SYSTEM COMPREHENSIVES A SINGLE WAFER PROCESS CHAMBER WITH REDUCED VOLUME

Abstract

System (100) comprising: a processing tool (102); a process chamber (130) within the processing tool (102), wherein the process chamber (130) is dimensioned such that only a single wafer (118) can be processed in the process chamber (130) at any given time; wherein the process chamber (130) further comprises: a notched recess (120) in a base of the process chamber (130); and a volume of at most 5 liters; a wafer chuck (115) wherein the wafer chuck (115) is adapted to be positioned at a wafer processing position located in the process chamber (130) and a chuck wafer transfer position located outside the process chamber (130), wherein the wafer chuck (115) is positioned in the notched recess (120) when the wafer (118) is positioned in the wafer processing position inside the process chamber (130); a plurality of lifting pin openings (124) in the wafer chuck (115);a wafer lifting system (104) positioned outside the process chamber (130), wherein the wafer lifting system (104) comprises a plurality of wafer lifting pins (140), whereby, when the wafer chuck (115) is in the chuck-wafer transfer position, each of the plurality of wafer lifting pins (140) can be extended through a corresponding one of the plurality of lifting pin openings (124) until the plurality of wafer lifting pins (140) are positioned in a lifting pin-wafer transfer position;and a wafer transfer system (106) adapted to position a wafer (118) to be processed in the process chamber (130) on the plurality of wafer lifting pins (140) when the plurality of wafer lifting pins (140) are positioned in the lifting pin-wafer transfer position, wherein the process chamber (130) is configured so that an annealing process can be carried out therein on a wafer (118) positioned therein, wherein the annealing process is carried out at a pressure of at least 0.5 MPa using a process gas comprising deuterium or a halogen.

Description

BACKGROUNDFIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates generally to various embodiments of a system that includes a reduced volume single wafer process chamber and methods for processing semiconductor wafers by such a system.DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ARTIn modern integrated circuit products such as microprocessors, memory devices, ASICs and the like, a very large number of circuit elements, in particular transistors, are provided on a limited chip area. The transistors have a variety of shapes and shapes, e.g., planar transistors, FinFET transistors, nanowire devices, FD SOI (FD SOI=Ull Depleted Silicon-On-Insulator) devices, etc. The transistors are typically either PFET-type or NFET-type devices, where the term "P" and "N" is based on the type of dopant used to create the source / drain regions of the devices. Such devices are fabricated on substrates or wafers made from a semiconductor material such as silicon.The fabrication of such devices includes performing a variety of different processing operations, such as etching processes, deposition processes, anneal processes, etc., in very specialized processing tools. The wafers may be processed individually in a process chamber or multiple wafers may be processed simultaneously in a single process chamber. It is in the nature of the semiconductor industry that there are ever-increasing efforts to reduce manufacturing costs to improve winning margins and to satisfy the constant demand of customers for lower prices. Therefore, there is a tendency to process as many wafers as possible at a time to increase throughput and thereby achieve higher and higher production objectives.In modern semiconductor fabrication facilities, wafers being processed are typically moved between and within the many processing tools in such a facility using a variety of automated wafer transfer systems. A common arrangement typically involves positioning a wafer carrier comprising a plurality of individual wafers at a location where a robotic arm can grasp individual wafers from the carrier as needed and feed these wafers to one or more processing chambers where the processing operations are performed. Additionally, wafer lift systems are typically provided in each process chamber for receiving a wafer from the robotic arm and thereafter typically lowering the wafer to a processing position where the wafer is processed in the chamber. The robot arm is then pulled out of the chamber and the processing operation is performed on the wafer. Typically, such processing operations may involve the use of one or more processing gases and such processing operations may need to be performed under relatively high pressure conditions, thereby requiring the use of relatively large volumes of processing gases. Moreover, in some applications, the processing gases may be relatively expensive. As a result, performing some process operations in process chambers having a