Patents by Inventor Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan

Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan 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: 11111600
    Abstract: A process chamber which may be operated as follows: mounting substrates in a substrate carrier; loading the substrate carrier into a vacuum chamber and mating the substrate carrier with an upper gas manifold and a lower gas manifold; providing and maintaining a vacuum environment within the vacuum chamber; making electrical contact to an at least one electrically-resistive heater; heating the substrates to a process temperature by flowing current through the at least one electrically-resistive heater; and while heating the substrates, flowing process gas through odd numbered channels from the upper gas manifold to the lower gas manifold, and simultaneously flowing process gas through even numbered channels from the lower gas manifold to the upper gas manifold; wherein the process gas comprises an inert gas and the substrates are being thermally annealed, or wherein the process gas is a dopant gas and the substrates are being doped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Svagos Technik, Inc.
    Inventors: Tirunelveli S. Ravi, Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan
  • Publication number: 20210260826
    Abstract: An additive manufacturing apparatus includes a platform, a dispenser configured to deliver a plurality of successive layers of feed material onto the platform, at least one light source configured to generate a first light beam and a second light beam, a polygon minor scanner, an actuator, and a galvo minor scanner. The polygon minor scanner is configured to receive the first light beam and reflect the first light beam towards the platform. Rotation of the first polygon mirror causes the light beam to move in a first direction along a path on a layer of feed material on the platform. The actuator is configured to cause the path to move along a second direction at a non-zero angle relative to the first direction. The galvo mirror scanner system is configured to receive the second light beam and reflect the second light beam toward the platform.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 9, 2019
    Publication date: August 26, 2021
    Inventors: Wei-Sheng LEI, Mahendran CHIDAMBARAM, Visweswaren SIVARAMAKRISHNAN, Kashif MAQSOOD
  • Patent number: 11041253
    Abstract: A system for depositing thin single crystal silicon wafers by epitaxial deposition in a silicon precursor depletion mode with cross-flow deposition may include: a substrate carrier with low total heat capacity, high emissivity and small volume; a lamp module with rapid heat-up, efficient heat production, and spatial control over heating; and a manifold designed for cross-flow processing. Furthermore, the substrate carrier may include heat reflectors to control heat loss from the edges of the carrier and/or heat chokes to thermally isolate the carrier from the manifolds, allowing independent temperature control of the manifolds. The carrier and substrates may be configured for deposition on both sides of the substrates—the substrates having release layers on both sides and the carriers being configured to have equal process gas flow over both surfaces of the substrate. High volume may be addressed by a deposition system comprising multiple mini-batch reactors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: Svagos Technik, Inc.
    Inventors: Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Tirunelveli S. Ravi, Andrzej Kaszuba, Quoc Vinh Truong, Jean R. Vatus
  • Publication number: 20210143319
    Abstract: A method of fabricating a piezoelectric layer includes depositing a piezoelectric material onto a substrate in a first crystallographic phase by physical vapor deposition while the substrate remains at a temperature below 400° C., and thermally annealing the substrate at a temperature above 500° C. to convert the piezoelectric material to a second crystallographic phase. The physical vapor deposition includes sputtering from a target in a plasma deposition chamber.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2019
    Publication date: May 13, 2021
    Inventors: Abhijeet Laxman Sangle, Vijay Bhan Sharma, Ankur Kadam, Bharatwaj Ramakrishnan, Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Yuan Xue
  • Patent number: 10961621
    Abstract: A CVD reactor for single sided deposition of material on substrates, may comprise: an upper gas manifold and a lower gas manifold; a substrate carrier comprising a gas tight rectangular box open on upper and lower surfaces, a multiplicity of planar walls across the width of the box, the walls being equally spaced in a row facing each other and defining a row of channels within the box, the walls comprising mounting fixtures for a plurality of substrates and at least one electrically resistive heater element; and clamps within the vacuum chamber for making electrical contact to the at least one electrically resistive heater element; wherein the upper gas manifold and the lower gas manifold are configured to attach to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate carrier, respectively, connect with upper and lower ends of the channels, and isolate gas flows in odd numbered channels from gas flows in even numbered channels, wherein the channels are numbered in order along the row, and wherein the gas flows compr
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: Svagos Technik, Inc.
