Integrated wafer bow measurements
AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorsRajan Arora, Michael Souza, Wayne Tang, Yassine Kabouzi, Ye Feng
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In some examples, a wafer bow measurement system comprises a measurement unit including: a wafer support assembly to impart rotational movement to a measured wafer supported in the measurement unit; an optical sensor; a calibration standard to calibrate the optical sensor; a linear stage actuator to impart linear direction of movement to the optical sensor; a wafer centering sensor to determine a centering of the measured wafer supported in the measurement unit; and a wafer alignment sensor to determine an alignment of the measured wafer supported in the measurement unit.
Claims14
A wafer bow measurement system comprising:
- a measurement unit including:
- a wafer support assembly to impart rotational movement to a measured wafer supported in the measurement unit;
- an optical sensor;
- a calibration standard to calibrate the optical sensor;
- a linear stage actuator to impart linear direction of movement to the optical sensor;
- a wafer centering sensor to determine a centering of the measured wafer supported in the measurement unit;
- and
- a wafer alignment sensor to determine an alignment of the measured wafer supported in the measurement unit.
A method of measuring a water bow of a wafer in a wafer processing stream that includes a wafer processing module, the method comprising:
- integrating a wafer bow measurement system with the wafer processing module, the wafer measurement system comprising:
- a wafer support assembly to impart rotational movement to a measured wafer supported in the measurement unit;
- an optical sensor;
- a calibration standard to calibrate the optical sensor;
- a linear stage actuator to impart linear direction of movement to the optical sensor;
- a wafer centering sensor to determine a centering of the measured wafer supported in the measurement unit;
- and
- a wafer alignment sensor to determine an alignment of the measured wafer supported in the measurement unit;
- extracting a wafer from the wafer processing stream for wafer bow measurement by the wafer bow measurement system;
- adjusting a parameter of the wafer processing stream based on a water bow measurement derived by the wafer bow measurement system;
- and
- placing the measured wafer back into the wafer processing stream.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.