relatively large volume may require the use of considerable amounts of relatively expensive process gases, thereby increasing production costs for integrated circuit products.The present invention is directed to various embodiments of a system that includes a single wafer, a reduced volume process chamber, and methods for processing semiconductor wafers by such a system that can avoid or at least reduce the effects of one or more of the problems identified above.Systems with process chambers for processing semiconductor wafers are known from U.S. Pat. No. 2018 / 0 138 060 A1, JP 2004-14 952 A, KR 10 2019 0 083 615 A, U.S. Pat. No. 2017 / 0 098 537 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,365 A and from EP 3 593 378 B1, respectively.SUMMARYThe following presents a simplified summary of at least one disclosed embodiment to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form prior to the more detailed description discussed later in the application.The present invention is generally directed to various embodiments of a system including a reduced volume single wafer process chamber and a method of processing semiconductor wafers by such a system. An illustrative system disclosed herein includes a process chamber positioned in a processing tool and a wafer chuck adapted to be positioned at a wafer processing position disposed within the process chamber and at a chuck wafer transfer position disposed outside the process chamber.Another illustrative system disclosed herein includes a process chamber positioned in a processing tool, a wafer chuck adapted to be positioned at a wafer processing position located in the process chamber, a chuck wafer transfer position located outside the process chamber, and at least one lift pin opening in the wafer chuck. In this example, the system also includes a wafer lift system positioned outside the process chamber and configured to move at least one wafer lift pin through the lift pin opening and position the at least one wafer lift pin at a wafer lift pin transfer position, and a wafer transfer system adapted to position a wafer to be processed in the process chamber on the at least one wafer lift pin when the at least one wafer lift pin is in the wafer lift pin transfer position.An illustrative method disclosed herein includes positioning a wafer chuck at a chuck wafer transfer position that is external to a process chamber of a processing tool, the wafer chuck having at least one lift pin opening extending through the wafer chuck, moving at least one wafer lift pin through the at least one lift pin opening to a position where the at least one wafer lift pin is in a wafer lift pin transfer position, and positioning a wafer to be processed in the process chamber on the at least one wafer lift pin when the at least one lift pin is in the lift pin wafer transfer position. In this example, the method also includes moving the at least one wafer lift pin to a retracted lift pin position such that the at least one wafer lift pin is no longer positioned in the at least one lift pin opening and the wafer to be processed in the process chamber is positioned on the wafer chuck, moving the wafer chuck to a wafer processing position within the process chamber, and performing a process operation on the wafer to be processed in the process chamber.According to the invention, there is provided a system as claimed in claim 1.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe invention may be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals designate like elements, and in which:FIGS. 1-18 show various illustrative embodiments of a system including a reduced volume single wafer process chamber and methods of processing semiconductor wafers by such a system.While the subject matter disclosed herein may be subject to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and described in detail herein.DETAILED DESCRIPTIONVarious exemplary embodiments are described below. For clarity, not all features of an actual implementation are described in this specification.The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Various structures, systems, and devices are schematically illustrated in the drawings for purposes of illustration only so as not to obscure the present invention with details known to those skilled in the art. Nevertheless, the accompanying drawings are provided to describe and explain illustrative examples of the present invention. The words and terms used herein should be understood and interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with the understanding of these words and terms by those skilled in the relevant art. It is not intended that a specific definition of a term or phrase, particularly a definition that differs from the ordinary or customary meaning as understood by those skilled in the art, be implied by the consistent use of the term or phrase herein. To the extent that a term or phrase is intended to have