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US 2017/0287793 A1Published application
Apparatus and method to control etch rate through adaptive spiking of chemistry
AssigneeVeeco Precision Surface Processing LLC
InventorsLaura Mauer, John Taddei, James Swallow, David Goldberg, Eric Kurt Zwirnmann
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Abstract
An apparatus and method are provided to: determine a unique profile to etch each wafer, execute that etch, and determine and deliver the proper chemical addition in order to maintain etch rate within tight tolerances.
Claims22
A method for wet etching a substrate using a single wafer wet etching processing system to produce a substrate having a desired final etch profile, comprising the steps of:
- measuring, at a measurement station, initial thickness information for a particular substrate;
- calculating an etch profile for the particular substrate according to the initial thickness information;
- generating an etch recipe for the particular substrate according to the calculated etch profile and the final etch profile;
- calculating a substrate removal amount that corresponds to an amount of substrate material removed as a result of etching the substrate from the calculated etch profile to the desired final etch profile;
- etching the particular substrate with an etchant and according to the etch recipe in order to achieve the desired final etch profile;
- calculating a spike dosage of etchant chemistry to add back to the etchant prior to performing a subsequent etch on a subsequent substrate, the spike dosage being calculated based on the calculated substrate removal amount;
- and
- adding the spike dosage to the etchant chemistry prior to etching a next substrate.
5 more elements
A method to control etch rate through adaptive spiking of etchant chemistry comprising the steps of:
- measuring, at a measurement station, initial thickness information for a particular substrate;
- calculating an initial etch profile for the particular substrate according to the initial thickness information;
- selecting a desired final etch profile for the particular substrate to be achieved upon etching the substrate;
- calculating a substrate removal amount that corresponds to an amount of substrate material removed upon etching the particular substrate from the calculated etch profile to the desired final etch profile;
- and
- calculating a spike dosage of etchant chemistry to add back to the etchant prior to performing a subsequent etch on a subsequent substrate, the spike dosage being calculated based on the calculated substrate removal amount and being an amount of the etchant chemistry that once added to the etchant allows a selected etch rate to be at least substantially maintained for successive etch runs.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.