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US 2021/0241999 A1Published application
Apparatus and method of manufacturing a semiconductor device
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsTsung-Cheng WU, Sheng-Ying WU, Ming-Hsien LIN, Chun Fu CHEN
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In order to reduce the occurrence of current alarms in a semiconductor etching or deposition process, a controller determines an offset in relative positions of a cover ring and a shield over a wafer within a vacuum chamber. The controller provides a position alarm and/or adjusts the position of the cover ring or shield when the offset is greater than a predetermined value or outside a range of acceptable values.
Claims20
An apparatus, comprising:
- a chamber;
- a wafer support stage inside the chamber for supporting a wafer;
- a shield disposed over the wafer support stage, the shield having a first opening exposing at least a portion of the wafer support stage;
- a cover ring disposed over the shield, the cover ring having a second opening exposing the portion of the wafer support stage;
- and
- a position sensor for determining whether the shield and cover ring are aligned such that a radial offset is less than an established value, wherein a signal from the position sensor triggers an alarm when the radial offset is greater than the established value.
3 more elements
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
- disposing a workpiece on a support stage in a chamber;
- disposing a shield over the workpiece;
- disposing a cover ring over the shield such that an opening in the shield is aligned with an opening in the cover ring in order to expose the support stage;
- aligning the shield and cover ring such that an offset in a radial alignment of the shield and the cover ring is less than an offset threshold value;
- and
- commencing a semiconductor manufacturing process on the workpiece after it is determined that the offset in a radial alignment of the shield and cover ring is less than the offset threshold value.
3 more elements
A method, comprising:
- disposing a workpiece over a support stage in a processing chamber;
- determining a relative position of a shield and a cover ring disposed over the support stage;
- determining whether an offset in the relative position of the shield and cover ring is within a tolerance range;
- adjusting a position of at least one of the shield and the cover ring when the offset is not within the tolerance range;
- and
- performing a semiconductor device processing operation on the workpiece after confirming that the offset of the shield and the cover ring is within the tolerance range.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.