Prevention of ground fault interrupts in a semiconductor processing system
First Claim
1. A pedestal heating system configured to heat a pedestal disposed in a processing chamber of a substrate processing system, comprising:
- a heater power supply;
an isolation transformer, coupled to said heater power supply;
a heater element, disposed within the pedestal and coupled to said isolation transformer, wherein said isolation transformer is configured to reduce leakage current from said heater element to a chamber wall of said processing chamber.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A pedestal heating system provided for heating a pedestal disposed in the processing chamber of a substrate processing system. A pedestal heating system according to the present invention includes: a heater power supply, a transformer, coupled to the heater power supply, a heater element coupled to the transformer, and an RF ground electrode. The transformer is configured to reduce leakage current from the heater element to various elements of the substrate processing system by localizing current leakage loops. The heater element and RF ground electrode are disposed within the pedestal. Preferably, the transformer is simply an isolation transformer. Where an RF energy source is used, such as in a plasma CVD processing system, an EMI filter may be coupled between the transformer and the heater element, or at another point in the power supply chain to prevent feed-through of RF energy to other of the substrate processing system'"'"'s subsystems, or other sensitive electronic circuitry coupled to the facility'"'"'s power supply.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A pedestal heating system configured to heat a pedestal disposed in a processing chamber of a substrate processing system, comprising:
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a heater power supply; an isolation transformer, coupled to said heater power supply; a heater element, disposed within the pedestal and coupled to said isolation transformer, wherein said isolation transformer is configured to reduce leakage current from said heater element to a chamber wall of said processing chamber. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A pedestal heating system configured to heat a pedestal disposed in a processing chamber of a substrate processing system, comprising:
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a heater power supply; a transformer coupled to said heater power supply; a heater element, disposed within the pedestal and coupled to said transformer, wherein said transformer is configured to reduce leakage current from said heater element to a chamber wall of said processing chamber; an RF energy source; an RF electrode, coupled to said RF energy source, and disposed within the processing chamber; an RF ground electrode, disposed within the pedestal; and a filter, coupled between said transformer and said heater element, and configured to reduce feedthrough of RF energy from said RF energy source through said transformer. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A pedestal heating system configured to heat a pedestal disposed in a processing chamber of a substrate processing system, comprising:
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a heater power supply; a transformer coupled to said heater power supply; a heater element, disposed within the pedestal and coupled to said transformer. wherein said transformer is configured to reduce leakage current from said heater element to a chamber wall of said processing chamber; wherein a material of the pedestal is ceramic. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A pedestal heating system configured to heat a pedestal disposed in a processing chamber of a substrate processing system, comprising:
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a heater power supply; a transformer, coupled to said heater power supply; a heater element, disposed within the pedestal and coupled to said transformer; and an RF ground electrode, disposed within the pedestal, wherein said transformer is configured to reduce leakage current from said heater element to said RF ground electrode. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for preventing ground fault interrupts in a substrate processing system, the substrate processing system having a pedestal and RF electrode disposed in a processing chamber thereof, comprising the steps of:
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isolating a heater element disposed in the pedestal from a heater power supply of the substrate processing system by coupling an isolation transformer between said heater element and said heater power supply; and isolating an RF power supply from said heater power supply by coupling an electromagnetic filter between said transformer and said heater element, wherein said RF power supply is coupled to said RF electrode.
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Specification