Pedestal Support Design for Precise Chamber Matching and Process Control

A process chamber comprising:

• a chamber body having a chamber floor and sidewalls defining an interior volume, the chamber floor having an top surface and an bottom surface defining a thickness of the chamber floor and an opening through the thickness of the chamber floor;
• a support plate having a top surface and a bottom surface defining a support plate thickness, the top surface of the support plate in contact with the bottom surface of the chamber floor, the support plate having an opening extending through the support plate thickness and aligned with the opening through the thickness of the chamber floor;
• a support post extending through the support plate and the chamber floor, the support post having a rotational axis, a bottom end outside the interior volume and a top end inside the interior volume of the chamber body;
• a motor connected to the bottom surface of the support plate and configured to rotate the support post around the rotational axis and move the support post along a length of the rotational axis;
• a bellows configured to allow the support post to extend therethrough and separate a vacuum environment in the interior volume from an atmospheric environment outside the chamber body while allowing movement of the chamber floor;
• and,
• a plurality of process stations located in the interior volume of the chamber body, the plurality of process stations being configured to perform one or more deposition processes;
• wherein the bellows configured to allow the support post to extend therethrough and separate the vacuum environment in the interior volume from an atmospheric environment outside the chamber body while allowing movement of the chamber floor;
• wherein the bellows is configured to allow the chamber floor to deflect under vacuum without affecting alignment of the support post;
• wherein at least one alignment pin configured to maintain positioning of the support plate relative to the chamber floor, each of the at least one alignment pin being disposed within an aperture formed in a top surface of the support plate and an aperture formed in a bottom surface of the chamber floor;
• wherein when the interior volume is under the vacuum environment, a center portion of the chamber floor deflects toward the interior volume increasing a gap between a bottom surface of the chamber floor and a top surface of the support plate within the center portion, the gap remaining at atmospheric conditions.