Gas barrier with vent ring for protecting a surface region from liquid
AssigneeIntermolecular, Inc.
InventorRajesh Kelekar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A protective chuck is disposed on a substrate with a gas bearing layer between the bottom surface of the protective chuck and the substrate surface. The gas bearing layer protects a surface region against a fluid layer covering the substrate surface. The protection of the gas bearing is a non-contact protection, reducing or eliminating potential damage to the substrate surface due to friction. The gas bearing can enable combinatorial processing of a substrate, providing multiple isolated processing regions on a single substrate with different material and processing conditions.
Claims20
A method for processing a substrate, comprising
- supplying a gas flow to an interior of a protective chuck to flow across a bottom surface of the protective chuck, the gas exiting the protective chuck at a first location of the bottom surface, a portion of the gas flow returning to the protective chuck at a second location of the bottom surface;
- lowering the protective chuck onto a substrate so that the bottom surface of the protective chuck is disposed in proximity to a surface region of the substrate,
- wherein the gas flow across the bottom surface causes the protective chuck to be levitated above the surface region, and
- wherein the gas flow at the bottom surface protects the surface region from a fluid disposed on the surface of the substrate outside the surface region.
A method for processing a substrate, comprising
- establishing a gas layer between a bottom surface of a protective chuck and a surface region of a substrate, wherein the gas layer at the bottom surface causes the protective chuck to be levitated above the surface region;
- supplying a fluid on the remaining surface of the substrate for processing the remaining surface of the substrate, wherein the surface region is protected from being processed by the fluid due to the gas layer.
A protective chuck for disposing on a substrate surface to protect a surface region of the substrate by a gas flow layer, the protective chuck comprising
- a bottom surface comprising an outer substantially flat area surrounding a peripheral of the bottom surface, and an inner substantially flat area surrounding an opening;
- a second surface comprising side and top areas of the protective chuck;
- a first gas conduit connecting the second surface with the opening;
- a second gas conduit connecting the second surface with an area between the first substantially flat area and the second substantially flat area;
- wherein a gas flow between the first conduit and the second conduit along the inner substantially flat area forms a gas layer that levitates the protective chuck and protects the surface region of the substrate from a fluid disposed on the substrate outside the surface region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.