Patents by Inventor Kartik Santhanam
Kartik Santhanam 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).
-
Patent number: 11735447Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein include a processing tool for semiconductor processing. In an embodiment, the processing tool comprises a chamber, and a plurality of witness sensors integrated with the chamber. In an embodiment, the processing tool further comprises a drift detection module. In an embodiment, data from the plurality of witness sensors is provided to the drift detection module as input data. In an embodiment, the processing tool further comprises a dashboard for displaying output data from the drift detection module.Type: GrantFiled: October 20, 2020Date of Patent: August 22, 2023Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Kartik Santhanam, Kartik Shah, Wolfgang Aderhold, Martin Hilkene, Stephen Moffatt
-
Publication number: 20220122865Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein include a processing tool for semiconductor processing. In an embodiment, the processing tool comprises a chamber, and a plurality of witness sensors integrated with the chamber. In an embodiment, the processing tool further comprises a drift detection module. In an embodiment, data from the plurality of witness sensors is provided to the drift detection module as input data. In an embodiment, the processing tool further comprises a dashboard for displaying output data from the drift detection module.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 20, 2020Publication date: April 21, 2022Inventors: Kartik Santhanam, Kartik Shah, Wolfgang Aderhold, Martin Hilkene, Stephen Moffatt
-
Patent number: 8927400Abstract: A method of preventing toxic gas formation after an implantation process is disclosed. Certain dopants, when implanted into films disposed on a substrate, may react when exposed to moisture to form a toxic gas and/or a flammable gas. By in-situ exposing the doped film to an oxygen containing compound, dopant that is shallowly implanted into the layer stack reacts to form a dopant oxide, thereby reducing potential toxic gas and/or flammable gas formation. Alternatively, a capping layer may be formed in-situ over the implanted film to reduce the potential generation of toxic gas and/or flammable gas.Type: GrantFiled: May 12, 2014Date of Patent: January 6, 2015Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Majeed A. Foad, Manoj Vellaikal, Kartik Santhanam
-
Publication number: 20140248759Abstract: A method of preventing toxic gas formation after an implantation process is disclosed. Certain dopants, when implanted into films disposed on a substrate, may react when exposed to moisture to form a toxic gas and/or a flammable gas. By in-situ exposing the doped film to an oxygen containing compound, dopant that is shallowly implanted into the layer stack reacts to form a dopant oxide, thereby reducing potential toxic gas and/or flammable gas formation. Alternatively, a capping layer may be formed in-situ over the implanted film to reduce the potential generation of toxic gas and/or flammable gas.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 12, 2014Publication date: September 4, 2014Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Majeed A. FOAD, Manoj VELLAIKAL, Kartik SANTHANAM
-
Patent number: 8501605Abstract: Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of doping a substrate may include forming a dopant region on a substrate by implanting one or more dopant elements into the dopant region of the substrate using a plasma doping process; forming a cap layer atop the dopant region; annealing the dopant region after forming the cap layer; and removing the cap layer after annealing the dopant region.Type: GrantFiled: July 22, 2011Date of Patent: August 6, 2013Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Kartik Santhanam, Martin A. Hilkene, Manoj Vellaikal, Mark R. Lee, Matthew D. Scotney-Castle, Peter I. Porshnev
-
Publication number: 20130095643Abstract: Methods for processing a substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of processing a substrate may include implanting a dopant species into the one or more regions of the substrate using a first dopant precursor comprising a hydride of the dopant species; and implanting the dopant species into the one or more regions of the substrate using a second dopant precursor comprising fluorine and the dopant species. In some embodiments, the first and second dopant precursors may be provided simultaneously. In some embodiments, the first dopant precursor may be provided for a first time period, followed by providing the first dopant precursor and the second dopant precursor for a second period of time. In some embodiments, the flow of the first dopant precursor and the flow of the second dopant precursor may be alternated until a desired implant level is reached.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 17, 2011Publication date: April 18, 2013Applicant: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.Inventors: KARTIK SANTHANAM, MATTHEW D. SCOTNEY-CASTLE, MANOJ VELLAIKAL, PETER I. PORSHNEV
-
Publication number: 20130023112Abstract: Methods for processing substrates are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of processing a substrate may include implanting a substrate with a dopant in a first vacuum chamber; transferring the substrate to a second vacuum chamber at a first pressure below atmospheric; providing an inert gas to the second vacuum chamber to raise the pressure to a second pressure; pumping down the second vacuum chamber to a third pressure below the second pressure; and providing the inert gas to the second vacuum chamber to raise the pressure to a fourth pressure above the third pressure.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 28, 2011Publication date: January 24, 2013Applicant: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.Inventor: Kartik SANTHANAM
