DETECTION OF SUBSTRATE DEFECTS BY TRACKING PROCESSING PARAMETERS

• US 20150147830A1
• Filed: 11/26/2013
• Published: 05/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: ILIOPOULOS, Ilias, NA, Shuo, YANCY, Kelby
• Application Number:
  US14/091,095
• Publication Number:
  US 20150147830A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/17
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32174 Circuits specially adapted for controlling the RF discharge
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32577 Electrical connecting means
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32853 Hygiene
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/3288 Maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32935 Monitoring and controlling tubes by information coming from the object and/or discharge
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/3299 Feedback systems

Abstract

A method comprising processing a substrate exposed to a plasma in a processing chamber, obtaining a metric indicative of a parameter of the plasma during the processing of the substrate, and determining a defect in the substrate by comparing the metric to a predefined criteria.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

processing a substrate exposed to a plasma in a processing chamber;

obtaining a metric indicative of a parameter of the plasma during the processing of the substrate; and

determining a defect in the substrate by comparing the metric to a predefined criteria.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the defect comprises a crack, a break, a chip, a region of non-uniform film on the substrate, or combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameter of the plasma includes reflected radio frequency power, direct current voltage (Vdc), peak-to-peak voltage (Vpp), or combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

removing the substrate from the processing chamber.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the removing comprises:

removing the substrate from the processing chamber through the transfer chamber.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

inspecting the processing system for pieces of the defective substrate; and

removing the pieces from the processing system.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

resuming operation of the processing chamber.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined criteria comprises historical data of a processing results from non-defective substrates.

9. A method, comprising:

processing a substrate exposed to a plasma in a processing chamber;

obtaining a metric indicative of a parameter of the plasma during the processing of the substrate;

ceasing the processing when the parameter of the plasma is outside of a predetermined limit indicating a defective substrate; and

removing the defective substrate from the processing system.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the defect comprises a crack, a break, a chip, a region of non-uniform film on the substrate, or combinations thereof.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the parameter of the plasma includes reflected radio frequency power, direct current voltage (Vdc), peak-to-peak voltage (Vpp), or combinations thereof.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the parameter of the plasma includes reflected radio frequency power, direct current voltage (Vdc), peak-to-peak voltage (Vpp), or combinations thereof.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the predefined criteria comprises historical data of a processing recipe.

14. A method, comprising:

transferring n substrates into one or more chambers in a processing system;

plasma processing each of the n substrates sequentially;

monitoring parameters of the plasma during plasma processing of the n substrates;

ceasing plasma processing when the parameters of one of the n substrates are outside of a predetermined limit indicating a defective substrate; and

removing the defective substrate from the processing system.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the defect comprises a crack, a break, a chip, a region of non-uniform film on the substrate, or combinations thereof.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the parameters include reflected radio frequency power, direct current voltage (Vdc), peak-to-peak voltage, or combinations thereof.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

inspecting the processing system for pieces of the defective substrate; and

removing the pieces from the processing system.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

resuming plasma processing of remaining n substrates while monitoring parameters of the plasma during plasma processing of the remaining n substrates.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the predetermined limit is based on historical data of a processing recipe.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the historical data includes reflected radio frequency power, direct current voltage (Vdc), peak-to-peak voltage, or combinations thereof.