Apparatus and method for inspecting a wafer process chamber
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsStanley SHIN, Kai-Hsiang Chang, S.C. Lin, Keith Kuang-Kuo Koai
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Abstract
An apparatus for inspecting a wafer process chamber is disclosed. In one example, the apparatus includes: a sensor, a processor, and a lifetime predictor. The sensor captures information about at least one hardware part of the wafer process chamber. The processor processes the information to determine a hardware condition of the at least one hardware part. The lifetime predictor predicts an expected lifetime left for the at least one hardware part based on the hardware condition.
Claims21
An apparatus for inspecting a wafer process chamber, comprising:
- a sensor configured to capture information about at least one hardware part of the wafer process chamber;
- a processor configured to process the information to determine a hardware condition of the at least one hardware part;
- and
- a lifetime predictor configured to predict an expected lifetime left for the at least one hardware part based on the hardware condition.
A wafer process chamber comprising:
- a housing;
- a support that is inside the housing and configured to support a wafer, when the wafer is placed on the support and processed inside the housing;
- and
- an optical scanner that is coupled to the housing and configured to inspect at least one hardware part of the wafer process chamber.
A method for inspecting a wafer process chamber, comprising:
- capturing, by a sensor coupled to the wafer process chamber, information about at least one hardware part of the wafer process chamber;
- processing the information to determine a hardware condition of the at least one hardware part;
- and
- predicting an expected lifetime left for the at least one hardware part based on the hardware condition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.