Patents by Inventor Juan Carlos Rocha

Juan Carlos Rocha 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: 20210363635
    Abstract: An apparatus for distributing a gas within a process chamber is disclosed. The apparatus has a body formed from a distribution portion surrounded by a coupling portion. A heater is disposed within the distribution portion to heat the body to an elevated temperature. A bridge extends between the coupling portion and the distribution portion. The bridge limits heat transfer between the distribution portion and the coupling portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 19, 2019
    Publication date: November 25, 2021
    Inventors: Juan Carlos ROCHA-ALVAREZ, David H. QUACH
  • Publication number: 20210320017
    Abstract: Exemplary substrate processing systems may include a plurality of processing regions. The systems may include a transfer region housing defining a transfer region fluidly coupled with the plurality of processing regions. The systems may include a plurality of substrate supports, and each substrate support of the plurality of substrate supports may be vertically translatable between the transfer region and an associated processing region of the plurality of processing regions. The systems may include a transfer apparatus including a rotatable shaft extending through the transfer region housing. The transfer apparatus may include an end effector coupled with the rotatable shaft. The end effector may include a central hub defining a central aperture fluidly coupled with a purge source. The end effector may also include a plurality of arms having a number of arms equal to a number of substrate supports of the plurality of substrate supports.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 9, 2020
    Publication date: October 14, 2021
    Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Nitin Pathak, Vinay Prabhakar, Badri N. Ramamurthi, Viren Kalsekar, Tuan A. Nguyen, Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez
  • Patent number: 11136665
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention contemplate a shadow ring that provides increased or decreased and more uniform deposition on the edge of a wafer. By removing material from the top and/or bottom surfaces of the shadow ring, increased edge deposition and bevel coverage can be realized. In one embodiment, the material on the bottom surface is reduced by providing a recessed slot on the bottom surface. By increasing the amount of material of the shadow ring, the edge deposition and bevel coverage is reduced. Another approach to adjusting the deposition at the edge of the wafer includes increasing or decreasing the inner diameter of the shadow ring. The material forming the shadow ring may also be varied to change the amount of deposition at the edge of the wafer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Dale Du Bois, Mohamad A. Ayoub, Robert Kim, Amit Kumar Bansal, Mark Fodor, Binh Nguyen, Siu F. Cheng, Hang Yu, Chiu Chan, Ganesh Balasubramanian, Deenesh Padhi, Juan Carlos Rocha
  • Patent number: 11133210
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for positioning and heating a substrate in a chamber are provided. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a substrate support assembly having a support surface adapted to receive the substrate and a plurality of centering fingers for supporting the substrate at a distance parallel to the support surface and for centering the substrate relative to a reference axis substantially perpendicular to the support surface. The plurality of the centering fingers are movably disposed along a periphery of the support surface, and each of the plurality of centering fingers comprises a first end portion for either contacting or supporting a peripheral edge of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Dale R. Du Bois, Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez, Sanjeev Baluja, Ganesh Balasubramanian, Lipyeow Yap, Jianhua Zhou, Thomas Nowak
  • Publication number: 20210296144
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for a heated substrate support pedestal is provided. In one embodiment, a substrate support pedestal includes a ceramic body having a top surface and a bottom surface. The substrate support pedestal has a stem coupled to the bottom surface of the ceramic body. A top electrode is disposed within the ceramic body. A conductive rod is disposed through the stem and coupled to the top electrode. A plurality of heater elements is disposed within the ceramic body below the top electrode. A ground mesh is disposed within the ceramic body, below the plurality of heater elements, and above the bottom surface of the ceramic body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 27, 2021
    Publication date: September 23, 2021
    Inventors: Xing LIN, Vijay D. PARKHE, Jianhua ZHOU, Edward P. HAMMOND, IV, Jaeyong CHO, Zheng John YE, Zonghui SU, Juan Carlos ROCHA-ALVAREZ
  • Publication number: 20210287924
    Abstract: Exemplary support assemblies may include an electrostatic chuck body defining a substrate support surface. The substrate support assemblies may include a support stem coupled with the electrostatic chuck body. The substrate support assemblies may include a heater embedded within the electrostatic chuck body. The substrate support assemblies may include an electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body between the heater and the substrate support surface. The substrate support assembly may include a ceramic material characterized by a grain size of less than or about 5 ?m.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2020
    Publication date: September 16, 2021
    Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Jian Li, Paul L. Brillhart, Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez, Abdul Aziz Khaja, Vinay K. Prabhakar, Kwangduk Douglas Lee, Chidambara A. Ramalingam, Venkata Sharat Chandra Parimi
  • Publication number: 20210217592
    Abstract: Embodiments described herein provide an apparatus for improving deposition uniformity by improving plasma profile using a tri-cut chamber liner. The apparatus also includes a lid assembly having a split process stack for reducing downtime and a bottom heater support for more efficient heating of chamber walls.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2021
    Publication date: July 15, 2021
    Inventors: Juan Carlos ROCHA-ALVAREZ, Dale R. DU BOIS, Amit Kumar BANSAL
  • Publication number: 20210183676
    Abstract: The disclosure describes devices, systems, and methods for causing a factory interface of an electronic device manufacturing system to be moveable between a first position and a second position. An electronic device manufacturing system can include a transfer chamber, processing chambers connected to the transfer chamber, a load lock connected to the transfer chamber, and a factory interface connected to the load lock. The factory interface can be moveable between a first position and a second position. The factory interface, while oriented in the first position, is positioned for transfer of one or more substrates between the factory interface and the load lock, where at least one of the transfer chamber or the load lock are inaccessible for maintenance while the factory interface is oriented at the first position. The factory interface, while oriented in the second position, is positioned to provide maintenance access to at least one of the transfer chamber or the load lock.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2020
    Publication date: June 17, 2021
    Inventors: Michael R. Rice, Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez, Jeffrey C. Hudgens
  • Patent number: 11031262
    Abstract: Implementations disclosed herein describe a bevel etch apparatus within a loadlock bevel etch chamber and methods of using the same. The bevel etch apparatus has a mask assembly within the loadlock bevel etch chamber. During an etch process, the mask assembly delivers a gas flow to control bevel etch without the use of a shadow frame. As such, the edge exclusion at the bevel edge can be reduced, thus increasing product yield.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Saptarshi Basu, Jeongmin Lee, Paul Connors, Dale R. Du Bois, Prashant Kumar Kulshreshtha, Karthik Thimmavajjula Narasimha, Brett Berens, Kalyanjit Ghosh, Jianhua Zhou, Ganesh Balasubramanian, Kwangduk Douglas Lee, Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez, Hiroyuki Ogiso, Liliya Krivulina, Rick Gilbert, Mohsin Waqar, Venkatanarayana Shankaramurthy, Hari K. Ponnekanti
  • Patent number: 11009455
    Abstract: Systems and methods used to deliver a processing gas having a desired diborane concentration to a processing volume of a processing chamber are provided herein. In one embodiment a system includes a borane concentration sensor. The borane concentration sensor includes a body and a plurality of windows. Here, individual ones of the plurality of windows are disposed at opposite ends of the body and the body and the plurality of windows collectively define a cell volume. The borane concentration sensor further includes a radiation source disposed outside of the cell volume proximate to a first window of the plurality of windows, and a radiation detector disposed outside the cell volume proximate to a second window of the plurality of windows.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Zubin Huang, Sarah Langlois White, Jonathan Robert Bakke, Diwakar N. Kedlaya, Juan Carlos Rocha, Fang Ruan
  • Patent number: 11004663
    Abstract: Embodiments described herein provide an apparatus for improving deposition uniformity by improving plasma profile using a tri-cut chamber liner. The apparatus also includes a lid assembly having a split process stack for reducing downtime and a bottom heater support for more efficient heating of chamber walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez, Dale R. Du Bois, Amit Kumar Bansal
  • Publication number: 20210111000
    Abstract: Implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to methods and apparatus for generating and controlling plasma, for example RF filters, used with plasma chambers. In one implementation, a plasma processing apparatus is provided. The plasma processing apparatus comprises a chamber body, a powered gas distribution manifold enclosing a processing volume and a radio frequency (RF) filter. A pedestal having a substrate-supporting surface is disposed in the processing volume. A heating assembly comprising one or more heating elements is disposed within the pedestal for controlling a temperature profile of the substrate-supporting surface. A tuning assembly comprising a tuning electrode is disposed within the pedestal between the one or more heating elements and the substrate-supporting surface. The RF filter comprises an air core inductor, wherein at least one of the heating elements, the tuning electrode, and the gas distribution manifold is electrically coupled to the RF filter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2020
    Publication date: April 15, 2021
    Inventors: Zheng John Ye, Abdul Aziz Khaja, Amit Kumar Bansal, Kwangduk Douglas Lee, Xing Lin, Jianhua Zhou, Addepalli Sai Susmita, Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez
  • Patent number: 10971389