a particular meaning, particularly a different meaning than that understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, such a particular definition is expressly intended to be set forth in the specification in a defining manner that directly and unambiguously provides the particular definition for the term or phrase.As will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art upon a full reading of the present application, the methods and systems disclosed herein may be employed in the manufacture of a variety of different devices, including, but not limited to, logic devices. Memory devices, etc., and the devices may be either NFET or PFET devices. With reference to the accompanying figures, various illustrative embodiments of the methods and apparatus disclosed herein will now be described in more detail.FIGS. 1-18 show various embodiments of a system 100 including a processing tool 102 and methods for processing semiconductor wafers by such a system. FIG. 1 is a block-level diagram of an illustrative embodiment of some of the major components of an illustrative embodiment of a system 100 disclosed herein. Generally, the system 100 includes a processing tool 102 having a small volume process chamber 130 (see FIG. 2 ), a wafer lift system 104, a wafer chuck motion system 105, a wafer handling system 106, and a system controller 108. Of course, other aspects of a real system, such as electrical power supplies, seals, process gas inlets, vents, supplies of process gases, etc., are not shown in FIG. 1 so as not to overload the representation of the subject matter disclosed herein. The processing tool 102 may be used as part of a sophisticated manufacturing process to manufacture semiconductor wafers into functional semiconductor devices and various integrated circuit products.The illustrative embodiment of the system 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes only a single processing tool 102, a single wafer lift system 104, a single wafer chuck motion system 105, a single wafer handling system 106, and a single controller 108. As will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon a full reading of the present application, the depiction of such individual units is representative in that a real system 100 may include any desired number of each of the five components, which may be arranged in a variety of different configurations. For example, a system 100 may include a plurality of individual processing tools 102 each served by a single wafer lift system 104, a single wafer chuck motion system 105, a single wafer handling system 106, and one or more controllers 108, all of which may each be housed in one or more cabinets. In other embodiments, each of the processing tools 102 may be operated by an associated single wafer lift system 104, an associated wafer chuck motion system 105, an associated single wafer handling system 106, and a single associated controller 108. The controller(s) may represent a stand-alone computer or may be (may) housed in one of the components of the system 100 or distributed across the various components of the system 100. Thus, the subject matter disclosed herein should be considered limited to a particular shape or arrangement of the various components of the systems disclosed herein.As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the terms "wafer" and "substrate" are used interchangeably herein and both terms refer to any form or shape of a semiconductor material in which integrated circuits (of any type, shape or shape) are formed on the wafer or substrate. In the example illustrated herein, the substrate 118 is shown in simplified form as being formed from a single semiconductor material. However, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon a full reading of the present application, the presently disclosed subject matter should not be considered limited to this illustrative example of the substrate 118. For example, the substrate 118 may be an FDSOI substrate (FDSOI=Ull Depleted Silicon-On-Insulator). Generally, such a SOl substrate includes a semiconductor base substrate, a buried insulation layer (sometimes referred to as a "BOX" layer when the insulation layer includes silicon dioxide) disposed on the base substrate, and an active layer formed of a semiconductor material and disposed on the buried insulation layer. Traditionally and in one illustrative embodiment, the semiconductor base substrate may include silicon, the buried isolation layer may include silicon dioxide, and the active layer may include silicon and / or other semiconductor materials. Of course, the semiconductor base substrate and the active layer may be made of a plurality of different semiconductor materials, and the materials for the semiconductor base substrate and the active layer need not be made of the same material in all applications, but such a situation may occur in some applications. The terms "substrate", "semiconductor