Abstract: An achievability estimate is computed for an intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) geometry (32) including a target volume, an organ at risk (OAR), and at least one radiation beam. Namely, a geometric complexity (GC) metric is computed for the IMRT geometry that compares a number NT of beamlets of the at least one radiation beam available in the IMRT geometry for irradiating the target volume and a number n of these beamlets that also pass through the OAR. A GC metric ratio is computed of the GC metric for the IMRT geometry and the GC metric for a reference IMRT geometry for which an IMRT plan is achievable. If the clinician is satisfied with this estimate then optimization (38) of an IMRT plan for the IMRT geometry (32) is performed. Alternatively, a reference IMRT geometry is selected by comparing the GC metric with GC metrics of past IMRT plans.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for reducing the formation of hardware residue and minimizing secondary plasma formation during substrate processing in a process chamber. The process chamber may include a gas distribution member configured to flow a first gas into a process volume and generate a plasma therefrom. A second gas is supplied into a lower region of the process volume. Further, an exhaust port is disposed in the lower region to remove excess gases or by-products from the process volume during or after processing.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to apparatus and methods for reducing substrate backside damage during semiconductor device processing. In one implementation, a method of chucking a substrate in a substrate process chamber includes exposing the substrate to a plasma preheat treatment prior to applying a chucking voltage to a substrate support. In one implementation, a substrate support is provided and includes a body having an electrode and thermal control device disposed therein. A plurality of substrate supporting features are formed on an upper surface of the body, each of the substrate supporting features having a substrate supporting surface and a rounded edge.

Abstract: Methods and techniques for deposition of amorphous carbon films on a substrate are provided. In one example, the method includes depositing an amorphous carbon film on an underlayer positioned on a susceptor in a first processing region. The method further includes implanting a dopant or the inert species into the amorphous carbon film in a second processing region. The implant species, energy, dose & temperature in some combination may be used to enhance the hardmask hardness. The method further includes patterning the doped amorphous carbon film. The method further includes etching the underlayer.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to methods and apparatus for depositing metal silicide layers on substrates and chamber components. In one embodiment, a method of forming a hardmask includes positioning the substrate having a target layer within a processing chamber, forming a seed layer comprising metal silicide on the target layer and depositing a tungsten-based bulk layer on the seed layer, wherein the metal silicide layer and the tungsten-based bulk layer form the hardmask. In another embodiment, a method of conditioning the components of a plasma processing chamber includes flowing an inert gas comprising argon or helium from a gas applicator into the plasma processing chamber, exposing a substrate support to a plasma within the plasma processing chamber and forming a seasoning layer including metal silicide on an aluminum-based surface of the substrate support.

Abstract: Techniques for efficient roaming of clients between access points (APs) of a wireless data communications network are described. A first AP receives a request for a first client device to join the network. The request specifies at least a unique identifier for the first client device. An identifier for a second AP is identified by processing the unique identifier using a predefined hash function. The second AP is one of at least two APs configured to each redundantly store network state information relating to the first client device. A network address of the second AP is determined. A first request to is transmitted to the network address, for network state information including a pairwise master key (PMK) and profile information. The PMK and the profile information are received. The first client device is authenticated and a connection is established between the first client device and the network.

Abstract: A workflow development system is described herein that includes a graphical user interface (GUI) that is configured to selectively and dynamically allocate relatively more of a display area to a particular one of a plurality of different, simultaneously-displayed workflow step representations than is allocated to the other workflow step representation(s) to facilitate user interaction the particular workflow step representation. Such allocation may be carried out in response to user interaction with the particular workflow step representation or in response to a determination that a user is otherwise focused on the particular workflow step representation. In embodiments, the workflow step representations represent different workflow steps in a series of workflow steps. In further embodiments, the workflow step representations represent different workflow steps that may be performed depending upon the evaluation of a condition.

Abstract: One or more embodiments described herein generally relate to methods for chucking and de-chucking a substrate to/from an electrostatic chuck used in a semiconductor processing system. Generally, in embodiments described herein, the method includes: (1) applying a first voltage from a direct current (DC) power source to an electrode disposed within a pedestal; (2) introducing process gases into a process chamber; (3) applying power from a radio frequency (RF) power source to a showerhead; (4) performing a process on the substrate; (5) stopping application of the RF power; (6) removing the process gases from the process chamber; and (7) stopping applying the DC power.

Abstract: A system and method for forming a film includes generating a plasma in a processing volume of a processing chamber to form the film on a substrate. The processing chamber may include a gas distributor configured to generate the plasma in the processing volume. Further, a barrier gas is provided into the processing volume to form a gas curtain around a plasma located in the processing volume. The barrier gas is supplied by a gas supply source through an inlet port disposed along a first side of the processing chamber. Further, an exhaust port is disposed along the first side of the processing chamber and the plasma and the barrier gas is purged via the exhaust port.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described for generating automatic illustrator guides. The method may include generating a plurality of candidate guides for a digital image (e.g., using an automated shape detection engine), where each of the plurality of candidate guides is a simple shape such as a line or a circle, combining at least two of the candidate guides based on the shape information to create refined candidate guides, generating a pixel coverage map for each of the refined candidate guides, prioritizing the refined candidate guides based on the corresponding pixel coverage maps, selecting one or more drawing guides from the one or more refined candidate guides based on the prioritization, and displaying the digital image along with the one or more drawing guides.