    Inventors: Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Tirunelveli S. Ravi, Timothy N. Kleiner, Quoc Truong
  • Patent number: 10947640
    Abstract: A CVD reactor for deposition of silicon carbide material on silicon carbide substrates, may comprise: an upper gas manifold and a lower gas manifold; and a substrate carrier comprising a gas tight rectangular box open on upper and lower surfaces, a multiplicity of planar walls across the width of the box, the walls being equally spaced in a row facing each other and defining a row of channels within the box, the walls comprising mounting fixtures for a plurality of substrates and at least one electrically resistive heater element; wherein the upper gas manifold and the lower gas manifold are configured to attach to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate carrier, respectively, connect with upper and lower ends of the channels, and isolate gas flows in odd numbered channels from gas flows in even numbered channels, wherein the channels are numbered in order along the row; and wherein said electrically resistive heater elements and said mounting fixtures are coated with a material able to withstand exposu
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: Svagos Technik, Inc.
    Inventors: Tirunelveli S. Ravi, Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan
  • Publication number: 20200373188
    Abstract: Embodiments described herein relate to a substrate chucking apparatus having a plurality of cavities formed therein. The cavities are formed in a body of the chucking apparatus. In one embodiment, a first plurality of ports are formed in a chucking surface of the body and extend to a bottom surface of the body. In another embodiment, a second plurality of ports are formed in a bottom surface of the plurality of cavities and extend through the body to a bottom surface of the body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2020
    Publication date: November 26, 2020
    Inventors: Joseph YUDOVSKY, Visweswaren SIVARAMAKRISHNAN, Ludovic GODET, Rutger MEYER TIMMERMAN THIJSSEN
  • Patent number: 10774423
    Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for controlling the intensity and distribution of a plasma discharge in a plasma chamber. In one embodiment, a shaped electrode is embedded in a substrate support to provide an electric field with radial and axial components inside the chamber. In another embodiment, the face plate electrode of the showerhead assembly is divided into zones by isolators, enabling different voltages to be applied to the different zones. Additionally, one or more electrodes may be embedded in the chamber side walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Karthik Janakiraman, Thomas Nowak, Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez, Mark A. Fodor, Dale R. Du Bois, Amit Bansal, Mohamad Ayoub, Eller Y. Juco, Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Hichem M'Saad
  • Publication number: 20200195172
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to substrate support assemblies for retaining a surface of a substrate having one or more devices disposed on the surface without contacting the one or more devices and deforming the substrate, and a system having the same. In one embodiment, the substrate support assembly includes an edge ring coupled to a body of the substrate support assembly. A controller is coupled to actuated mechanisms of a plurality of pixels coupled to the body of the substrate support assembly such that portions of pixels corresponding to a portion of the surface of a substrate to be retained are positioned to support the portion without contacting one or more devices disposed on the surface of the substrate to be retained on the support surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2019
    Publication date: June 18, 2020
    Inventors: Wayne MCMILLAN, Visweswaren SIVARAMAKRISHNAN, Joseph C. OLSON, Ludovic GODET, Rutger MEYER TIMMERMAN THIJSSEN, Naamah ARGAMAN
  • Publication number: 20200071820
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for direct liquid injection (DLI) of chemical precursors into a processing chamber is provided. The DLI system includes a liquid precursor source vaporization system, which vaporizes liquid stably and efficiently. In one implementation, the DLI system is a closed loop integrated system which combines, an injection valve (IV) along with a Liquid Flow Meter (LFM), an ampoule assembly as a source of pressurized precursor, an inert push gas to pressurize the precursor in the ampoule assembly, a temperature controller to maintain a targeted temperature regime, leak detection and controlled carrier gas flow to gas heater.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2019
    Publication date: March 5, 2020
    Inventors: Subramanya P. HERLE, Vicente M. LIM, Basavaraj PATTANSHETTY, Ajay MORE, Marco MOHR, Bjoern STICKSEL-WEIS, Nilesh Chimanrao BAGUL, Visweswaren SIVARAMAKRISHNAN
  • Publication number: 20190376181