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for a heated pedestal is provided. In one embodiment, the heated pedestal includes a body comprising a ceramic material, a plurality of heating elements encapsulated within the body, and one or more grooves formed in a surface of the body adjacent each of the plurality of heating elements, at least one side of the grooves being bounded by a ceramic plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Xing Lin, Bozhi Yang, Jianhua Zhou, Dale R. Dubois, Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez, Ramprakash Sankarakrishnan
  • Patent number: 10950477
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an improved electrostatic chuck for supporting a substrate. The electrostatic chuck comprises a chuck body coupled to a support stem, the chuck body having a substrate supporting surface, a plurality of tabs projecting from the substrate supporting surface of the chuck body, wherein the tabs are disposed around the circumference of the chuck body, an electrode embedded within the chuck body, the electrode extending radially from a center of the chuck body to a region beyond the plurality of tabs, and an RF power source coupled to the electrode through a first electrical connection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Xing Lin, Jianhua Zhou, Zheng John Ye, Jian Chen, Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez
  • Publication number: 20210066039
    Abstract: One or more embodiments described herein generally relate to a semiconductor processing apparatus that utilizes high radio frequency (RF) power to improve uniformity. The semiconductor processing apparatus includes an RF powered primary mesh and an RF powered secondary mesh, which are disposed in a substrate supporting element. The secondary RF mesh is positioned underneath the primary RF mesh. A connection assembly is configured to electrically couple the secondary mesh to the primary mesh. RF current flowing out of the primary mesh is distributed into multiple connection junctions. As such, even at high total RF power/current, a hot spot on the primary mesh is prevented because the RF current is spread to the multiple connection junctions. Accordingly, there is less impact on substrate temperature and film non-uniformity, allowing much higher RF power to be used without causing a local hot spot on the substrate being processed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2020
    Publication date: March 4, 2021
    Inventors: Jian LI, Viren KALSEKAR, Paul BRILLHART, Juan Carlos ROCHA-ALVAREZ, Vinay K. PRABHAKAR
  • Publication number: 20210059037
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for controlling RF plasma attributes is disclosed. Some embodiments of the disclosure provide RF sensors within processing chambers operable at high temperatures. Some embodiments provide methods of measuring RF plasma attributes using RF sensors within a processing chamber to provide feedback control for an RF generator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2020
    Publication date: February 25, 2021
    Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Zheng John Ye, Daemian Raj Benjamin Raj, Shailendra Srivastava, Nikhil Sudhindrarao Jorapur, Ndanka O. Mukuti, Dmitry A. Dzilno, Juan Carlos Rocha
  • Patent number: 10916407
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to methods for conditioning an interior wall surface of a remote plasma generator. In one embodiment, a method for processing a substrate is provided. The method includes exposing an interior wall surface of a remote plasma source to a conditioning gas that is in excited state to passivate the interior wall surface of the remote plasma source, wherein the remote plasma source is coupled through a conduit to a processing chamber in which a substrate is disposed, and the conditioning gas comprises an oxygen-containing gas, a nitrogen-containing gas, or a combination thereof. The method has been observed to be able to improve dissociation/recombination rate and plasma coupling efficiency in the processing chamber, and therefore provides repeatable and stable plasma source performance from wafer to wafer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Abdul Aziz Khaja, Mohamad Ayoub, Jay D. Pinson, II, Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez
  • Patent number: 10910238
    Abstract: Implementations of the disclosure generally relate to a semiconductor processing chamber and, more specifically, a heated support pedestal for a semiconductor processing chamber. In one implementation, a pedestal assembly is disclosed and includes a substrate support comprising a dielectric material and having a support surface for receiving a substrate, a resistive heater encapsulated within the substrate support, a hollow shaft coupled to a support member of the substrate support at a first end of the shaft, and a thermally conductive material disposed at an interface between the support member and the first end of the shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Kaushik Alayavalli, Ajit Balakrishna, Sanjeev Baluja, Amit Kumar Bansal, Matthew James Busche, Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez, Swaminathan T. Srinivasan, Tejas Ulavi, Jianhua Zhou
  • Patent number: 10910227
    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 coupled to a power source. 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: November 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez, Amit Kumar Bansal, Ganesh Balasubramanian, Jianhua Zhou, Ramprakash Sankarakrishnan, Mohamad A. Ayoub, Jian J. Chen
  • Patent number: D938373
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Jason M. Schaller, Benjamin Riordon, Mitchell DiSanto, Paul Forderhase, Gary Wyka, Jeffrey Hudgens, Paul Z. Wirth, Charles T. Carlson, Siva Chandrasekar, Michael Carrell, Venkata Raghavaiah Chowdhary Kode, Dmitry A. Dzilno, Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez