Process monitoring apparatus and method
First Claim
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1. An apparatus capable of processing a wafer in a plasma, the apparatus comprising:
- (a) a chamber to process the wafer in the plasma, whereby one or more parameters of a process being conducted in the chamber may change during processing of the wafer in the plasma; and
(b) a signal analyzer to receive a first input signal of a magnitude of a first parameter detected during processing of the wafer and a second input signal of a magnitude of a second parameter detected during processing of the wafer, the second parameter being a different parameter than the first parameter, and determine an output signal in relation to the first and second input signals during processing of the wafer in the plasma, the output signal being determinative of completion of the process.
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Abstract
An apparatus capable of processing a wafer, comprises a chamber adapted to process the wafer, whereby one or more parameters of the process being conducted in the chamber may change during processing of the wafer; and a signal analyzer adapted to receive a plurality of input signals relating to the parameters and provide an output signal in relation to the input signals.
38 Citations
88 Claims
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1. An apparatus capable of processing a wafer in a plasma, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a chamber to process the wafer in the plasma, whereby one or more parameters of a process being conducted in the chamber may change during processing of the wafer in the plasma; and
(b) a signal analyzer to receive a first input signal of a magnitude of a first parameter detected during processing of the wafer and a second input signal of a magnitude of a second parameter detected during processing of the wafer, the second parameter being a different parameter than the first parameter, and determine an output signal in relation to the first and second input signals during processing of the wafer in the plasma, the output signal being determinative of completion of the process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An apparatus for monitoring a wafer processing system to process a wafer in a plasma and having multiple parameters, the apparatus comprising:
a signal analyzer to receive a first input signal of a magnitude of a first parameter detected during processing of the wafer in the plasma and a second input signal of a magnitude of a second parameter detected during processing of the wafer, the first and second parameters not being determined from one another and correlate the input signals to one another or to stored values to determine an output signal, the output signal being determinative of completion of processing of the wafer. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus capable of processing a wafer in a plasma, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a chamber to process the wafer in the plasma, whereby one or more non-optical parameters of a process being conducted in the chamber may change during processing of the wafer in the plasma; and
(b) a signal analyzer to receive a first input signal of a magnitude of an optical parameter detected during processing of the wafer and a second input signal of a magnitude of a non-optical parameter detected during processing of the wafer, and determine an output signal in relation to the first and second input signals during processing of the wafer in the plasma, the output signal being determinative of completion of the process. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An apparatus for processing a wafer in a plasma in a chamber, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a chamber to process the wafer in the plasma;
(b) a first sensor that detects first parametric data of a process being conducted in the chamber and a second sensor that detects second parametric data of a process being conducted in the chamber, and (c) a signal analyzer to receive a first input signal of a magnitude of the first parametric data and a second input signal of a magnitude of the second parametric data detected by the first and second sensors during processing of the wafer in the plasma, the second parametric data being different parametric data than the first parametric data, determine an output signal by correlating the first input signal and second input signal, and compare the output signal to a threshold value to determine completion of the process. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. An apparatus capable of analyzing processing of a wafer in a plasma in a processing system, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a first sensor to detect a magnitude of first parametric data of a process being conducted in the processing system and a second sensor adapted to detect a magnitude of second parametric data of the process, the second parametric data being different parametric data than the first parametric data; and
(b) a signal analyzer to acquire the parametric data during processing of the wafer in the plasma, determine an output signal by correlating the first parametric data and second parametric data, and compare the output signal to a threshold value to determine completion of processing of the wafer. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. An apparatus capable of processing a wafer, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a chamber comprising (i) a support pedestal capable of receiving the wafer, (ii) a gas manifold to introduce a process gas into the chamber, and (iii) a RF power supply to apply RF power to the support pedestal to form a plasma from the process gas to process the wafer, and to generate a first input signal of a magnitude of a RF parameter generated during a process being conducted in the chamber;