    Abstract: A reactor for coating particles includes one or more motors, a rotary vacuum chamber configured to hold particles to be coated, wherein the rotary vacuum chamber is coupled to the motors, a controller configured to cause the motors to rotate the rotary vacuum chamber about an axial axis of the rotary vacuum chamber such that the particles undergo tumbling agitation, a vacuum port to exhaust gas from the rotary vacuum chamber, a paddle assembly including a rotatable drive shaft extending through the rotary vacuum chamber and coupled to the motors and at least one paddle extending radially from the drive shaft, such that rotation of the drive shaft by the motors orbits the paddle about the drive shaft in a second direction, and a chemical delivery system including a gas outlet on the paddle configured inject process gas into the particles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2019
    Publication date: December 12, 2019
    Inventors: Colin C. Neikirk, Pravin K. Narwankar, Kaushal Gangakhedkar, Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Jonathan Frankel, David Masayuki Ishikawa, Quoc Truong, Joseph Yudovsky
  • Publication number: 20190376182
    Abstract: A reactor for coating particles includes one or more motors, a rotary vacuum chamber configured to hold particles to be coated and coupled to the motors, a controller configured to cause the motors to rotate the chamber in a first direction about an axial axis at a rotation speed sufficient to force the particles to be centrifuged against an inner diameter of the chamber, a vacuum port to exhaust gas from the rotary vacuum chamber, a paddle assembly including a rotatable drive shaft extending through the chamber and coupled to the motors and at least one paddle extending radially from the drive shaft, such that rotation of the drive shaft by the motors orbits the paddle about the drive shaft in a second direction, and a chemical delivery system including a gas outlet on the paddle configured inject process gas into the particles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2019
    Publication date: December 12, 2019
    Inventors: Colin C. Neikirk, Pravin K. Narwankar, Kaushal Gangakhedkar, Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Jonathan Frankel, David Masayuki Ishikawa, Quoc Truong, Joseph Yudovsky
  • Publication number: 20190259648
    Abstract: Embodiments described herein relate to a substrate chucking apparatus having a plurality of cavities formed therein. The cavities are formed in a body of the chucking apparatus. In one embodiment, a first plurality of ports are formed in a chucking surface of the body and extend to a bottom surface of the body. In another embodiment, a second plurality of ports are formed in a bottom surface of the plurality of cavities and extend through the body to a bottom surface of the body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2019
    Publication date: August 22, 2019
    Inventors: Joseph YUDOVSKY, Visweswaren SIVARAMAKRISHNAN, Ludovic GODET, Rutger Meyer TIMMERMAN THIJSSEN
  • Publication number: 20190003076
    Abstract: A system for depositing thin single crystal silicon wafers by epitaxial deposition in a silicon precursor depletion mode with cross-flow deposition may include: a substrate carrier with low total heat capacity, high emissivity and small volume; a lamp module with rapid heat-up, efficient heat production, and spatial control over heating; and a manifold designed for cross-flow processing. Furthermore, the substrate carrier may include heat reflectors to control heat loss from the edges of the carrier and/or heat chokes to thermally isolate the carrier from the manifolds, allowing independent temperature control of the manifolds. The carrier and substrates may be configured for deposition on both sides of the substrates—the substrates having release layers on both sides and the carriers being configured to have equal process gas flow over both surfaces of the substrate. High volume may be addressed by a deposition system comprising multiple mini-batch reactors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 29, 2018
    Publication date: January 3, 2019
    Inventors: Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Tirunelveli S. Ravi, Andrzej Kaszuba, Quoc Vinh Truong, Jean R. Vatus
  • Patent number: 10094486
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for cleaning a process chamber are provided. In one embodiment, a process chamber is provided that includes a remote plasma source and a process chamber having at least two processing regions. Each processing region includes a substrate support assembly disposed in the processing region, a gas distribution system configured to provide gas into the processing region above the substrate support assembly, and a gas passage configured to provide gas into the processing region below the substrate support assembly. A first gas conduit is configured to flow a cleaning agent from the remote plasma source through the gas distribution assembly in each processing region while a second gas conduit is configured to divert a portion of the cleaning agent from the first gas conduit to the gas passage of each processing region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Ramprakash Sankarakrishnan, Dale R. Du Bois, Ganesh Balasubramanian, Karthik Janakiraman, Juan Carlos Rocha-Alvarez, Thomas Nowak, Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Hichem M'Saad
  • Patent number: 9982363
