Reducing the deposition rate of volatile contaminants onto an optical component of a substrate processing system
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsAnthony F. White, Satheesh Kuppurao, Brian L. Haas
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and a method for reducing the rate at which volatile contaminants are deposited onto one or more optical components of a substrate processing system are disclosed. A purge fluid is introduced into the processing system at an interior surface of the processing system. A flow of purge fluid is produced across the interior surface to form a contaminant-entraining barrier between a source of the volatile contaminants and the one or more optical components and thereby reduce the rate at which volatile contaminants are deposited onto the optical components of the system. The purge fluid is substantially removed from the processing system.
Claims16
A rapid thermal processing (RTP) system for processing a substrate, the RTP system comprising:
- an edge ring to support the substrate in a processing chamber;
- a heater to direct radiation toward a first side of the substrate to be processed;
- a reflector having a surface facing a second side of the substrate to form a reflecting cavity therebetween, the reflector having one or more optical ports to receive radiation from inside the reflecting cavity;
- a fluid injector constructed to receive a flow of a purge fluid and to introduce a purge fluid at the surface of the reflector in a direction that is substantially parallel to the surface of the reflector to form a contaminant-entraining barrier between a source of the volatile contaminants and the one or more optical ports, thereby reducing the rate at which volatile contaminants contaminate the one or more optical ports;
- and
- an exhaust to remove purge fluid from the RTP system.
A method for processing a substrate comprising the steps of:
- supporting the substrate on an edge ring in a processing chamber,
- heating the substrate by directing radiation to a first side thereof to be processed,
- introducing a purge fluid into a reflecting cavity formed between a reflector and a second side of the substrate, the reflector having one or more optical components to receive radiation from the reflecting cavity, in a direction that is substantially parallel to a surface of the reflector to form a contaminant-entraining barrier between a source of the volatile contaminants at the first side of the substrate and the one or more optical components and thereby reduce the rate at which volatile contaminants are deposited onto the optical components, and
- removing purge fluid from the reflecting cavity.
An apparatus for processing a substrate, comprising:
- a processing chamber;
- one or more optical components;
- a heater to direct radiation to a first side of the substrate;
- a reflector plate having a top surface facing towards a second side of the substrate;
- a deflector plate positioned above the top surface of the reflector plate to define an optically-reflective surface and a channel constructed to receive a flow of a purge fluid and to introduce purge fluid as a substantially laminar flow in a region around the one or more optical components to form a contaminant-entraining barrier between a source of the volatile contaminants and the one or more optical components and thereby reduce the rate at which volatile contaminants are deposited onto the one or more optical components, and wherein the deflector plate acts as the main optically-reflective surface;
- and
- an exhaust to remove purge fluid from the processing chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.