Looking for breakthrough ideas for innovation challenges? Try Patsnap Eureka!

Method and apparatus for processing a wafer

a technology of semiconductors and wafers, applied in the direction of photomechanical equipment, instruments, cleaning using liquids, etc., can solve the problems of affecting the yield of electronic circuits, and affecting the availability of other process chambers

Inactive Publication Date: 2003-03-06
APPLIED MATERIALS INC
View PDF9 Cites 252 Cited by
  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Fab atmosphere exposure can be very detrimental to electronic circuit yield between certain steps while it may not affect whatsoever the yield between certain other steps.
For example, if one process chamber is inoperable due to a technical failure, the entire tool may not be available and therefore technical failure in one process chamber can have detrimental affect on the availability of the other process chambers.
Nevertheless, in certain occasions, the advantages outlined above of clustering different sequential process tools in one tool might be higher than the disadvantage of lower availability or reliability.
Drying wafers between the two steps makes it much more difficult to clean the wafers.

Method used

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
View more

Image

Smart Image Click on the blue labels to locate them in the text.
Viewing Examples
Smart Image
  • Method and apparatus for processing a wafer
  • Method and apparatus for processing a wafer
  • Method and apparatus for processing a wafer

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

Embodiment Construction

[0041] I) Dry / Wet Processing Tool

[0042] FIG. 1 illustrates an apparatus or system 100 for the stripping (ashing), wet cleaning and particle monitoring of a wafer during the manufacture of a semiconductor integrated circuit. The cleaning apparatus 100 includes a central transfer chamber 102 having a wafer handling device 104 contained therein. Directly attached to transfer chamber 102 is a single wafer wet cleaning module 200, a strip module 400, and an integrated process monitoring tool 300, such as an integrated particle monitor. Wet cleaning module 200, strip module 400, and integrated particle monitor 300 are each connected to transfer chamber 102 through a separately closable opening. In an embodiment of the present invention, a second wet cleaning module 200B and / or a second strip module 400B are also coupled to transfer chamber 102. In an embodiment of the present invention, transfer chamber 102 is maintained at substantially atmospheric pressure (i.e., atmospheric transfer ch...

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

PUM

PropertyMeasurementUnit
Thicknessaaaaaaaaaa
Dielectric polarization enthalpyaaaaaaaaaa
Pressureaaaaaaaaaa
Login to View More

Abstract

A method of a single wafer wet / dry cleaning apparatus comprising: a transfer chamber having a wafer handler contained therein; a first single wafer wet cleaning chamber directly coupled to the transfer chamber; and a first single wafer ashing chamber directly coupled to the transfer chamber.

Description

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention[0002] The present invention relates to the field of semiconductor processing and more specifically to a method and apparatus for atmospheric and sub-atmospheric processing of a single wafer.[0003] 2. Discussion of Related Art[0004] In silicon wafer processing, a wafer undergoes a predetermined sequence and steps to make an electronic circuit. Some steps are carried out at an atmospheric pressure while other steps are carried out at a sub-atmospheric pressure. Typically, a wafer undergoes a process step in a process chamber. Process chambers are loaded by a robot. Either a single robot, or more than one robot, for loading a single process chamber or more than one process chambers together with process chambers is called a tool or platform. Different tools or platforms can contain different of similar process chambers. All tools together contain the necessary process chambers to complete an entire process sequence that is necessary to fabricate an elec...

Claims

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

Application Information

Patent Timeline
no application Login to View More
IPC IPC(8): H01L21/00
CPCH01L21/67069H01L21/67161H01L21/67167H01L21/67173H01L21/67184H01L21/6719H01L21/67196H01L21/67225
Inventor VERHAVERBEKE, STEVENTRUMAN, J. KELLYLANE, CHRISTOPHER T.
Owner APPLIED MATERIALS INC
Who we serve
  • R&D Engineer
  • R&D Manager
  • IP Professional
Why Patsnap Eureka
  • Industry Leading Data Capabilities
  • Powerful AI technology
  • Patent DNA Extraction
Social media
Patsnap Eureka Blog
Learn More
PatSnap group products

Browse by: Latest US Patents, China's latest patents, Technical Efficacy Thesaurus, Application Domain, Technology Topic, Popular Technical Reports.

© 2024 PatSnap. All rights reserved.Legal|Privacy policy|Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement|Sitemap|About US| Contact US: help@patsnap.com