Methods and apparatus for supplying process gas in a plasma processing system
AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorsIqbal A. Shareef, Evangelos Spyropoulos, Mark Taskar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for supplying gas in a plasma processing system that employs the single line drop approach wherein a regulator is shared among multiple mass flow controllers. In one or more embodiments, an accumulator is provided and coupled in gaseous communication with a shared manifold to reduce pressure spikes and dips. A filter, which may be replaceable or non-replaceable separate from the accumulator, is integrated with the accumulator in one or more embodiments.
Claims22
A plasma processing system implementing a cluster-tool approach characterized by having multiple processing chambers, comprising:
- a gas feed providing a processing gas;
- a regulator coupled to the gas feed;
- an accumulator in gaseous communication with the regulator;
- a shared manifold in gaseous communication with the accumulator;
- and
- a plurality of mass flow controllers in gaseous communication with the shared manifold, whereby the accumulator is disposed between the plurality of mass flow controllers and the shared manifold.
A gas supply arrangement for supplying a processing gas to a plurality of plasma processing chambers of a cluster plasma processing system, comprising:
- a regulator;
- an accumulator in gaseous communication with the regulator;
- a plurality of mass flow controllers;
- and
- a manifold coupled to provide said processing gas from said accumulator to said plurality of mass flow controllers, wherein a combined volume of said accumulator and said manifold is at least 3 times a volume of said manifold without said accumulator.
An accumulator for use in a plasma processing system implementing a cluster-tool approach characterized by having multiple processing chambers, comprising:
- an enclosure defining a gas-tight volume;
- an input port;
- an output port;
- and
- a filter coupled to the input port such that at least a portion of the filter is disposed within the gas tight volume and gas filtered by the filter is released into the gas-tight volume prior to exiting via the output port.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.