System and method for detecting non-cathode arcing in a plasma generation apparatus
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for detecting a risk of non-cathode arcing in a physical vapor deposition chamber utilized for depositing metal on a substrate, the method comprising the steps of:
- generating a set of cathode arcing event data for each of a plurality of substrates processed in the physical vapor deposition chamber;
computing, by a computer, a parameter for each of the plurality of substrates based on the set of cathode arcing event data for each substrate;
determining, by the computer, a moving average of the parameter; and
determining the risk of non-cathode arcing based on the determined moving average of the parameter.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for detecting the potential of non-cathode arcing in a plasma generation apparatus, such as a physical vapor deposition chamber. The system and method involve computing a statistical parameter of cathode-arcing event data in the chamber and performing a pattern recognition technique to a moving average of the statistical parameter.
-
Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A method for detecting a risk of non-cathode arcing in a physical vapor deposition chamber utilized for depositing metal on a substrate, the method comprising the steps of:
-
generating a set of cathode arcing event data for each of a plurality of substrates processed in the physical vapor deposition chamber; computing, by a computer, a parameter for each of the plurality of substrates based on the set of cathode arcing event data for each substrate; determining, by the computer, a moving average of the parameter; and determining the risk of non-cathode arcing based on the determined moving average of the parameter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 23)
-
-
11. A method for determining a risk of potential non-cathode arcing in a physical deposition chamber comprising the steps of:
-
generating, by a cathode arc detection unit, cathode arcing event data for each of a plurality of substrates processed in a physical vapor deposition chamber, the cathode arcing event data comprising a plurality of variable types; determining, by a computer, for each of the variable types, a mean value and a standard deviation; and determining, based on the mean values and the standard deviations, the potential risk of non-cathode arcing in the chamber based on the generated cathode arcing event data. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A system for detecting a risk of non-cathode arcing in a physical vapor deposition chamber for processing substrates comprising:
-
a cathode arcing detection unit communicatively coupled to monitor a primary supply voltage of a physical vapor deposition chamber; a processor coupled to the cathode arcing detection unit configured to; generate cathode arcing data comprising, for each of a plurality of substrates processed in the chamber, a plurality of variable types, compute a mean value and a standard deviation for each of the variable types, and determine the risk of non-cathode arcing in the chamber based on the generated cathode arcing data. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
Specification