-
Publication number: 20120302048Abstract: Methods for implanting ions into a substrate by a plasma immersion ion implanting process are provided. In one embodiment, the method for implanting ions into a substrate by a plasma immersion ion implantation process includes providing a substrate into a processing chamber, flowing a gas mixture including a hydride dopant gas and a fluorine-containing dopant gas into the processing chamber, wherein the hydride dopant gas comprises P-type hydride dopant gas, N-type hydride dopant gas, or a combination thereof, and the fluorine-containing dopant gas comprises a P-type or N-type dopant atom, generating a plasma from the gas mixture, and co-implanting ions from the gas mixture into a surface of the substrate.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 1, 2012Publication date: November 29, 2012Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Kartik Santhanam, Yen B. Ta, Matthew D. Scotney-Castle, Manoj Vellaikal, Martin A. Hilkene, Peter I. Porshnev, Majeed A. Foad
-
Publication number: 20120289036Abstract: The invention generally relates to pre-implant and post-implant treatments to promote the retention of dopants near the surface of an implanted substrate. The pre-implant treatments include forming a plasma from an inert gas and implanting the inert gas into the substrate to render an upper portion of the substrate amorphous. The post-implant treatment includes forming a passivation layer on the upper surface of the substrate after doping the substrate in order to retain the dopant during a subsequent activation anneal.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 17, 2012Publication date: November 15, 2012Applicant: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.Inventors: Kartik Santhanam, Manoj Vellaikal, Yen B. Ta, Matthew D. Scotney-Castle, Peter I. Porshnev
-
Publication number: 20120238074Abstract: Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of doping a substrate may include forming a dopant region on a substrate by implanting one or more dopant elements into the dopant region of the substrate using a plasma doping process; forming a cap layer atop the dopant region; annealing the dopant region after forming the cap layer; and removing the cap layer after annealing the dopant region.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 22, 2011Publication date: September 20, 2012Applicant: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.Inventors: KARTIK SANTHANAM, MARTIN A. HILKENE, MANOJ VELLAIKAL, MARK R. LEE, MATTHEW D. SCOTNEY-CASTLE, PETER I. PORSHNEV
-
Publication number: 20120088356Abstract: An integrated platform for processing substrates, comprising: a vacuum substrate transfer chamber; a doping chamber coupled to the vacuum substrate transfer chamber, the doping chamber configured to implant or deposit dopant elements in or on a surface of a substrate; a dopant activation chamber coupled to the vacuum substrate transfer chamber, the dopant activation chamber configured to anneal the substrate and activate the dopant elements; and a controller configured to control the integrated platform, the controller comprising a computer readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the controller, causes the integrated platform to perform a method, the method comprising: doping a substrate with one or more dopant elements in the doping chamber; transferring the substrate under vacuum to the dopant activation chamber; and annealing the substrate in the dopant activation chamber to activate the dopant elements.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 7, 2011Publication date: April 12, 2012Applicant: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.Inventors: KARTIK SANTHANAM, MARTIN A. HILKENE, MATTHEW D. SCOTNEY-CASTLE, PETER I. PORSHNEV, SWAMINATHAN SRINIVASAN, SUNDAR RAMAMURTHY
-
Publication number: 20110256691Abstract: A method and apparatus for removing excess dopant from a doped substrate is provided. In one embodiment, a substrate is doped by surfaced deposition of dopant followed by formation of a capping layer and thermal diffusion drive-in. A reactive etchant mixture is provided to the process chamber, with optional plasma, to etch away the capping layer and form volatile compounds by reacting with excess dopant. In another embodiment, a substrate is doped by energetic implantation of dopant. A reactive gas mixture is provided to the process chamber, with optional plasma, to remove excess dopant adsorbed on the surface and high-concentration dopant near the surface by reacting with the dopant to form volatile compounds. The reactive gas mixture may be provided during thermal treatment, or it may be provided before or after at temperatures different from the thermal treatment temperature. The volatile compounds are removed.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 24, 2011Publication date: October 20, 2011Inventors: Kartik Ramaswamy, Kenneth S. Collins, Biagio Gallo, Hiroji Hanawa, Majeed A. Foad, Martin A. Hilkene, Kartik Santhanam, Matthew D. Scotney-Castle
-
Patent number: 8003500Abstract: In a plasma immersion ion implantation process, the thickness of a pre-implant chamber seasoning layer is increased (to permit implantation of a succession of wafers without replacing the seasoning layer) without loss of wafer clamping electrostatic force due to increased seasoning layer thickness. This is accomplished by first plasma-discharging residual electrostatic charge from the thick seasoning layer. The number of wafers which can be processed using the same seasoning layer is further increased by fractionally supplementing the seasoning layer after each wafer is processed, which may be followed by a brief plasma discharging of the supplemented seasoning before processing the next wafer.Type: GrantFiled: July 15, 2009Date of Patent: August 23, 2011Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Manoj Vellaikal, Kartik Santhanam, Yen B. Ta, Martin A. Hilkene, Matthew D. Scotney-Castle, Canfeng Lai, Peter I. Porshnev, Majeed A. Foad