substrate" or "wafer" are thus to be understood as meaning all semiconductor materials and all forms of such materials.FIGS. 2-8 show various views of an illustrative embodiment of a machining tool 102 having a small volume machining chamber 130 that may be employed in the systems 100 disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the process chamber 130 is sized so that only a single wafer 118 can be processed in the process chamber 130 in a given processing cycle. In the illustrated example, the machining tool 102 has an overall generally rectangular, three-dimensional configuration with a length ("L"), a width ("W"), and a height ("H") (see FIG. 7 ). The absolute values of the length, width and height measurements may vary depending on the particular application. Of course, all drawings in the present application are not to scale.FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of an illustrative embodiment of the machining tool 102 disclosed herein. As noted above, the processing tool 102 is configured to process only a single wafer 118 in a given processing cycle. In this illustrative embodiment, the processing tool 102 includes a body 112, a chamber door 114, a wafer chuck 116, and a small volume internal processing chamber 130. The wafer chuck 116 is configured such that the wafer 118 to be processed in the chamber 130 is placed on the wafer chuck 116. The bottom of the process chamber 130 has a notched chuck recess 120 with a partially circular end surface 120X. The notched chuck recess 120 is adapted to receive the wafer chuck 116 when the wafer chuck 116 is positioned at the wafer processing position within the chamber 130. In this example, the body 112 includes a top surface 112W, a bottom surface 112X, a back surface 112Y, and a front surface 112Z. The chamber door 114 has a front surface 114X and a rear surface 114Y. Generally, the chamber door 114 is adapted to sealingly engage the front surface 112Z of the machining tool 102 / chamber 130, such that the chamber 130 is effectively closed and sealed. In the illustrated example, the wafer chuck 116 is integrally formed with the rear surface of the chamber door 114. The attachment of the wafer chuck 116 to the chamber door 114 may be achieved by a variety of techniques (e.g., welding, a threaded connection, etc.).FIG. 3 illustrates a simplified planar view of only the bottom of the process chamber 130. In this view, the notched chuck recess 120 formed in the bottom of the chamber 130 is shown. FIG. 4 illustrates a simplified planar view of the wafer chuck 116 / chamber door 114 with the wafer 118 positioned on the wafer chuck 116. In the illustrated example, the wafer chuck 116 has a partially circular end surface 116X that is adapted to be disposed adjacent the circular end surface 120X of the notched chuck recess 120 when the wafer chuck 116 is positioned at its fully inserted wafer processing position in the process chamber 130.FIG. 5 illustrates a simplified top view of the wafer chuck 116 / chamber door 114 without the wafer 118. As indicated, a plurality of lift pin holes 124 are provided in the wafer chuck 116 to allow a plurality of wafer lift pins 140 (discussed below) of the wafer lift system 104 to pass through the lift pin holes 124. Generally, a top surface 140S of the wafer lift pins 140 is adapted to engage a bottom surface of a wafer 118 that is placed on or above a top surface of the wafer chuck 116 when the wafer chuck 116 is in its chuck wafer transfer position (see, e.g., FIGS. 6-7, where a wafer 118 may or may not be present). The number and size of the lift pin holes 124 may vary depending on the particular application. In the illustrated example, three such lift pin holes 124 are provided in the wafer chuck 116. The wafer chuck 116 may be a heated mount that may heat the wafer 118, e.g., by electrical resistance heating, or may be an unheated mount.FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate simplified plan and side views, respectively, showing the chamber door 114 in its open position with the wafer chuck 116 in its chuck wafer transfer position without a wafer 118 on the wafer chuck 116. FIG. 8 is a simplified plan view showing the chamber door 114 in its closed position with the wafer chuck 116 in its wafer processing position without the wafer 118 in position on the wafer chuck 116.In one illustrative example illustrated herein, the wafer chuck moving system 105 includes a plurality of support rods 132 operatively connected (directly or indirectly) to the wafer chuck 116 and means for moving the wafer chuck 116 from the wafer processing position within the process chamber 130 to the chuck wafer transfer position. As will be described in more detail below, when the wafer chuck is in its chuck-wafer transfer position, a wafer 118 may be transported to or from the wafer chuck 116 by positioning the wafer on the wafer lift pins 140 when the wafer lift pins 140 are