System for removing material from semiconductor wafers using a contained plasma
First Claim
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1. A system for removing material from a semiconductor wafer;
- said system comprising;
means for determining thickness profile data for said semiconductor wafer;
means for generating a dwell time versus position map for said semiconductor wafer, said map being generated from said thickness profile data; and
means for removing material from said semiconductor wafer, said material removing means being controlled in accordance with said dwell time versus position map, said means including a plasma chemical etching chamber having a platform for receiving said semiconductor wafer, a means for creating a contained plasma within said chamber, said contained plasma having an etching footprint smaller than the dimension of thickness variation to be removed, and a means for controlling the dwell time and position of said plasma in accordance with said dwell time versus position map.
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Abstract
A system for thinning wafers includes thickness measuring apparatus that provides information to a computer for generating a memory map of the wafer surface. The memory map is used to control a material removal apparatus that thins the wafer to a uniform thickness.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A system for removing material from a semiconductor wafer;
- said system comprising;
means for determining thickness profile data for said semiconductor wafer; means for generating a dwell time versus position map for said semiconductor wafer, said map being generated from said thickness profile data; and means for removing material from said semiconductor wafer, said material removing means being controlled in accordance with said dwell time versus position map, said means including a plasma chemical etching chamber having a platform for receiving said semiconductor wafer, a means for creating a contained plasma within said chamber, said contained plasma having an etching footprint smaller than the dimension of thickness variation to be removed, and a means for controlling the dwell time and position of said plasma in accordance with said dwell time versus position map. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
- said system comprising;
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16. A system for thinning silicon-on-insulator semiconductor wafers, said system comprises:
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means for determining thickness profile data for a silicon film overlying an insulator on said semiconductor wafer; means for generating a dwell time versus position map for said silicon film, said map being generated from said thickness profile data; and means for removing material from said film, said material removing means being controlled in accordance with said dwell time versus position map, said means including a plasma chemical etching chamber having a platform for receiving said semiconductor wafer, a means for creating a contained plasma within said chamber, said contained plasma having an etching footprint smaller than the dimension of thickness variation to be removed, and a means for controlling the dwell time and position of said plasma in accordance with said dwell time versus position map. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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Specification