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US 6,635,116 B1Granted
Residual oxygen reduction system
AssigneeLSI Logic Corporation
InventorsMark I. Mayeda, Steven E. Reder, Richard Gimmi, Matthew R. Trattles
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AssigneeLSI Logic Corporation
InventorsMark I. Mayeda, Steven E. Reder, Richard Gimmi, Matthew R. Trattles
Estimating the term…
An apparatus for reducing residual oxygen content from a processing chamber of an atmospheric reactor after the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor has been exposed to an oxygen environment. The processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor has an inert gas purge, including an inert gas source, for reducing a residual oxygen level within the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor at a rate of reduction. A venturi vacuum system is enabled by the inert gas source. The venturi vacuum system draws a vacuum on the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor and supplements the inert gas purge, thereby accelerating the rate at which the residual oxygen level is reduced within the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor. In this manner, the vacuum created by the venturi vacuum system increases the efficiency of the inert gas purge by reducing by some moderate degree the pressure within the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor. This provides additional gas flow within the processing chamber to physically remove the residual oxygen from the processing chamber. However, the vacuum provided by the venturi vacuum system is not high enough to cause damage to the components of the atmospheric reactor, which are not designed to withstand the forces that are created by a relatively high vacuum.
An apparatus for reducing residual oxygen content from a processing chamber of an atmospheric reactor after the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor has been exposed to an oxygen environment, where the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor has an inert gas purge including an inert gas source for reducing a residual oxygen level within the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor at a rate of reduction, the apparatus comprising a venturi vacuum system enable by the inert gas source and drawing a vacuum on the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor and for supplementing the inert gas purge and thereby accelerating the rate at which the residual oxygen level is reduced within the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor, further comprising a wafer transfer system for transferring wafers into and out of the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor. the wafer transfer system formed at least in part of a metallic gettering agent.
An atmospheric reactor having a processing chamber, the improvement comprising a wafer transfer mechanism including a metallic gettering agent for reducing a residual oxygen level in the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.