Optical monitoring system for III-V wafer processing
First Claim
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1. An optical monitoring system for a semiconductor wafer, said system comprisingan optical transmitter fabricated within a top surface of semiconductor wafer;
- an optical waveguide formed in a surface region of said semiconductor wafer and coupled to said optical transmitter to support the propagation of an optical output signal from said transmitter;
an optical receiver fabricated within said top surface of said semiconductor wafer and coupled to said optical waveguide for receiving the optical output signal from said transmitter; and
a monitoring device coupled to said optical receiver for measuring the output signal and evaluating predetermined process parameters of said semiconductor wafer as a function of the output signal.
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Abstract
An optical monitoring system for III-V integrated circuit wafers utilizes an optical transmitter/receiver assembly formed in the wafer at an early stage in the fabrication process. The optical transmitter is then activated and the optical output signal is monitored during subsequent processing steps, such as ion implantation and layer deposition to assess the quality of the process. In one embodiment, the monitoring system is useful as an endpoint detection process.
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11 Claims
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1. An optical monitoring system for a semiconductor wafer, said system comprising
an optical transmitter fabricated within a top surface of semiconductor wafer; -
an optical waveguide formed in a surface region of said semiconductor wafer and coupled to said optical transmitter to support the propagation of an optical output signal from said transmitter; an optical receiver fabricated within said top surface of said semiconductor wafer and coupled to said optical waveguide for receiving the optical output signal from said transmitter; and a monitoring device coupled to said optical receiver for measuring the output signal and evaluating predetermined process parameters of said semiconductor wafer as a function of the output signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification