Real-time control of temperature in a plasma chamber
AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorChangyou Jing
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for real-time control of temperature within a plasma chamber are described. One of the methods includes sensing a voltage in real time of a rail that is coupled to a voltage source. The voltage source supplies a voltage to multiple heater elements of the plasma chamber. The voltage that is sensed is used to adjust one or more duty cycles of corresponding one or more of the heater elements. The adjusted one or more duty cycles facilitate achieving and maintaining a temperature value within the plasma chamber over time.
Claims26
A method for achieving a target temperature within a plasma chamber of a wafer processing system, the wafer processing system including a plurality of heater elements disposed within the plasma chamber and a voltage source configured to supply a voltage to the plurality of heater elements via a rail, comprising:
- maintaining mapping information between the target temperature and a plurality of duty cycles corresponding to the plurality of heater elements, wherein the mapping information includes a nominal voltage associated with the voltage source;
- measuring a parameter value at the rail;
- and
- creating one or more adjusted duty cycles for corresponding ones of the plurality of heater elements based on at least one of the plurality of duty cycles, the nominal voltage and the measured parameter value.
A system for achieving a target temperature within a plasma chamber of a wafer processing system, the wafer processing system including a plurality of heater elements disposed within the plasma chamber and a voltage source configured to supply a voltage to the plurality of heater elements via a rail, the system comprising:
- a memory device configured to maintain mapping information between the target temperature and a plurality of duty cycles corresponding to the plurality of heater elements, wherein the mapping information includes a nominal voltage associated with the voltage source;
- a sensor configured to measure a parameter value at the rail;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- create one or more adjusted duty cycles for corresponding ones of the plurality of heater elements based on at least one of the plurality of duty cycles, the nominal voltage and the measured parameter value.
The system of clam 14, wherein the processor is configured to create the one or more adjusted duty cycles in real time during substrate processing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.