Contamination handling for semiconductor apparatus
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsFu-Chun Hsieh, Chih-Che Lin, Pei-Yi Su
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure describes a lithography apparatus comprising a photoresist coating unit configured to perform one or more coating processes on a substrate. The lithography apparatus further comprises a detection unit configured to determine a contamination level of a contaminant from the one or more coating processes adheres on a sidewall of the lithography apparatus. The lithography apparatus further comprises a controller unit configured to adjust one or more operations of the lithography apparatus based on a comparison between the contamination level and a baseline cleanliness requirement of the lithography apparatus.
Claims20
A semiconductor apparatus, comprising:
- a chuck configured to hold a substrate;
- a drain structure surrounding the chuck;
- a detection device comprising an acoustic device disposed between the chuck and the drain structure, wherein the detection device is configured to:
- determine a contamination level of contamination adhering to the drain structure;
- and
- detect a surface coverage of the contamination;
- and
- a controller configured to trigger a decontamination process based on a comparison between the contamination level and a baseline cleanliness requirement of the semiconductor apparatus and based on the detected surface coverage of the contamination.
A semiconductor apparatus, comprising:
- a drain structure surrounding a chuck;
- an acoustic sensor configured to determine a contamination level within the drain structure;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- compare the contamination level to a baseline level of cleanliness of the drain structure to generate a comparison result;
- generate a signal based on the comparison result, wherein the signal triggers a decontamination process of the drain structure;
- and
- reset the contamination level in response to removal of the contaminants from the drain structure.
A semiconductor apparatus, comprising:
- a photoresist coating device configured to coat a coating material on a substrate, wherein the photoresist coating device comprises:
- a chuck configured to hold the substrate,
- a spindle configured to provide a rotation mechanism for the chuck, and
- a drain structure enclosing and surrounding the chuck;
- a detection device, disposed between the drain structure and the chuck, configured to detect a contamination level of a contaminant adhering to the drain structure based on a reflected or scattered acoustic signal from the drain structure;
- and
- a controller configured to trigger a decontamination process based on a comparison between the contamination level and a baseline cleanliness requirement.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.