    Abstract: A system for depositing thin single crystal silicon wafers by epitaxial deposition in a silicon precursor depletion mode with cross-flow deposition may include: a substrate carrier with low total heat capacity, high emissivity and small volume; a lamp module with rapid heat-up, efficient heat production, and spatial control over heating; and a manifold designed for cross-flow processing. Furthermore, the substrate carrier may include heat reflectors to control heat loss from the edges of the carrier and/or heat chokes to thermally isolate the carrier from the manifolds, allowing independent temperature control of the manifolds. The carrier and substrates may be configured for deposition on both sides of the substrates—the substrates having release layers on both sides and the carriers being configured to have equal process gas flow over both surfaces of the substrate. High volume may be addressed by a deposition system comprising multiple mini-batch reactors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Assignee: Crystal Solar, Incorporated
    Inventors: Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Tirunelveli S. Ravi, Andrzej Kaszuba, Quoc Vinh Truong, Jean R. Vatus
  • Patent number: 9920451
    Abstract: An epitaxial reactor enabling simultaneous deposition of thin films on a multiplicity of wafers is disclosed. During deposition, a number of wafers are contained within a wafer sleeve comprising a number of wafer carrier plates spaced closely apart to minimize the process volume. Process gases flow preferentially into the interior volume of the wafer sleeve, which is heated by one or more lamp modules. Purge gases flow outside the wafer sleeve within a reactor chamber to minimize deposition on the chamber walls. Sequencing of the illumination of the individual lamps in the lamp module may further improve the linearity of variation in deposition rates within the wafer sleeve. To improve uniformity, the direction of process gas flow may be varied in a cross-flow configuration. Combining lamp sequencing with cross-flow processing in a multiple reactor system enables high throughput deposition with good film uniformities and efficient use of process gases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2018
    Assignee: Crystal Solar Incorporated
    Inventors: Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Kedarnath Sangam, Tirunelveli S. Ravi, Andrzej Kaszuba, Quoc Vinh Truong
  • Publication number: 20180073142
    Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for controlling the intensity and distribution of a plasma discharge in a plasma chamber. In one embodiment, a shaped electrode is embedded in a substrate support to provide an electric field with radial and axial components inside the chamber. In another embodiment, the face plate electrode of the showerhead assembly is divided into zones by isolators, enabling different voltages to be applied to the different zones. Additionally, one or more electrodes may be embedded in the chamber side walls.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 24, 2014
    Publication date: March 15, 2018
    Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Karthik Janakiraman, Thomas NOWAK, Juan Carlos ROCHA-ALVAREZ, Mark A. FODOR, Dale R. DU BOIS, Amit BANSAL, Mohamad AYOUB, Eller Y. JUCO, Visweswaren SIVARAMAKRISHNAN, Hichem M'SAAD
  • Publication number: 20170037514
    Abstract: A CVD reactor for single sided deposition of material on substrates, may comprise: an upper gas manifold and a lower gas manifold; a substrate carrier comprising a gas tight rectangular box open on upper and lower surfaces, a multiplicity of planar walls across the width of the box, the walls being equally spaced in a row facing each other and defining a row of channels within the box, the walls comprising mounting fixtures for a plurality of substrates and at least one electrically resistive heater element; and clamps within the vacuum chamber for making electrical contact to the at least one electrically resistive heater element; wherein the upper gas manifold and the lower gas manifold are configured to attach to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate carrier, respectively, connect with upper and lower ends of the channels, and isolate gas flows in odd numbered channels from gas flows in even numbered channels, wherein the channels are numbered in order along the row, and wherein the gas flows compr
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2016
    Publication date: February 9, 2017
    Inventors: Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Tirunelveli S. Ravi, Timothy N. Kleiner, Quoc Truong
  • Patent number: 9556522
    Abstract: An epitaxial reactor enabling simultaneous deposition of thin films on a multiplicity of wafers is disclosed. During deposition, a number of wafers are contained within a wafer sleeve comprising a number of wafer carrier plates spaced closely apart to minimize the process volume. Process gases flow preferentially into the interior volume of the wafer sleeve, which is heated by one or more lamp modules. Purge gases flow outside the wafer sleeve within a reactor chamber to minimize wall deposition. In addition, sequencing of the illumination of the individual lamps in the lamp module may further improve the linearity of variation in deposition rates within the wafer sleeve. To improve uniformity, the direction of process gas flow may be varied in a cross-flow configuration. Combining lamp sequencing with cross-flow processing in a multiple reactor system enables high throughput deposition with good film uniformities and efficient use of process gases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: Crystal Solar Incorporated
    Inventors: Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Kedarnath Sangam, Tirunelveli S. Ravi, Andrzej Kaszuba, Quoc Vinh Truong