(b) an optical detector to detect a magnitude of an optical emissia generated by the plasma during the process and generate a second input signal of the magnitude of the detected optical emissia; and
(c) a signal analyzer to receive the first input signal and second input signal and determine an output signal in relation to the first and second input signals during processing of the wafer, the output signal being determinative or completion of the process. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. An apparatus capable of processing a wafer, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a chamber comprising (i) a support pedestal capable of receiving the wafer, (ii) a gas manifold to introduce a process gas into the chamber, and (iii) a RF power supply to apply RF power to the support pedestal to form a plasma from the process gas to process the wafer;
(b) an optical detector to detect a magnitude of an optical emissia generated by the plasma during a process and generate a first input signal of the magnitude of the detected optical emissia;
(c) a pressure sensor to detect a magnitude of a pressure in the chamber or in a foreline of the chamber during the process and generate a second input signal of the magnitude of the detected pressure; and
(d) a signal analyzer to receive the first input signal and second input signal and determine an output signal in relation to the first and second input signals during processing of the wafer, the output signal being determinative of completion of the process. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. An apparatus capable of processing a wafer, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a chamber comprising (i) a support pedestal capable of receiving the wafer, (ii) a gas manifold to introduce a process gas into the chamber, and (iii) a RF power supply to apply a RF power to the support pedestal to form a plasma from the process gas to process the wafer;
(b) an optical detector to detect a magnitude of an optical emissia generated by the plasma during a process and generate a first input signal of the magnitude of the detected optical emissia;
(c) a temperature sensor to detect a magnitude of a temperature in the chamber during the process and generate a second input signal of the magnitude of the detected temperature; and
(d) a signal analyzer to receive the first input signal and second input signal and determine an output signal in relation to the first and second input signals during processing of the wafer, the output signal being determinative of completion of the process. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. An apparatus capable of processing a wafer, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a chamber comprising (i) a support pedestal capable of receiving the wafer, (ii) a gas manifold to introduce a gas into the chamber, and (iii) a RF power supply to apply a RF power to the support pedestal to form a plasma from the gas to process the wafer;
(b) an optical detector to detect a magnitude of an optical emissia generated by the plasma during a process and generate a first input signal of the magnitude of the detected optical emissia;
(c) a gas sensor to detect a magnitude of the gas in the chamber or in a foreline of the chamber during the process and generate a second input signal of the magnitude of the detected gas; and
(d) a signal analyzer to receive the first input signal and second input signal and determine an output signal in relation to the first and second input signals during processing of the wafer, the output signal being determinative of completion of the process. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69)
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70. An apparatus capable of processing a wafer, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a chamber comprising (i) a support pedestal capable of receiving the wafer, (ii) a gas manifold to introduce a process gas into the chamber, and (iii) a RF power supply to apply RF power to the support pedestal to form a plasma from the process gas to process the wafer and generate a first input signal of a magnitude of a RF parameter generated during a process being conducted in the chamber;
(b) a pressure sensor to detect a magnitude of a pressure in the chamber during the process and generate a second input signal of the magnitude of the detected pressure; and
(c) a signal analyzer to receive the first input signal and second input signal and determine an output signal in relation to the first and second input signals during processing of the wafer, the output signal being determinative of completion of the process. - View Dependent Claims (71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80)
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81. An apparatus capable of processing a wafer, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a chamber comprising (i) a support pedestal capable of receiving the wafer, (ii) a gas manifold to introduce a process gas into the chamber, and (iii) a RF power supply to apply RF power to the support pedestal to form a plasma from the process gas to process the wafer, whereby one or more non optical parameters of a process being conducted in the chamber may change during processing of the wafer; and
(b) a signal analyzer to receive a first input signal of a magnitude of a first non-optical parameter detected during the process and a second input signal of a magnitude of a second non-optical parameter detected during the process, the second non-optical parameter being a different parameter than the first non-optical parameter, and determine an output signal in relation to the first and second input signals during processing of the wafer, the output signal being determinative of completion of the process. - View Dependent Claims (82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88)
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Specification