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US 12,557,602 B2Granted
Wafer positioning method and apparatus
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsChia-Cheng Chen, Chih-Kai Yang, Liang-Yin Chen, Huicheng Chang, Yee-Chia Yeo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In an embodiment, a method includes: placing a wafer on an implanter platen, the wafer including alignment marks; measuring a position of the wafer by measuring positions of the alignment marks with one or more cameras; determining an angular displacement between the position of the wafer and a reference position of the wafer; and rotating the implanter platen by the angular displacement.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- placing a wafer on a platen in a chamber, the wafer comprising alignment marks;
- measuring a current position of the wafer by measuring positions of the alignment marks with one or more cameras, the alignment marks being measured with the platen disposed in a first position in the chamber, the first position being outside a path of an ion beam, the cameras being disposed outside the chamber, one or more apertures for the cameras being disposed at a top of the chamber, wherein measuring the positions of the alignment marks comprises:
- capturing images of the alignment marks with the cameras;
- and
- detecting the positions of the alignment marks in the images using machine vision;
- determining a displacement between the current position of the wafer and a reference position of the wafer with respect to the ion beam;
- reducing the displacement between the current position of the wafer and the reference position of the wafer;
- moving the platen from the first position to a second position in the chamber, the second position being in the path of the ion beam;
- and
- generating the ion beam with an ion beam generator, the ion beam generator being disposed at a side of the chamber.
7 more elements
A method comprising:
- placing a wafer on a platen, the wafer comprising a first alignment mark and a second alignment mark;
- measuring a first measured position of the first alignment mark and a second measured position of the second alignment mark, wherein measuring the first measured position of the first alignment mark and the second measured position of the second alignment mark comprises:
- capturing a first image of the first alignment mark;
- capturing a second image of the second alignment mark;
- and
- detecting the first measured position of the first alignment mark in the first image and the second measured position of the second alignment mark in the second image using machine vision;
- determining an angle between a first line and a second line, the first line passing through the first measured position of the first alignment mark and the second measured position of the second alignment mark, the second line passing through a first reference position for the first alignment mark and a second reference position for the second alignment mark;
- and
- rotating the platen by the angle.
6 more elements
A method comprising:
- placing a wafer on a platen in a chamber, the wafer comprising alignment marks;
- measuring a measured position of the wafer by measuring positions of the alignment marks with a camera while the platen is disposed in a first position in the chamber, the first position being outside a path of an ion beam, the camera being disposed outside the chamber, an aperture for the camera being disposed at a top of the chamber, wherein measuring the positions of the alignment marks comprises:
- capturing images of the alignment marks with the camera;
- and
- detecting the positions of the alignment marks in the images using machine vision;
- determining a displacement between the measured position of the wafer and a reference position of the wafer with respect to the ion beam, the displacement comprising an angular displacement and a linear displacement;
- rotating the platen by the angular displacement;
- translating the platen by the linear displacement;
- moving the platen from the first position to a second position in the chamber, the second position being in the path of the ion beam;
- and
- directing the ion beam at the wafer, wherein directing the ion beam at the wafer comprises generating the ion beam with an ion beam generator, the ion beam generator being disposed at a side of the chamber.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.