Rate monitor for wet wafer cleaning
First Claim
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1. An apparatus, comprising:
- a single-wafer cleaning device to provide a wet cleaning process to a wafer; and
a rate monitor connected to the single-wafer cleaning device to measure and control the wet cleaning process.
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Abstract
A rate monitor connected to a single-wafer cleaning device to measure and control a wet cleaning process. During the wafer cleaning process the rate monitor can monitor a rate at which changes are being made to a portion of the wafer, as the wafer is covered with a liquid, and predict an endpoint in time to the wet cleaning process.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. An apparatus, comprising:
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a single-wafer cleaning device to provide a wet cleaning process to a wafer; and
a rate monitor connected to the single-wafer cleaning device to measure and control the wet cleaning process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An apparatus, comprising:
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a rotatable wafer holder to hold and rotate a wafer;
a fluid dispenser to dispense a liquid onto a thin film layer on the wafer;
a transducer assembly to provide acoustic energy to the liquid; and
a rate monitor to measure the thickness of the thin film layer during a wet cleaning etch, to predict an endpoint of the wet cleaning etch, and to control the rotatable wafer holder, fluid dispenser, and transducer assembly based on the predicted endpoint. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An apparatus, comprising:
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an ellipsometer coupled to a single-wafer cleaning device to make optical measurements relating to a thickness of a thin film layer overlying a wafer; and
a process controller connected to the ellipsometer, the process controller to control a wet cleaning process based on the optical measurements. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An apparatus, comprising:
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a semiconductor substrate, a thin film layer overlying the substrate, a liquid layer overlying the thin film layer; and
an ellipsometer coupled to a single-wafer cleaning device, the ellipsometer to measure the thickness of the thin film layer and the liquid layer. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method, comprising:
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performing a wet cleaning process to a thin film layer on a wafer; and
monitoring changes to the thin film as the wet cleaning process is being performed to predict an endpoint for the wet cleaning process. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method, comprising:
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measuring a thickness of a thin film layer on a wafer during a wet cleaning etch;
determining an etch rate of the thin film layer; and
determining an endpoint for the wet cleaning etch based on the etch rate. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A computer readable storage medium containing executable computer program instructions which, when executed, cause a digital processing system to perform a method comprising:
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determining an etch rate of the thin film layer on a wafer during a wet cleaning etch; and
determining an endpoint for the wet cleaning etch based on the etch rate. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46)
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Specification