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US 2026/0202340 A1Published application
Spectral sensing of process chamber conditions
AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorsBenjamin Tong Yee, Yukinori Sakiyama, Kapil Sawlani
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Abstract
Methods, apparatus, and various use applications for spectral sensing of a condition of a process chamber of a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus are provided.
Claims11
A semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus comprising:
- a process chamber;
- at least one sensor having access to the process chamber;
- and
- a controller communicatively coupled to the at least one sensor, the controller configured to:
- (a) introduce a chamber cleaning species to the process chamber to remove a coating from one or more components of the process chamber without excitation or generation of a plasma within the process chamber;
- (b) detect, using the at least one sensor, spectral characteristics of electromagnetic radiation emitted in the process chamber during chamber cleaning;
- and
- (c) from the spectral characteristics, determine that at least a portion of the electromagnetic radiation emitted in process chamber is caused by a chemical reaction of the chamber cleaning species with the coating or with at least one of the one or more components of the process chamber.
5 more elements
A method of detecting clean endpoint, the method comprising:
- (a) introducing a chamber cleaning species to a process chamber to remove a coating from one or more components of the process chamber without excitation or generation of a plasma within the process chamber;
- (b) generating a reference plasma;
- (c) detecting spectral characteristics of electromagnetic radiation emitted by one or more species excited by the reference plasma in the process chamber;
- and
- (d) from the spectral characteristics, determining that the coating has been removed from at least one of one or more components of the process chamber.
2 more elements
-10. (canceled)
An apparatus for monitoring and controlling a semiconductor device manufacturing equipment, the apparatus comprising:
- at least one spectral sensor;
- and
- a controller communicatively coupled to the at least one sensor, the controller configured to:
- detect, using the at least one spectral sensor, spectral characteristics of emissions from within an internal portion of the semiconductor device manufacturing equipment;
- and
- responsive to a determination that a desired process condition within the internal portion has not been met based on the detected spectral characteristics, adjust a process associated with the semiconductor device manufacturing equipment toward the desired process condition.
3 more elements
-20. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.