# US 12,004,337 B2 · Ultrathin conformal coatings for electrostatic dissipation in semiconductor process tools

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- Number: US 12,004,337 B2
- Document ID: US12004337B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/985,065
- Filed: 2022-11-10
- Published: 2023-03-16
- Granted: 2024-06-04
- Earliest claimed: 2019-09-26
- Assignees: Applied Materials, Inc.
- Applicants: Applied Materials, Inc.
- Inventors: Gayatri Natu; Geetika Bajaj; Prerna Goradia; Darshan Thakare; David Fenwick; XiaoMing He; Sanni Seppaelae; Jennifer Sun; Rajkumar Thanu; Jeff Hudgens; Karuppasamy Muthukamatchy; Arun Dhayalan
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12004337B2

## CPC

- H01J 37/32495: {Means for protecting the vessel against plasma}
- H10P 72/7616: {characterised by a coating, a hardness or a material}
- H01J 37/32477: {characterised by the means for protecting vessels or internal parts, e.g. coatings}
- H05F 1/00: Preventing the formation of electrostatic charges
- H10P 72/7602: {the wafers being placed on a robot blade or gripped by a gripper for conveyance}
- H05F 1/02: by surface treatment
- H01J: ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS (spark-gaps H01T; electric arc lamps H05B31/00; particle accelerators H05H)
- H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H05F: STATIC ELECTRICITY; NATURALLY-OCCURRING ELECTRICITY

## Abstract

Disclosed in some embodiments is a chamber component (such as an end effector body) coated with an ultrathin electrically-dissipative material to provide a dissipative path from the coating to the ground. The coating may be deposited via a chemical precursor deposition to provide a uniform, conformal, and porosity free coating in a cost effective manner. In an embodiment wherein the chamber component comprises an end effector body, the end effector body may further comprise replaceable contact pads for supporting a substrate and the contact surface of the contact pads head may also be coated with an electrically-dissipative material.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An end effector for a robot arm, comprising:
an end effector body;
three or more contact pads on the end effector body; and
a coating deposited on a surface of the end effector body, the coating comprising an electrically-dissipative material, wherein the electrically-dissipative material is to provide a dissipative path from the coating to ground, wherein the coating has a thickness ranging from about 20 nm to about 500 nm.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The end effector of claim 1, wherein an electrical resistance of the coating ranges from about 1×105 ohm/sq to about 1×1011 ohm/sq, and wherein the electrical resistance of the coating remains unchanged after thermal cycling at a temperature ranging from about 300° C. to about 700° C.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The end effector of claim 1, wherein the end effector body comprises an electrically-conductive material, a ceramic, or quartz.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The end effector of claim 3, wherein the end effector body comprises a conductive material that is a metal.

### Claim 5 (depends on 3)

The end effector of claim 3, wherein the end effector body comprises quartz and the coating is transparent.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The end effector of claim 1, wherein the end effector body comprises a ceramic that is bulk alumina.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The end effector of claim 6, wherein the electrically-dissipative material comprises alumina, titania, or a combination thereof.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The end effector of claim 7, wherein the electrically-dissipative material comprises an alternating stack of alumina and titania.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The end effector of claim 8, wherein a ratio of a thickness of each alumina layer to a thickness of each titania layer in the alternating stack of alumina and titania ranges from about 10:1 to about 1:1.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The end effector of claim 1, wherein the coating is resistant to corrosive plasma and is uniform, conformal, and porosity free.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The end effector of claim 1, wherein at least one of the three or more contact pads is a replaceable contact pad, the replaceable contact pad comprising a contact pad head having a contact surface configured to contact a substrate, and a shaft coupled to the contact pad head and received in an aperture formed in the end effector body and extending into a recess.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The end effector of claim 11, wherein the coating is deposited on the surface of the end effector body and on the contact surface of the contact pad head.

### Claim 13

A method comprising:
depositing a coating onto a surface of an end effector for a robot arm using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process or a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, the coating comprising an electrically-dissipative material,
wherein the electrically-dissipative material is to provide a dissipative path from the coating to ground, and
wherein the coating has a thickness ranging from about 20 nm to about and wherein the robot arm comprises three or more contact pads.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein depositing the coating using the ALD process comprises performing a deposition cycle comprising:
injecting a first material-containing precursor into a deposition chamber containing the end effector to cause the first material-containing precursor to adsorb onto the surface of the end effector to form a first half-reaction;
injecting a first reactant into the deposition chamber to form a second half reaction;
repeating the injecting the first material-containing precursor and the injecting the first reactant one or more times until a first target thickness of a first material-containing layer of the coating is achieved;
injecting a second material-containing precursor into the deposition chamber to cause the second material-containing precursor to adsorb onto the first material-containing layer to form a third half reaction;
injecting a second reactant into the deposition chamber to form a fourth half reaction; and
repeating the injecting the second material-containing precursor and the injecting the second reactant one or more times until a second target thickness of a second material-containing layer of the coating is achieved; and
repeating the deposition cycle one or more times until the thickness ranging from about 20 nm to about 500 nm is achieved.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the coating comprises an alternating stack of alumina and titania,
wherein the first material-containing precursor is an aluminum-containing precursor that comprises at least one of trimethylaluminum (TMA), diethylaluminum ethoxide, tris(ethylmethylamido)aluminum, aluminum sec-butoxide, aluminum tribromide, aluminum trichloride, triethylaluminum (TEA), triisobutylaluminum, trimethylaluminum, or tris(diethylamido)aluminum;
wherein the second material-containing precursor is a titanium-containing precursor that comprises at least one of tetrakis(dimethylamido)titanium;
wherein the first reactant and the second reactant comprises, independently, at least one of water, ozone, alcohol, and oxygen.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein a ratio of a thickness of each alumina layer to a thickness of each titania layer in the alternating stack of alumina and titania ranges from about 10:1 to about 1:1.

### Claim 17

A robot, comprising:
a robot arm, comprising:
an end effector body;
a replaceable contact pad disposed on the end effector body, the replaceable contact pad comprising a contact pad head having a contact surface configured to contact a substrate; and
a coating deposited on at least one of a surface of the end effector body or the contact surface of the contact pad head, the coating comprising an electrically-dissipative material, wherein the electrically-dissipative material is to provide a dissipative path from the coating to ground, wherein the coating has a thickness ranging from about 20 nm to about 500 nm.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The robot of claim 17, wherein the end effector body comprises an electrically-conductive material, a ceramic, or quartz, wherein the coating has an electrical resistance ranging from about 1×105 ohm/sq to about 1×1011 ohm/sq, and wherein the coating is porosity free, uniform and conformal.

### Claim 19 (depends on 17)

The robot of claim 17, wherein the end effector body comprises bulk alumina, and wherein the electrically-dissipative material comprises an alternating stack of alumina and titania.