Substrate monitoring method and apparatus
First Claim
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1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
- a process chamber capable of processing a substrate, the substrate having overlying and underlying materials;
a radiation source outside the process chamber, the radiation source capable of providing non-polarized radiation that is at least partially reflected from the substrate in the chamber;
an interferometric radiation detector to detect the reflected radiation and generate an interferometric signal; and
a controller to (i) receive the interferometric signal, (ii) calculate a dynamic variance within a predefined time period of the interferometric signal by subtracting an intensity value at a minimum point from an intensity value at a maximum point, and (iii) determine a property of the overlying or underlying material on the substrate in the chamber based on the calculated dynamic variance of the interferometric signal.
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Abstract
A substrate processing apparatus comprises a chamber 28 capable of processing a substrate 20. A radiation source 58 provides radiation that is at least partially reflected from the substrate in the chamber. A radiation detector 62 is provided to detect the reflected radiation and generate a signal. A controller 100 is adapted to receive the signal and determine a property of the substrate 20 in situ during processing, before an onset of during or after processing of a material on the substrate 20.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
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a process chamber capable of processing a substrate, the substrate having overlying and underlying materials;
a radiation source outside the process chamber, the radiation source capable of providing non-polarized radiation that is at least partially reflected from the substrate in the chamber;
an interferometric radiation detector to detect the reflected radiation and generate an interferometric signal; and
a controller to (i) receive the interferometric signal, (ii) calculate a dynamic variance within a predefined time period of the interferometric signal by subtracting an intensity value at a minimum point from an intensity value at a maximum point, and (iii) determine a property of the overlying or underlying material on the substrate in the chamber based on the calculated dynamic variance of the interferometric signal. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method of processing a substrate in a process zone, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) placing the substrate in the process zone, the substrate having overlying and underlying materials;
(b) directing non-polarized radiation onto the substrate from a radiation source outside the process zone;
(c) detecting the non-polarized radiation reflected from the substrate before, during, or after processing of the substrate and generating an interferometric signal;
(d) calculating a dynamic variance within a predefined time period of the interferometric signal by subtracting an intensity value at a minimum point from an intensity value at a maximum point; and
(e) determining a property of the overlying or underlying material on the substrate in the process zone from the dynamic variance of the interferometric signal. - View Dependent Claims (4)
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5. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
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(a) a chamber capable of processing a substrate, the substrate having overlying and underlying materials;
(b) a radiation source outside the chamber, the radiation source capable of providing nonpolarized radiation that is at least partially reflected from the substrate in the chamber;
(c) an interferometric radiation detector to detect the reflected radiation and generate an interferometric signal; and
(d) a computer having a memory capable of operating a computer-readable program embodied on a computer-readable medium, the computer readable program including program code to (i) receive the interferometric signal, (ii) calculate a dynamic variance within a predefined time period of the interferometric signal by subtracting an intensity value at a minimum point from an intensity value at a maximum point, and (iii) determine a property of the overlying or underlying material on the substrate in the chamber from the dynamic variance of the interferometric signal. - View Dependent Claims (6)
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7. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
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a process chamber capable of processing a substrate in a plasma;
a radiation source outside the chamber;
a plasma emission radiation detector to detect a radiation emission originating from the plasma and generate a plasma emission signal over time, and an interferometric radiation detector to detect a radiation originating from the radiation source and reflected from the substrate and generate an interferometric signal over time; and
a controller to receive and evaluate the plasma emission and interferometric signals to determine a process endpoint. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of processing a substrate in a process zone, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) placing the substrate in the process zone;
(b) setting process conditions in the process zone to form a plasma to process the substrate;
(c) detecting a radiation emission originating from the plasma and generating a plasma emission signal over time;
(d) detecting a radiation reflected from the substrate and generating an interferometric signal over time; and
(e) evaluating the plasma emission and interferometric signals to determine the occurrence of an event in the process zone or a property of a material on the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
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(a) a chamber capable of processing a substrate in a plasma;
(b) a radiation source outside the chamber;
