Rapid chamber vacuum leak check hardware and maintenance routine
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsMartin A. Hilkene, Surendra Singh Srivastava
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for detecting a vacuum leak within a processing chamber are described herein. More specifically, the methods and apparatus relate to the utilization of a spectral measurement device, such as a spectral gauge, to determine the leak rate within a process chamber while the process chamber is held at a leak test pressure. The spectral measurement device determines the rate of increase of one or more gases within the processing chamber and can be used to determine if the processing chamber passes or fails the leak test.
Claims20
A method of detecting a vacuum leak comprising:
- pumping a process chamber from a first pressure to a second pressure, wherein the second pressure is less than the first pressure;
- enabling a spectral gauge;
- closing a chamber isolation valve after pumping the process chamber to the second pressure;
- collecting spectral data from a conduit using the spectral gauge for a sample time;
- and
- calculating a chamber leak rate from the spectral data, wherein the chamber isolation valve is located in an exhaust conduit of the process chamber downstream of the spectral gauge and isolates the process chamber.
A method of processing a substrate comprising:
- performing a leak detection test comprising:
- pumping a process chamber to a leak test pressure;
- enabling a spectral gauge;
- closing a chamber isolation valve after pumping the process chamber to the the leak test pressure;
- collecting spectral data from a conduit using the spectral gauge for a sample time;
- and
- calculating a chamber leak rate from the spectral data;
- pumping the process chamber from the leak test pressure to a processing pressure greater than the leak test pressure after collecting the spectral data;
- and
- performing a substrate processing operation on a number of substrates after pumping the process chamber to the processing pressure;
- and
- repeating the performing a leak detection test.
A process chamber for processing a substrate comprising:
- a chamber body defining a processing volume;
- a process gas inlet;
- a process gas outlet, the process gas outlet comprising:
- a first conduit fluidly coupled between the processing volume and an exhaust pump;
- a chamber isolation valve disposed between the processing volume and the exhaust pump;
- and
- a spectral gauge fluidly coupled to the first conduit between the processing volume and the chamber isolation valve;
- and
- a controller, the controller configured to:
- pump the process chamber to a leak test pressure;
- enable the spectral gauge;
- close the chamber isolation valve after pumping the process chamber to the leak test pressure;
- collect spectral data from the first conduit using the spectral gauge for a sample time;
- and
- calculate a chamber leak rate from the spectral data.
A method of detecting a vacuum leak comprising:
- pumping a process chamber from a first pressure to a second pressure, wherein the second pressure is less than the first pressure;
- enabling a spectral gauge;
- closing a chamber isolation valve after pumping the process chamber to the second pressure;
- collecting spectral data from a conduit using the spectral gauge for a sample time;
- calculating a chamber leak rate from the spectral data;
- pumping the process chamber from the second pressure to a third pressure greater than the second pressure after collecting the spectral data;
- and
- performing a substrate processing operation after pumping the process chamber to the third pressure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.