Contamination control in semiconductor manufacturing systems
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsBo Chen Chen, Sheng-Wei Wu, Yung-Li Tsai
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to a contamination controlled semiconductor processing system. The contamination controlled semiconductor processing system includes a processing chamber, a contamination detection system, and a contamination removal system. The processing chamber is configured to process a wafer. The contamination detection system is configured to determine whether a contamination level on a surface of the door is greater than a baseline level. The contamination removal system is configured to remove contaminants from the surface of the door in response to the contamination level being greater than the baseline level.
Claims20
A semiconductor processing system, comprising:
- a processing chamber configured to process a wafer and comprising a door;
- a contamination detection system configured to determine whether a contamination level on a surface of the door is greater than a baseline level;
- and
- a contamination removal system configured to remove contaminants from the surface of the door in response to the contamination level being greater than the baseline level.
The semiconductor processing system of claim I, wherein the contamination detection system is configured to determine the contamination level on a bottom surface of the door when the door is in an open position.
A semiconductor processing system, comprising:
- a processing chamber configured to process a wafer and comprising a door;
- a contamination detection system comprising:
- an infrared (IR) emitter configured to emit a radiation along a surface of the door,
- an IR detector configured to detect an optical property of a portion of the radiation, and
- a processor configured to determine a contamination level on the surface based on the optical property;
- and
- a contamination removal system configured to remove contaminants from the surface based on the contamination level.
A method for controlling contamination in a semiconductor processing system, the method comprising:
- determining whether a contamination level on a side surface of a processing chamber door is greater than a baseline level;
- removing contaminants from the side surface in response to the contamination level being greater than the baseline level;
- and
- transferring a wafer into or out of the processing chamber in response to the contamination level on the side surface or a contamination level on a bottom surface of the processing chamber door being equal to or below the baseline level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.