(c) a plasma emission radiation detector to detect a radiation emission originating from the plasma and generate a plasma emission signal over time, and an interferometric radiation detector to detect radiation originating from the radiation source and reflected from the substrate and generate an interferometric signal over time; and
(d) a computer having a memory capable of operating a computer-readable program embodied on a computer-readable medium, the computer readable program including program code to receive the plasma emission and interferometric signals and determine an event in the chamber or a property of a material on the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
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a chamber capable of processing a substrate, the substrate having overlying and underlying materials;
a radiation source outside the chamber capable of providing radiation that is at least partially reflected from a substrate in the chamber;
an interferometric radiation detector to detect the reflected radiation and generated an interferometric signal; and
a controller to (i) receive the interferometric signal, (ii) calculate a dynamic variance within a predefined time period of the interferometric signal by subtracting an intensity value at a minimum point from an intensity value at a maximum point, and (iii) evaluate the dynamic variance of the interferometric signal in relation to a calculated or stored range of dynamic variances of the signal for a plurality of substrates to determine a property of the overlying or underlying material of the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method of processing a substrate in a process zone, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) placing the substrate in the process zone, the substrate having overlying and underlying materials;
(b) detecting radiation that originates from a radiation source outside the process zone and is reflected from the substrate before, during, or after processing of the substrate and generating an interferometric signal;
(c) calculating a dynamic variance within a predefined time period of the interferometric signal by subtracting an intensity value at a minimum point from an intensity value at a maximum point; and
(d) evaluating the dynamic variance of the interferometric signal relative to a calculated or stored range of dynamic variances of amplitude of the interferometric signal for a plurality of substrates to determine a property of the overlying or underlying material of the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
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(a) a chamber capable of processing a substrate, the substrate having overlying and underlying materials;
(b) a radiation source outside the chamber, the radiation source capable of providing radiation that is a least partially reflected from the substrate during processing;
(c) an intererometric radiation detector to detect the reflected radiation and generate an interferometric signal; and
(d) a computer having a memory capable of operating a computer-readable program embodied on a computer-readable medium, the computer readable program including program code to (i) receive the interferometric signal, (ii) calculate a dynamic variance within a predefined time period of the interferometric signal by subtracting an intensity value at a minimum point from an intensity value at a maximum point, and (iii) evaluate the dynamic variance of the interferometric signal in relation to a range of dynamic variances of the signal for a plurality of substrates to determine a property of the overlying or underlying material of the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33)
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34. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
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a chamber capable of processing a substrate, the substrate having overlying and underlying materials;
a radiation source outside the chamber, the radiation source capable of providing radiation that is at least partially reflected from the substrate in the chamber;
an interferometric radiation detector to detect the reflected radiation and generate an interferometric signal;
a controller to (i) receive the interferometric signal, (ii) calculate a dynamic variance within a predefined time period of the interferometric signal by subtracting an intensity value at a minimum point from an intensity value at a maximum point, and (iii) generate a set of data from the dynamic variance relating to a property of the overlying or underlying material of the substrate; and
a factory automation host computer to receive and evaluate the data, and control the processing of the substrate in relation to the data. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
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a process chamber capable of processing a substrate, the substrate having overlying and underlying materials;
a radiation source capable of providing non-polarized radiation that is at least partially reflected from the substrate in the chamber;
a radiation detector to detect the reflected radiation and generate a signal trace; and
a controller to receive the signal trace and determine a property of the overlying or underlying material of the substrate in the chamber by determining whether the values of a sequence of slopes over time of the signal trace are substantially similar to the values of a sequence of preprogrammed slopes.
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40. A method of processing a substrate in a process zone, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) placing the substrate in the process zone, the substrate having overlying and underlying materials;
(b) detecting radiation reflected from the substrate before, during, or after processing of the substrate; and
(c) evaluating the detected radiation to determine a property of the overlying or underlying material of the substrate in the process zone by determining whether a sequence of values of the slope over time of an amplitude of the detected radiation are substantially similar to the values of a sequence of preprogrammed slopes.
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Specification