Abstract: A system and method of nurturing one or more leads is provided. Initially, an indication that a lead has interacted with an ecommerce site may be received, where the indication includes information uniquely identifying the lead and one or more interactions with the ecommerce site. Contact information for the lead may be retrieved. The lead may then be qualified based on the information identifying one or more interactions with the ecommerce site. The lead may then be associated with at least one of a sales professional or sales group and a template may be selected based on the at least one of the sales professional or sales group. Accordingly, a communication message, which may be an email, may be sent to the lead utilizing the contact information and the selected template, where the communication message includes sender information associated with at least one of the sales professional or sales group.

Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for forecasting inbound telecommunications, and more particularly, for analyzing real-time and historical call center data, and applying a forecasting model to said data in order to predict inbound call volume. Additionally, tools are disclosed for manipulating call center data and generating visual representations of metrics pertaining to forecasting call center data via a dashboard.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a method of processing a substrate. The method includes exposing the substrate positioned in a processing volume of a processing chamber to a hydrocarbon-containing gas mixture, exposing the substrate to a boron-containing gas mixture, and generating a radio frequency (RF) plasma in the processing volume to deposit a boron-carbon film on the substrate. The hydrocarbon-containing gas mixture and the boron-containing gas mixture are flowed into the processing volume at a precursor ratio of (boron-containing gas mixture/((boron-containing gas mixture)+hydrocarbon-containing gas mixture) of about 0.38 to about 0.85. The boron-carbon hardmask film provides high modulus, etch selectivity, and stress for high aspect-ratio features (e.g., 10:1 or above) and smaller dimension devices (e.g., 7 nm node or below).

Abstract: The invention relates to a system and method for generating a radiotherapy treatment plan on the basis of treatment goals comprising optimization objectives and/or constraints. A planning unit (7) generates a first treatment plan including treatment parameters for fulfilling first treatment goals in a first optimization cycle, and a decision unit (8) receives second treatment goals and compares the first and second treatment goals to 5 determine a modification of the treatment goals, assigns to the modification a category from a plurality of predetermined categories, wherein to each category a strategy from a plurality of predetermined strategies for treatment plan generation is allocated, and instructs the planning unit (7) to generate the second treatment plan in accordance with a strategy allocated to the determined category of modifications in a second optimization cycle.

Abstract: A programmable divider is provided. The programmable divider includes a clock input coupled to receive a clock signal, a control input coupled to receive a first control signal, a counter compare block, and a load block. The counter compare block is configured to receive a first load value, update a counter with the first load value, provide a first output signal, and when the first control signal is at a first value, generate a first pulse in the first output signal when the counter reaches an end value. The load block is configured to receive a first divider value and provide the first load value based on a current counter value of the counter.

Abstract: Implementations of the disclosure generally relate to a method of cleaning a semiconductor processing chamber. In one implementation, a method of cleaning a deposition chamber includes flowing a nitrogen containing gas into a processing region within the deposition chamber, striking a plasma in the processing region utilizing a radio frequency power, introducing a cleaning gas into a remote plasma source that is fluidly connected to the deposition chamber, generating reactive species of the cleaning gas in the remote plasma source, introducing the cleaning gas into the deposition chamber, and removing deposits on interior surfaces of the deposition chamber at different etch rates.

Abstract: Embodiments described herein relate to methods and tools for monitoring electrostatic chucking performance. A performance test is performed that requires only one bowed substrate and one reference substrate. To run the test, the reference substrate is positioned on an electrostatic chuck in a process chamber and the bowed substrate is positioned on the reference substrate. A voltage is applied from a power source to the electrostatic chuck, generating an electrostatic chucking force to secure the bowed substrate to the reference substrate. Thereafter, the applied voltage is decreased incrementally until the electrostatic chucking force is too weak to maintain the bowed substrate in flat form, resulting in dechucking of the bowed wafer. By monitoring the impedance of the chamber during deposition using a sensor, the dechucking threshold voltage can be identified at the point where the impedance of the reference substrate and the impedance of the bowed substrate deviates.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to methods and apparatus for depositing metal silicide layers on substrates and chamber components. In one embodiment, a method of forming a hardmask includes positioning the substrate having a target layer within a processing chamber, forming a seed layer comprising metal silicide on the target layer and depositing a tungsten-based bulk layer on the seed layer, wherein the metal silicide layer and the tungsten-based bulk layer form the hardmask. In another embodiment, a method of conditioning the components of a plasma processing chamber includes flowing an inert gas comprising argon or helium from a gas applicator into the plasma processing chamber, exposing a substrate support to a plasma within the plasma processing chamber and forming a seasoning layer including metal silicide on an aluminum-based surface of the substrate support.

Abstract: Techniques for efficient roaming of clients between access points (APs) of a wireless data communications network are described. A first AP can receive a request for the first client to join the network. The request can specify a unique identifier for the first client. An identifier for a second AP can be determined by processing the unique identifier for the first client using a predefined hash function. A network address of the second AP can be determined using the determined identifier for the second AP. The first AP can transmit a request to the determined network address of the second AP to query for network state information corresponding to the first client, and upon receiving a pairwise master key (PMK) associated with the first client, can authenticate the first client to join the network.

Abstract: Implementations described herein generally relate to the fabrication of integrated circuits. More particularly, the implementations described herein provide techniques for deposition of amorphous carbon films on a substrate. In one implementation, a method of forming an amorphous carbon film is provided. The method comprises depositing an amorphous carbon film on an underlayer positioned on a susceptor in a first processing region. The method further comprises implanting a dopant or inert species into the amorphous carbon film in a second processing region. The dopant or inert species is selected from carbon, boron, nitrogen, silicon, phosphorous, argon, helium, neon, krypton, xenon or combinations thereof. The method further comprises patterning the doped amorphous carbon film. The method further comprises etching the underlayer.