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US 12,685,074 B2Granted
Apparatus, systems, and methods of measuring edge ring distance for thermal processing chambers
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsOle Luckner, Wolfgang R. Aderhold
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Aspects of the present disclosure relate to apparatus, systems, and methods of measuring edge ring distance for thermal processing chambers. In one example, the distance measured is used to determine a center position shift of the edge ring.
Claims18
A thermal processing chamber, comprising:
- a chamber body comprising a sidewall and a processing volume;
- a rotor disposed in the processing volume of the chamber body;
- an edge ring supported on the rotor, the edge ring including a radial outer surface facing the sidewall;
- a plurality of lamps;
- and
- a controller including a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the thermal processing chamber to:
- heat a first substrate disposed on the edge ring using the plurality of lamps;
- cause a first distance sensor mounted to the sidewall to:
- emit a first signal towards a radial outer surface of the edge ring such that the first signal reflects off the radial outer surface of the edge ring to become a first reflected signal;
- and
- receive the first reflected signal;
- cause a second distance sensor to:
- emit a second signal towards the radial outer surface of the edge ring such that the second signal reflects off the radial outer surface to become a second reflected signal;
- and
- receive the second reflected signal;
- determine a first distance between the first distance sensor and the radial outer surface of the edge ring using the first reflected signal;
- determine a second distance between the second distance sensor and the radial outer surface of the edge ring using the second reflected signal;
- perform repeat determinations of the first and second distances while rotating the edge ring;
- determine a center position shift of the edge ring based on the repeat determinations of the first distance and the second distance;
- determine a corrected landing position using the center position shift;
- and
- instruct a robot to align a second substrate with the corrected landing position.
19 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a thermal processing chamber system to:
- heat a first substrate disposed on an edge ring disposed in a processing volume of a chamber body using a plurality of lamps;
- cause a first distance sensor mounted to a sidewall of the chamber body to:
- emit a first signal towards a radial outer surface of the edge ring such that the first signal reflects off the radial outer surface of the edge ring to become a first reflected signal;
- and
- receive the first reflected signal;
- cause a second distance sensor to:
- emit a second signal towards the radial outer surface of the edge ring such that the second signal reflects off the radial outer surface to become a second reflected signal;
- and
- receive the second reflected signal;
- determine a first distance between the first distance sensor and the radial outer surface of the edge ring using the first reflected signal;
- determine a second distance between the second distance sensor and the radial outer surface of the edge ring using the second reflected signal;
- perform repeat determinations of the first and second distances while rotating the edge ring;
- determine a center position shift of the edge ring based on the repeat determinations of the first distance and the second distance;
- determine a corrected landing position using the center position shift;
- and
- instruct a robot to align a second substrate with the corrected landing position.
13 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a thermal processing chamber system to:
- determine a first distance between a first distance sensor and a radial outer surface of an edge ring while the edge ring is disposed at a predetermined position in a processing volume of a chamber body;
- determine a second distance between a second distance sensor and the radial outer surface of the edge ring while the edge ring is disposed at the predetermined position;
- perform a processing operation on a first substrate disposed on the edge ring;
- perform repeat determinations of the first and second distances after performing the processing operation on the first substrate;
- determine a shift of the edge ring from the predetermined position based on the repeat determinations of the first distance and the second distance;
- determine a corrected landing position using the shift of the edge ring;
- and
- instruct a robot to align a second substrate with the corrected landing position.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.