Lid assembly for opening a process chamber lid and uses therefor

• US 6,719,851 B1
• Filed: 09/26/2000
• Issued: 04/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Kurita, Shinichi, Blonigan, Wendell T.
• Primary Examiner(s): EL ARINI, ZEINAB
• Application Number:
  US09/671,504
• Time in Patent Office: 1,295 Days
• Field of Search: 134/8, 134/22.1, 342/42, 118/715, 156/345, 493/86
• US Class Current: 134/8
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4407 Cleaning of reactor or reactor parts by using wet or mechanical methods
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/687 using mechanical means, e.g. chucks, clamps or pinches using elecrostatic chucks H01L21/6831

Abstract

Provided herein is a lid assembly for chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process chamber, comprising a moveable lid, two linear guide rollers connected to the lid, one or more linear lifting actuators, and a rotation actuator connected to the axis of the lid. This lid assembly may be used for opening/closing process chamber as well as wet-cleaning process chamber in chemical vapor deposition.

Claims

1. A lid assembly for a process chamber, comprising:

a moveable lid;

a first linear guide roller and a second linear guide roller, wherein said first linear guide roller is parallel to said second linear guide roller, and wherein both linear guide rollers are connected to said lid, one linear guide roller on each end of a lateral side of the lid, wherein said lateral side is the axis around which the moveable lid rotates;

one or more linear lifting actuators to move the lid up and down along said linear guide rollers; and

a rotation actuator connected to said lateral side of the lid to rotate the lid.

2. The lid assembly of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more gas springs to support the weight of the moveable lid.

3. The lid assembly of claim 1, wherein said moveable lid can be lowered up to about 600 mm by said linear lifting actuators from an open upper limit of about 1.8 m above a floor surface.

4. The lid assembly of claim 1, wherein said moveable lid can be rotated up to 180 degrees around said axis by said rotation actuator.

5. A method of opening and closing a process chamber in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, comprising the step of:

applying the lid assembly of claim 1 to the chemical vapor deposition process chamber, wherein the process chamber is in an open condition when the lid is moved up by the linear lifting actuators to an upper limit and wherein the process chamber is in a closed condition when the lid is moved down by the linear lifting actuators to a lower limit.

6. A method of wet-cleaning a process chamber in a chemical vapor deposition procedure, comprising the steps of:

applying the lid assembly of claim 1 to the chemical vapor deposition process chamber;

lifting said process chamber lid up by said linear lifting actuators, wherein said lid is moved along linear guide rollers and wherein said linear guide rollers are connected to the lateral axis of the lid;

rotating said lid 180 degrees around the lateral axis by said rotation actuator;

lowering the lid to below the process chamber, thereby breaking the vacuum seal of the process chamber; and

wiping down the chamber using chemical cleaners, whereby the process chamber is cleaned.