extended. As indicated, in one illustrative embodiment, the plurality of support rods 132 are operatively connected to the body 112 and the chamber door 114. The support rods 132 along with the means for actuating the support rods 132 are adapted to provide the means for moving the wafer chuck 116 from its wafer processing position (FIG. 8 ), with the chamber door 114 sealingly engaging the process chamber 130 to retract or open the chuck wafer transfer position (FIG. 6 or 7 ), whereby a wafer 118 can be positioned on or removed from the wafer chuck 116. FIG. 8 shows the position of the support rods 132 (in phantom) with the chamber door 114 in its closed position, as well as the position of the wafer chuck 116 in its wafer processing position (without the wafer 118). In this position, the support rods 132 are positioned in recesses or channels (not shown) formed in the body 112 of the machining tool 102 to receive the support rods 132. As noted above, the position of the support rods 132 with the wafer chuck in its chuck-wafer transfer position is shown in Figs. 6 and 7.The components of the wafer chuck motion system 105 may include a variety of conventional electromechanical actuators or devices. For example, the wafer chuck movement system 105 may include means for actuating the support rods 132 that include one or more hydraulically or pneumatically actuated cylinders (not shown), one or more position sensing switches (e.g., position switches), and one or more electric motors (not shown) operatively (directly or indirectly) coupled to the support rods 132 to move them from the retracted position to the extended position, and vice versa. The structure, function and operation of such wafer chuck moving systems 105 are known to those skilled in the art.In an illustrative embodiment, when the wafer chuck 116 is in its chuck wafer transfer position (see FIGS. 6 and 7 ), the combination of the wafer lift system 104 and the wafer handling system 106 is adapted to either (1) position a wafer 118 to be processed in the chamber 130 on the wafer chuck 116 or (2) remove a wafer 118 previously processed in the chamber 130 from the top surface of the wafer chuck 116.FIG. 9 illustrates a simplified plan view of an illustrative embodiment of a novel system 100 disclosed herein, illustrating an illustrative embodiment of the wafer handling system 106. The controller 108 and wafer lift system 104 are not shown in FIG. 9. FIG. 10 is a side view of the illustrative embodiment of the system 100 illustrated in FIG. 9. The controller 108 is not shown in FIG. 10, but the wafer lifting system 104 is shown in FIG. 10 in a simplified manner.Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, the simplified wafer handling system 106 includes a robotic arm 137 that includes a wafer gripper assembly 138 operatively coupled to an end of the robotic arm 137. The combination of the robotic arm 137 and the wafer gripper assembly 138 is adapted to grip and pick a single wafer 118 from a wafer carrier (not shown) that includes multiple single wafers 118 to be processed in sequence in the process chamber 130. As will be described in more detail below, the combination of the robotic arm 137 and the wafer gripper assembly 138 is also adapted to (1) position and place a specially gripped wafer 118 on the wafer lift pins 140 when the wafer lift pins 140 are in their extended lift pin wafer transfer position, and (2) remove a wafer 118 from the extended wafer lift pins 140 after that wafer has been previously processed in the chamber 130 and return the same to the wafer carrier. The wafer handling system 106 illustrated herein may have a structure and functionality that corresponds to a variety of different wafer handling systems that are commercially available on the market. As noted above, wafer handling system 106 may represent one or more physical wafer handling systems, each of which is adapted to operate one or more process chambers 130 in an overall system 100.FIGS. 10 and 11 schematically illustrate an illustrative embodiment of a wafer lift system 104 that may be employed in various systems disclosed herein. The wafer lift system 104 includes a plurality of wafer lift pins 140, each having an upper wafer engagement surface 140S. Each of the wafer lift pins 140 may be extended through a corresponding one of the lift pin holes 124 in the chuck 116. The wafer lift pins 140 may be moved from an extended position (shown in FIG. 10 ), thereby positioning the top surfaces 140S of the wafer lift pins 140 in a plane 141 - the lift pin-wafer transfer position. Once lift pins 140 have been moved through openings 124 in chuck 116 to their extended lift pin-wafer transfer position, wafer transfer system 106 may be actuated to either (1) position a wafer 118 (to be processed in process chamber 130) on extended wafer lift pins 140 or (2) lift a wafer 118 (previously processed in processing tool 102) from extended wafer lift