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US 10,651,065 B2Granted
Auto-calibration to a station of a process module that spins a wafer
AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorsJacob L. Hiester, Richard Blank, Peter Thaulad, Paul Konkola
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for calibration including determining a temperature induced offset in a pedestal of a process module under a temperature condition for a process. The method includes delivering a wafer to the pedestal of the process module by a robot, and detecting an entry offset. The method includes rotating the wafer over the pedestal by an angle. The method includes removing the wafer from the pedestal by the robot and measuring an exit offset. The method includes determining a magnitude and direction of the temperature induced offset using the entry offset and exit offset.
Claims23
A method for determining a temperature induced offset in a pedestal of a process module under a temperature condition for a process, comprising:
- delivering a wafer to the pedestal of the process module by a robot, and detecting an entry offset;
- rotating the wafer over the pedestal by an angle;
- removing the wafer from the pedestal by the robot and measuring an exit offset;
- determining a magnitude and direction of the temperature induced offset using the entry offset and the exit offset;
- defining a calibrated reference measurement within a reference coordinate system based on an initial calibrated location of the pedestal within the process module, wherein the entry offset is measured from the calibrated reference measurement, wherein the exit offset is measured from the calibrated reference measurement;
- and
- determining a temperature correction of a center of the pedestal based on the temperature induced offset corresponding to an offset of the center of the pedestal from the initial calibrated location when the process module is under the temperature condition.
4 more elements
A method for calibration, comprising:
- establishing a reference coordinate system based on an initial calibrated location of a rotation axis of a rotation device within a process module;
- applying a condition to the process module;
- picking up a calibration wafer from an inbound load lock using a transfer module (TM) robot configured to transfer the calibration wafer to the process module;
- determining a first measurement of the calibration wafer within the reference coordinate system using a measurement device when transferring the calibration wafer to the process module, the measurement device fixed within the reference coordinate system;
- handing off the calibration wafer to the process module;
- interfacing the calibration wafer with the rotation device;
- rotating the calibration wafer by an angle using the rotation device;
- removing the calibration wafer from the process module using the TM robot;
- determining a second measurement of the calibration wafer within the reference coordinate system using the measurement device when transferring the calibration wafer to an outbound load lock;
- and
- determining a condition correction of the rotation axis based on the first measurement and the second measurement, the condition correction corresponding to an offset of the rotation axis from the initial calibrated location when the process module is under the condition.
8 more elements
A method for calibration, comprising:
- establishing a reference coordinate system based on an initial calibrated location of a rotation axis of a rotation device within a process module;
- establishing a calibrated reference measurement of a calibration wafer within the reference coordinate system using a measurement device fixed within the reference coordinate system when transferring the calibration wafer from the process module from the initial calibrated location using a transfer module (TM) robot, the calibration wafer placed to be centered about the rotation axis such that the calibrated reference measurement is aligned with the initial calibrated location of the rotation axis;
- determining a condition correction of the rotation axis corresponding to an offset of the rotation axis from the initial calibrated location when the process module is under a condition based on a rotation of the calibration wafer by an angle about the rotation axis using the rotation device within the process module;
- picking up a process wafer from an inbound load lock using the (TM) robot;
- determining an alignment measurement of the process wafer within the reference coordinate system using the measurement device when transferring the process wafer to the process module;
- determining an alignment correction of the process wafer corresponding to an offset of the process wafer from the calibrated reference measurement based on the alignment measurement;
- applying the condition correction to the process wafer using the TM robot;
- applying the alignment correction using the TM robot to align the process wafer to the rotation axis that is offset from the initial calibrated location.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.