Wafer processing method
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsYan-Hong Liu, Daniel M. Y. Yang, Che-Fu Chen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method includes: transferring a wafer from a factory interface through a load lock chamber to a buffer chamber; transferring the wafer from the buffer chamber to a process chamber; etching the wafer in the process chamber, to remove a material of the wafer; and after the wafer is etched, performing reflectance measurements to the wafer in the factory interface, the load lock chamber, the buffer chamber, or combination thereof, to identify if the material of the wafer is removed entirely according to a reflectance of the wafer.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- transferring a wafer from a factory interface through a load lock chamber to a buffer chamber;
- transferring the wafer from the buffer chamber to a process chamber;
- etching the wafer in the process chamber, to remove a material of the wafer;
- after the wafer is etched, performing reflectance measurements to the wafer in the factory interface, the load lock chamber, the buffer chamber, or combination thereof, to identify if the material of the wafer is removed entirely according to a reflectance of the wafer;
- protecting a vacuum pump in the load lock chamber by performing a ventilation process on the load lock chamber;
- receiving the wafer by the load lock chamber from the factory interface when the load lock chamber has a first temperature;
- receiving the wafer by the load lock chamber from the buffer chamber when the load lock chamber has a second temperature higher than the first temperature;
- performing a first etching process to a first nitride film on the wafer;
- when a second nitride film below the first nitride film is exposed, ceasing the first etching process;
- performing a second etching process to the second nitride film on the wafer;
- and
- when a buried copper layer below the second nitride film is exposed, ceasing the second etching process.
A method, comprising:
- collecting reflectance data of a wafer by a reflectometer;
- identifying, according to the reflectance data, whether an etching process of the wafer is performed completely;
- when the etching process is performed completely, performing a corresponding process after the etching process in a process flow to the wafer;
- when the etching process is not performed completely, removing the wafer from the process flow;
- when the wafer is transferred from a buffer chamber to a process chamber, performing a vacuum process on the buffer chamber constantly and keeping each of a first valve and a second valve of a load lock chamber closed,
- wherein the first valve and the second valve are at two sides of the load lock chamber, respectively;
- and
- using neural net matching to search an optimal match between a modeled reflectance and the reflectance data to identify whether the etching process is performed completely to remove the wafer from the process flow.
A method, comprising:
- transferring a wafer through a first valve of a load lock chamber to the load lock chamber;
- before the first valve is opened, performing a ventilation process on the load lock chamber to protect a vacuum pump in the load lock chamber;
- vacuuming, by the vacuum pump, the load lock chamber before the first valve is closed and after the wafer is transferred to the load lock chamber;
- in a period from the wafer being transferred from the load lock chamber to a buffer chamber until the wafer being transferred from the buffer chamber is back into the load lock chamber, keeping the first valve being closed;
- and
- striking a light beam with a wavelength of 1000 nanometers to the wafer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.