-
Patent number: 7989329Abstract: A method and apparatus for removing excess dopant from a doped substrate is provided. In one embodiment, a substrate is doped by surfaced deposition of dopant followed by formation of a capping layer and thermal diffusion drive-in. A reactive etchant mixture is provided to the process chamber, with optional plasma, to etch away the capping layer and form volatile compounds by reacting with excess dopant. In another embodiment, a substrate is doped by energetic implantation of dopant. A reactive gas mixture is provided to the process chamber, with optional plasma, to remove excess dopant adsorbed on the surface and high-concentration dopant near the surface by reacting with the dopant to form volatile compounds. The reactive gas mixture may be provided during thermal treatment, or it may be provided before or after at temperatures different from the thermal treatment temperature. The volatile compounds are removed.Type: GrantFiled: December 21, 2007Date of Patent: August 2, 2011Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Kartik Ramaswamy, Kenneth S. Collins, Biagio Gallo, Hiroji Hanawa, Majeed A. Foad, Martin A. Hilkene, Kartik Santhanam, Matthew D. Scotney-Castle
-
Patent number: 7968401Abstract: A method of plasma immersion ion implantation of a workpiece having a photoresist mask on its top surface prevents photoresist failure from carbonization of the photoresist. The method includes performing successive ion implantation sub-steps, each of the ion implantation sub-steps having a time duration over which only a fractional top portion of the photoresist layer is damaged by ion implantation. After each one of the successive ion implantation sub-steps, the fractional top portion of the photoresist is removed while leaving the remaining portion of the photoresist layer in place by performing an ashing sub-step. The number of the successive ion implantation sub-steps is sufficient to reach a predetermined ion implantation dose in the workpiece.Type: GrantFiled: August 28, 2009Date of Patent: June 28, 2011Inventors: Martin A. Hilkene, Kartik Santhanam, Yen B. Ta, Peter I. Porshnev, Majeed A. Foad
-
Publication number: 20100190324Abstract: A method of plasma immersion ion implantation of a workpiece having a photoresist mask on its top surface prevents photoresist failure from carbonization of the photoresist. The method includes performing successive ion implantation sub-steps, each of the ion implantation sub-steps having a time duration over which only a fractional top portion of the photoresist layer is damaged by ion implantation. After each one of the successive ion implantation sub-steps, the fractional top portion of the photoresist is removed while leaving the remaining portion of the photoresist layer in place by performing an ashing sub-step. The number of the successive ion implantation sub-steps is sufficient to reach a predetermined ion implantation dose in the workpiece.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 28, 2009Publication date: July 29, 2010Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: MARTIN A. HILKENE, Kartik Santhanam, Yen B. Ta, Peter I. Porshnev, Majeed A. Foad
-
Publication number: 20100173484Abstract: A method of preventing toxic gas formation after an implantation process is disclosed. Certain dopants, when implanted into films disposed on a substrate, may react when exposed to moisture to form a toxic gas and/or a flammable gas. By in-situ exposing the doped film to an oxygen containing compound, dopant that is shallowly implanted into the layer stack reacts to form a dopant oxide, thereby reducing potential toxic gas and/or flammable gas formation. Alternatively, a capping layer may be formed in-situ over the implanted film to reduce the potential generation of toxic gas and/or flammable gas.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 23, 2010Publication date: July 8, 2010Inventors: Majeed A. Foad, Manoj Vellaikal, Kartik Santhanam
-
Patent number: 7723219Abstract: In plasma immersion ion implantation of a polysilicon gate, a hydride of the dopant is employed as a process gas to avoid etching the polysilicon gate, and sufficient argon gas is added to reduce added particle count to below 50 and to reduce plasma impedance fluctuations to 5% or less.Type: GrantFiled: February 22, 2008Date of Patent: May 25, 2010Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Kartik Santhanam, Manoj Vallaikal, Peter I. Porshnev, Majeed A. Foad
-
Patent number: 7659184Abstract: In a plasma immersion ion implantation process, the thickness of a pre-implant chamber seasoning layer is increased (to permit implantation of a succession of wafers without replacing the seasoning layer) without loss of wafer clamping electrostatic force due to increased seasoning layer thickness. This is accomplished by first plasma-discharging residual electrostatic charge from the thick seasoning layer. The number of wafers which can be processed using the same seasoning layer is further increased by fractionally supplementing the seasoning layer after each wafer is processed, which may be followed by a brief plasma discharging of the supplemented seasoning before processing the next wafer.Type: GrantFiled: February 25, 2008Date of Patent: February 9, 2010Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Manoj Vellaikal, Kartik Santhanam, Yen B. Ta, Martin A. Hilkene, Matthew D. Scotney-Castle, Canfeng Lai, Peter I. Porshnev, Majeed A. Foad
-
Patent number: D959490Type: GrantFiled: October 7, 2020Date of Patent: August 2, 2022Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Kartik Bhupendra Shah, Kartik Santhanam, Bindusagar Marath Sankarathodi, Abhilash J. Mayur, Dayal Ramachandran, Amritha Rammohan, Stephen Moffatt, Eugene Lobanov