Rapid Process Chamber Pressure Modulation Using Chamber Pressure Control Ring with Micro Shutters
AssigneeInspiring Atoms Pte Ltd
InventorYang Pan
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to a system and method for semiconductor manufacturing that utilizes a chamber pressure control ring equipped with integrated micro shutters. The system, managed by a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control, enables rapid and precise modulation of chamber pressure, significantly outperforming conventional vacuum valve-based methods. This innovation improves process efficiency and reduces cycle times, particularly in advanced semiconductor processes such as atomic layer etching (ALE) and atomic layer deposition (ALD).
Claims20
A process chamber, comprising:
- a chamber body configured for a vacuum environment;
- a gas distribution unit configured to receive gases from a gasbox and disperse received gases within the process chamber;
- a chuck configured to support a substrate;
- a pump configured to extract gases from the chamber;
- and
- a chamber pressure control ring, operational for chamber pressure modulation, wherein said chamber pressure control ring integrates a plurality of shutters, each of said shutters incorporates several blades, wherein positions of said blades determine gas conductance, wherein said positions of said blades are controlled by a rotational-to-linear conversion mechanism, which is connected to both a motor and an actuator, both of which direct the motion of said blades.
A method for regulating pressure within a process chamber, comprising:
- providing a chamber pressure control ring, placed in a space between a chuck or a chuck support structure and a chamber body, wherein the ring comprises a plurality of shutters for modulating gas conductance by positioning of one or multiple blades, each shutter being coupled to a motor;
- determining an initial current for each motor through a system controller;
- deploying determined current to said motor by the system controller;
- introducing one gas or more gases into the chamber, stipulated from the process recipe;
- measuring chamber pressures using a manometer;
- and
- adjusting the current delivered to said motor in response to the pressures measured by the manometer, wherein the current supplied to the motor dictates positions of blades, and the chamber pressure control ring including multiple orifices.
An apparatus for modulating pressure of a process chamber, comprising:
- a ring-shaped structure containing multiple shutters, each shutter comprising one or multiple blades, wherein orientation of the blades being dictated by the current provided to an associated motor;
- a shutter layer hosting the multiple shutters;
- an actuation layer containing multiple motors coupled to the shutters through multiple rotation-to-linear movement mechanisms;
- and
- an electronics layer for hosting electronic components and interconnects.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.