pins 140 and position that processed wafer 118 in a wafer carrier (not shown). The wafer lift pins 140 may also be moved to a retracted position, whereby the top surfaces 140S of the lift pins 140 are in a plane 142 that is at least below the level at which the wafer lift pins 140 are no longer in a position to interfere with the movement of other system components with respect to the process chamber 130, e.g., not to interfere with the chamber door 114 being moved from a closed position to an open position or vice versa. In one illustrative embodiment, the wafer lift pins 140 may be fully retracted such that the wafer lift pins 140 are fully retracted to a position within a housing (not shown) of the wafer lift system 104. The number and size of the wafer lift pins 140 may vary depending on the particular application. In the disclosed embodiment, three illustrative wafer lift pins 140 are shown. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art after a full reading of the present application, the lift pins 140 are only moved from their retracted position to their extended position when the wafer chuck 116 is in its wafer transfer position, as shown in FIG. 10, because the wafer lift system 104 disclosed herein is physically positioned outside of the process chamber 130.The wafer lift system 104 illustrated herein may have a structure and functionality that corresponds to a variety of different wafer lift systems that are commercially available on the market. The wafer lift pins 140 may be moved from a retracted position (where the surfaces 140S are at or below the plane 142) to an extended position (where the surfaces 140S are in the plane 141 and the wafer lift pins 140 are in the lift pin-wafer transfer position) and vice versa using a variety of conventional electromechanical actuators and devices. For example, the means for actuating the wafer lift pins 140 may include one or more hydraulically or pneumatically actuated cylinders (not shown), one or more position sensing switches (e.g., position switches), and / or one or more electric motors (not shown) operatively coupled to the wafer lift pins 140 (directly or indirectly) to move them from the retracted position to the extended position, and vice versa. The structure, function, and operation of such systems for moving the wafer lift pins 140 are known to those skilled in the art.FIG. 11 schematically illustrates an illustrative example of a means by which the wafer lift pins 140 may be moved from an extended position to a retracted position, and vice versa. As shown therein, the plurality of wafer lift pins 140 are operatively coupled to a movable block 144 positioned within a housing 147. A plurality of fixed guide rods 146 are coupled to the housing 147. Fixed guide rods 146 extend through apertures 148 formed in the movable block 144. On the side of the movable block 144, a stand 150 is fixed. The frame 150 has a plurality of teeth 151. Also shown in FIG. 11 is a schematically illustrated electric motor 154 (e.g., a stepper motor) located at a fixed position in the housing 147. An illustrative pinion 152 is operatively coupled to the shaft (not separately shown) of the motor 154. The pinion 152 includes a plurality of teeth 153 (only one of which is shown). The teeth 153 on the pinion 152 mesh with the teeth 151 on the rack 150. In this example, due to the interaction between the teeth 153 / 151 when the motor 154 is actuated, the movable block 144 moves up or down (depending on the direction of rotation of the pinion 152) on the fixed guide rods 146, thereby causing the attached wafer lift pins 140 to be moved to their extended or retracted positions.The illustrative controller 108 shown in FIG. 1 is intended to be a broad representation of any type of one or more computing devices that may be programmed to perform the various functions described herein. In the illustrated embodiment, the controller 108 is a computer programmed with software to implement the functions described herein. In addition, the functions described for controller 108 may be performed by one or more controllers distributed throughout system 100. For example, the controller 108 may be a Fab level controller used to control processing operations throughout or part of the semiconductor facility. Alternatively, the controller 108 may be a lower level computer that controls only parts or cells of the facility. Additionally, the controller 108 may be a stand-alone device (or a plurality of stand-alone devices that operatively function with one another) or may be located on or between the processing tool 102, the wafer lift system 104, and / or the wafer handling system 106. However, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a hardware controller (not shown) configured to implement the particular functions may also be used.The machining tool 102 disclosed herein may be used to perform any type of machining operation. In an illustrative