SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD

• US 20190067042A1
• Filed: 08/30/2017
• Published: 02/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: LIN, Su-Horng
• Granted Patent: US 10,867,812 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67011 Apparatus for manufacture or treatment processes H01L21/30, H01L21/46; for production or after-treatment of single crystals or homogeneous polycrystalline material C30B35/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67103 mainly by conduction
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67126 Apparatus for sealing, encapsulating, glassing, decapsulating or the like processes H01L23/02, H01L23/28
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/6719 characterized by the construction of the processing chambers, e.g. modular processing chambers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67248 Temperature monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 1/0233 for semiconductors manufacturing

Abstract

A system includes a chamber, an inlet valve, and a control device. The chamber is configured to perform a semiconductor process. The inlet valve is coupled to the chamber and a facility water source. The control device is coupled to the inlet valve, and configured to at least partially close the inlet valve when the chamber is idle.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a chamber configured to perform a semiconductor process;

an inlet valve coupled to the chamber and a facility water source; and

a control device coupled to the inlet valve and configured to at least partially close the inlet valve when the chamber is idle.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a heating element arranged at a wall of the chamber.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the control device is coupled to the heating element and configured to output a driving signal with a duty cycle to control the heating element when the inlet valve is at least partially closed.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the control device is configured to output the driving signal with the duty cycle having a correlation to a degree of the inlet valve being closed.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein a decrease of output power of the driving signal has a positive correlation to a degree of the inlet valve being closed.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a recycle pipe coupled to an outlet of the chamber and a recycle inlet of the chamber.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the recycle pipe is outside of the chamber.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the chamber comprises a port and the inlet valve is coupled to the port.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the control device is further configured to control the inlet valve to be fully open when that the chamber is not idle.

10. A system, comprising:

a chamber configured to perform a semiconductor process; and

a control device configured to reduce volume flow rate of water flowing into the chamber when the chamber is idle.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a heating element arranged at a wall of the chamber.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the control device is configured to output a driving signal with a duty cycle to control the heating element when the volume flow rate is reduced.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the duty cycle has a correlation to the volume flow rate.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the control device is configured to decrease output power of the driving signal when the volume flow rate is reduced.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a recycle pipe arranged outside the chamber and coupled between an outlet of the chamber and a recycle inlet of the chamber.

16. A method, comprising:

detecting whether a chamber is idle or not;

partially closing an inlet valve, which is coupled to the chamber and configured to allow water to flow in-between chamber walls, to a predetermined percentage when the chamber is idle; and

fully opening the inlet valve when the chamber is not idle.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

adjusting a duty cycle of a driving signal for a heating element when the inlet valve is closed to the predetermined percentage.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein a decrease of the duty cycle has a positive correlation to the predetermined percentage.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

decreasing output power of a driving signal for a heating element when the inlet valve is closed to the predetermined percentage.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein a decrease of the output power has a positive correlation to the predetermined percentage.