US 8,135,560 B2 · Sensor system for semiconductor manufacturing apparatus

Abstract

A chamber monitoring system may include a parallel architecture in which a single sensor control system is coupled to a number of different processing chamber control board sensor lines. In an illustrative embodiment, a single rotation sensor such as a tachometer may reside in a central control unit remote from the processing chambers such that rotation data may be processed by a single system and thereafter routed according to a variety of different network communication protocols to the main system controller, a factory interface, or both. In this and other embodiments, pull-up networks in the central control unit and the chamber control boards are matched so as to reduce electrical signal anomalies such as crowbar effects. The central control unit may be programmed via a main system controller to operate according to user defined parameters, which in turn may enable the system to differentiate between certain operating states.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A system for monitoring the rotation of substrate supports in substrate processing chambers, comprising:

a first rotating substrate support positioned in a first processing chamber;
a second rotating substrate support positioned in a second processing chamber;
a first sensor monitoring the first rotating substrate support;
a second sensor monitoring the second rotating substrate support;
a first sensor line coupling the first sensor to a first chamber board;
a second sensor line coupling the second sensor to a second chamber board;
a central control unit coupled to the first sensor line and the second sensor line, the central control unit processing first rotation data associated with the first rotating substrate support and second rotation data associated with the second rotating substrate support and determining rotation rates associated with the first and second rotating substrate supports;
and
one or more remote control systems connected to the central control unit, the one or more remote control systems receiving the first rotation data and the second rotation data from the central control unit, wherein the one or more remote control system transmits control parameters to the central control unit.

6 more elements

A method comprising:

monitoring a first rotating substrate support within a first processing chamber and monitoring a second rotating substrate support within a second processing chamber using a first rotation sensor and a second rotation sensor, respectively;
transmitting a first rotation signal from the first rotation sensor to a first chamber board and to a central control unit;
transmitting a second rotation signal from the second rotation sensor to a second chamber board and to the central control unit;
processing first rotation data within the central control unit, the first rotation data associated with the first rotating substrate support;
processing second rotation data within the central control unit, the second rotation data associated with the second rotating substrate support;
and
providing the first rotation data and the second rotation data from the central control unit to one or more remote systems.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Sensor system for semiconductor manufacturing apparatus

Life of this patent

Sensor system for semiconductor manufacturing apparatus

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19