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US 12,340,992 B2Granted
Detection and location of anomalous plasma events in fabrication chambers
AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorsYukinori Sakiyama, Niraj Rana, Noah Elliot Baker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus to determine occurrence of an anomalous plasma event occurring at or near a process station of a multi-station integrated circuit fabrication chamber is disclosed. In particular embodiments, optical emissions generated responsive to the anomalous plasma event may be detected by at least one photosensor of a plurality of photosensors. A processor may cooperate with the plurality of photosensors to determine that the anomalous plasma event has occurred at or near by a particular process station of the multi-station integrated circuit fabrication chamber.
Claims25
A fabrication chamber, comprising:
- a plurality of stations;
- a plurality of viewports at least partially transparent to optical emissions that emanate from at least one station of the plurality of stations;
- a plurality of photosensors, each sensor of the plurality of photosensors arranged proximate to a corresponding one of the plurality of viewports, to detect the optical emissions that emanate from the at least one station of the plurality of stations;
- and
- a processor configured to identify the at least one station of the plurality of stations at which an anomalous plasma event has occurred based, at least in part, on output signals from at least two photosensors of the plurality of photosensors, wherein:
- a first viewport of the plurality of viewports permits visibility into first and second stations of the plurality of stations,
- a second viewport of the plurality of viewports permits visibility into third and fourth stations of the plurality of stations, and
- a third viewport of the plurality of viewports permits visibility into the first and the third stations of the plurality of stations.
5 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- first, second, and third photosensors, each of the first, second, and third photosensors arranged at a corresponding viewport of a multi-station integrated circuit fabrication chamber, each of the first, second, and third photosensors configured to detect an optical signal with a minimum threshold amplitude within about 1 μs and about 100 ms;
- and
- a processor configured to identify a station of the multi-station integrated circuit fabrication chamber which has undergone an anomalous plasma event based, at least in part, on output signal levels of each of the first and second photosensors, wherein:
- a first viewport of the plurality of viewports has the first photosensor and permits visibility into first and second stations of the plurality of stations,
- a second viewport of the plurality of viewports has the second photosensor and permits visibility into third and fourth stations of the plurality of stations, and
- a third viewport of the plurality of viewports has the third photosensor and permits visibility into the first and the third stations of the plurality of stations.
3 more elements
An integrated circuit fabrication chamber, comprising:
- a plurality of integrated circuit fabrication stations;
- one or more input ports for coupling a radio frequency (RF) signal to at least one of the plurality of integrated circuit fabrication stations;
- a plurality of viewports at least partially transparent to optical emissions that emanate from at least one of the plurality of integrated circuit fabrication stations;
- and
- at least first, second, and third photosensors, each of the at least first, second, and third photosensors arranged proximate to a corresponding one of the plurality of viewports, to detect the optical emissions that emanate from the at least one of the plurality of integrated circuit fabrication stations, wherein:
- a first viewport of the plurality of viewports has the first photosensor and permits visibility into first and second stations of the plurality of stations,
- a second viewport of the plurality of viewports has the second photosensor and permits visibility into third and fourth stations of the plurality of stations, and
- a third viewport of the plurality of viewports has the third photosensor permits visibility into the first and the third stations of the plurality of stations.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.