Ion beam contamination determination
AssigneeVarian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc.
InventorsRussell Low, Joseph C. Olson, Antonella Cucchetti, Anthony Renau, Marie Welsch
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system, method and program product for determining contamination of an ion beam are disclosed. In the event of an isobaric interference, or near isobaric interference between a contaminant ion and an expected ion of an ion beam, which is difficult to detect, it is possible to measure a third ion in the ion beam and estimate, based on the amount of the third ion measured, a relative amount of the contaminant ion compared to the expected ion. The estimated relative amount of the contaminant ion is used together with a measured mass resolution of the ion implantation system to determine whether an ion implantation process needs to be suspended.
Claims35
A method for determining a contamination of an ion beam generated in an ion implantation system, the method comprising steps of:
- estimating a first amount of a contaminant first ion in the ion beam before the ion beam is filtered by measuring an amount of a second different ion in the ion beam before the ion beam is filtered;
- and
- determining the contamination of the ion beam based on the estimated first amount of the contaminant first ion.
A program product stored on a computer-readable medium, which when executed, enables a computer infrastructure to determine a contamination of an ion beam generated in an ion implantation system, the program product comprising computer program code for enabling the computer infrastructure to:
- estimate a first amount of a contaminant first ion in the ion beam before the ion beam is filtered by measuring an amount of a second different ion in the ion beam before the ion beam is filtered;
- determine the contamination of the ion beam based on the estimated first amount of the contaminant first ion;
- and
- communicate a result of the determination to a user of the ion implantation system.
An ion implantation system, the ion implantation system comprising:
- an ion beam generating system for generating an ion beam;
- and
- a contamination determining system including:
- a measurer for measuring an amount of an experiment ion in the ion beam before the ion beam is filtered;
- and
- an estimator for estimating a first amount of a contaminant ion different than the experiment ion based on the measurement of the experiment ion in the ion beam before the ion beam is filtered to determine the contamination of the ion beam.
A system for determining a contamination of an ion beam generated in an ion implantation system, the system comprising:
- a measurer for measuring an amount of an experiment ion in the ion beam before the ion beam is filtered;
- and
- an estimator for estimating a first amount of a contaminant ion different than the experiment ion based on the measurement of the experiment ion in the ion beam before the ion beam is filtered to determine the contamination of the ion beam.
A method of generating a system for determining a contamination of an ion beam generated in an ion implantation system, the method comprising:
- providing a computer infrastructure operable to:
- estimate a first amount of a contaminant first ion in the ion beam before the ion beam is filtered by measuring an amount of a second different ion in the ion beam before the ion beam is filtered;
- determine the contamination of the ion beam based on the estimated first amount of the contaminant first ion;
- and
- communicate a result of the determination to a user of the ion implantation system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.