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US 10,036,966 B2Granted
Environmental control of systems for photolithography process
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsBenjamin M. Johnston, John White, Thomas Laidig
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to systems and methods for performing photolithography processes. In one embodiment, laminar gas flow is provided inside a photolithography system during operation. With laminar gas flow instead of turbulent gas flow inside the system, accuracy of the measurement of the location of a substrate disposed inside the system is improved due to the improved signal integrity of interferometers.
Claims10
A photolithography system, comprising:
- a processing unit;
- a chuck having a substrate receiving surface, wherein the chuck is disposed below the processing unit and movable in an X-direction and an Y-direction;
- a plurality of interferometers for measuring a displacement of the chuck in the X-direction and the Y-direction;
- and
- one or more tubes coupled to each interferometer of the plurality of interferometers, wherein the one or more tubes are one or more telescopic tubes.
2 more elements
A photolithography system, comprising:
- a processing unit;
- a chuck having a substrate receiving surface, wherein the chuck is disposed below the processing unit and movable in an X-direction and an Y-direction;
- a plurality of interferometers for measuring a displacement of the chuck in the X-direction and the Y-direction;
- and
- a gas vent located over the processing unit, wherein a laminar flow of gas is directed from the gas vent toward the chuck.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.