substrate with increased uniformity. One embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus for processing a substrate. The apparatus comprises a chamber body defining a processing volume, a substrate support disposed in the processing volume, a showerhead disposed in the processing volume opposite to the substrate support, and a plasma generation assembly configured to ignite a plasma from the processing gases in the processing gas in the processing volume. The showerhead is configured to provide one or more processing gases to the processing volume. The showerhead has two or more distribution zones each independently controllable.Type: GrantFiled: February 28, 2008Date of Patent: November 29, 2011Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Rodolfo P. Belen, Edward P. Hammond, IV, Brian K. Hatcher, Dan Katz, Alexander M. Paterson, Valentin N. Todorow
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Patent number: 8017526Abstract: A method of processing a wafer in a plasma, in which target values of two different plasma process parameters are simultaneously realized under predetermined process conditions by setting respective power levels of VHF and HF power simultaneously coupled to the wafer to respective optimum levels.Type: GrantFiled: November 30, 2007Date of Patent: September 13, 2011Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Edward P. Hammond, IV, Rodolfo P. Belen, Alexander M. Paterson, Brian K. Hatcher, Valentin N. Todorow, Dan Katz
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Publication number: 20110197814Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to apparatus for reducing arcing and parasitic plasma in substrate processing chambers. The apparatus generally include a processing chamber having a substrate support, a backing plate, and a showerhead disposed therein. A showerhead suspension electrically couples the backing plate to the showerhead. An electrically conductive bracket is coupled to the backing plate and spaced apart from the showerhead. The electrically conductive bracket may include a plate, a lower portion, an upper portion, and a vertical extension. The electrically conductive bracket contacts an electrical isolator.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 30, 2010Publication date: August 18, 2011Applicant: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.Inventors: JONGHOON BAEK, Edwin C. Suarez, Tsutomu Tanaka, Edward P. Hammond, IV, Jeonghoon Oh
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Publication number: 20110192349Abstract: A plurality of RF power signals have the same RF frequency as a reference RF signal and are coupled to respective RF connection points on an electrode of a plasma chamber. At least three of the RF connection points are not collinear. At least two of the RF power signals have time-varying phase offsets relative to the reference RF signal that are distinct functions of time. Such time-varying phase offsets can produce a spatial distribution of plasma in the plasma chamber having better time-averaged uniformity than the uniformity of the spatial distribution at any instant in time.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 12, 2011Publication date: August 11, 2011Inventors: Edward P. Hammond, IV, Tsutomu Tanaka, Christopher Boitnott, Jozef Kudela
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Patent number: 7780864Abstract: A method of processing a workpiece in the chamber of a plasma reactor in which the plasma ion density radial distribution in the process region is controlled by adjusting the ratio between the amounts of the (VHF) capacitively coupled power and the inductively coupled power while continuing to maintain the level of total plasma source power. The method can also include applying independently adjustable LF bias power and HF bias power to the workpiece and adjusting the average value and population distribution of ion energy at the surface of the workpiece by adjusting the proportion between the LF and HF bias powers.Type: GrantFiled: April 24, 2006Date of Patent: August 24, 2010Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Alexander Paterson, Valentin N. Todorow, Theodoros Panagopoulos, Brian K. Hatcher, Dan Katz, Edward P. Hammond, IV, John P. Holland, Alexander Matyushkin
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Publication number: 20100155223Abstract: A multi-step process performed in a plasma sputter chamber including sputter deposition from the target and argon sputter etching of the substrate. The chamber includes a quadruple electromagnetic coil array coaxially arranged in a rectangular array about a chamber axis outside the sidewalls of a plasma sputter reactor in back of an RF coil within the chamber. The coil currents can be separately controlled to produce different magnetic field distributions, for example, between a sputter deposition mode in which the sputter target is powered to sputter target material onto a wafer and a sputter etch mode in which the RF coil supports the argon sputtering plasma. A TaN/Ta barrier is first sputter deposited with high target power and wafer bias. Argon etching is performed with even higher wafer bias. A flash step is applied with reduced target power and wafer bias.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 28, 2010Publication date: June 24, 2010Applicant: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.Inventors: Tza-Jing GUNG, Xinyu FU, Arvind SUNDARRAJAN, Edward P. HAMMOND, IV, Praburam GOPALRAJA, John C. FORSTER, Mark A. PERRIN, Andrew S. GILLARD