Method of and an apparatus for regulating the temperature of an electrostatic chuck

A semiconductor fabricating apparatus comprising:

• a process chamber, and an electrostatic chuck disposed in said process chamber;
• a coolant used to cool a body of said electrostatic chuck;
• a coolant loop through which said coolant circulates, said coolant loop including a heat exchanger having an inlet and an outlet, a refrigerator having an inlet and an outlet, a coolant supplying pipe connecting the inlet of said heat exchanger to the outlet of said refrigerator, a coolant withdrawal pipe connecting the outlet of said heat exchanger to the inlet of said refrigerator, and a deionizing filter that deionizes the coolant,
• said heat exchanger forming a coolant passageway, as part of said coolant loop, disposed in a heat exchange relationship with the body of said electrostatic chuck such that the coolant undergoes a heat exchange with the body of the electrostatic chuck as the coolant flows through said coolant passageway,
• said refrigerator being disposed outside of said process chamber so as to supply the coolant to the coolant passageway of the heat exchanger, withdraw the coolant from the heat exchanger after the heat exchange process occurs between the coolant and the electrostatic chuck, cool the coolant withdrawn from the heat exchanger, and supply the cooled coolant to the heat exchanger, and
• said deionizing filter being disposed in-line with said coolant withdrawal pipe adjacent the inlet of said refrigerator so as to deionize the coolant withdrawn from the heat exchanger;
• a temperature sensor disposed within said electrostatic chuck and operable to detect the temperature of the body of the electrostatic chuck and issue a signal representative of the detected temperature;
• and
• a temperature controller operatively connected to said temperature sensor and to said refrigerator so as to control the refrigerator to regulate the temperature of the coolant in response to the signal issued by the temperature sensor.