example, the machining tool 102 may be adapted to perform an annealing process in the machining chamber 130. In a particular embodiment, the processing tool 102 may be used to perform a high pressure annealing process in the processing chamber 130 using a process gas comprising deuterium or a halogen as at least one of the process gases during the annealing process (an HPD2 annealing process). In an illustrative embodiment, the HPD2 annealing process may be performed at a pressure of about 0.5-3 MPa and a temperature of about 300-500° C. Conventional HPD2 annealing tools are batch furnaces. Conventional single wafer anneal tools have a much larger volume than the processing chamber 130 volume disclosed herein. According to the present invention, the volume of the processing chamber 130 is made as small as is reasonably practicable to reduce the volume of process gas, e.g., deuterium, required to produce the high pressure processing condition during the annealing process. This is an important feature because deuterium is a relatively expensive process gas. Reducing deuterium consumption in each processing cycle can result in significant cost savings. In conventional batch furnaces in which such HPD2 annealing processes are performed, the wafer lifting systems are typically positioned in the process chamber, thereby causing an internal dimension of the process chamber to be large enough (at least in the vertical direction) to accommodate the wafer lifting system hardware and movements of such hardware in wafer lifting operations. These factors, in turn, tend to increase the volume of the prior art process chamber beyond that actually required to perform the processing operation. This excess machining volume must be filled with a machining gas in order to carry out the desired machining operation. In one illustrative example, such prior art single wafer processing tools (which have typically not been used for HPD2 anneal processes) may include a process chamber having a volume of about 10 to 30 liters. In contrast, due to the placement of the wafer lifting system 104 outside the process chamber 130, the volume of the process chamber 130 may be specifically designed to have a relatively small volume compared to the process chambers in prior art anneal tools. For example, in an illustrative embodiment in which the wafer 108 has a diameter of about 200-300 mm, the internal volume of the process chamber 130 disclosed herein may be about 0.2-5 liters. Of course, the absolute volume of the pressure chamber 130 may vary depending on the particular application and the size of the wafers 118 processed therein.FIGS. 12-18 show various views of another illustrative embodiment of the machining tool 102 having a small volume machining chamber 130 that may be employed in the systems 100 disclosed herein. Generally, this embodiment of the machining tool 102 according to this embodiment includes, instead of the chamber door 114 shown above, a slot 170 that allows or blocks access to the process chamber 130. As best seen in Figure 12, an upper door recess 174 and a lower door recess 176 are formed in the body 112. The upper door cavity 174 and the lower door cavity 176 are configured to receive a sliding door 172 that can be actuated to open or close the slot 170 The sliding door 172 is shown in its raised position, with the slot 170 open and the wafer chuck 116 inserted into or pulled out of the process chamber 130. As before, in one embodiment, the process chamber 130 is configured to process 118 only a single wafer in a given processing cycle.FIG. 13 illustrates a simplified top view of only the bottom of chamber 130, with wafer chuck 116 removed. The lower door recess 176 is also shown in FIG. 13. FIG. 14 illustrates a simplified top view of the wafer chuck 116 with the wafer 118 in position on the chuck 116. Note that in this example, multiple mounting structures 116A are coupled to the wafer chuck 116. In practice, the attachment structures 116A may be components that are physically separated from the wafer chuck 116, or may be formed as an integral part of the wafer chuck 116. The attachment structures 116A may be configured to be operably coupled to the support rods 132 described above. In some embodiments, the attachment structures 116A may simply be an extension of the support rods 132. FIG. 15 is a simplified plan view of this illustrative example of a wafer chuck 116 with the wafer 118 removed. As before, a plurality of lift pin holes 124 are provided in the wafer chuck 116 to allow the above-described wafer lift pins 140 of the wafer lift system 104 to pass through the lift pin holes 124 and thereby engage the bottom of a previously processed wafer 118 positioned on the top surface of the wafer chuck 116 as the wafer chuck 116 is moved from its wafer processing position within the process chamber 130 to its chuck wafer transfer position by actuation of the wafer chuck moving system 105.FIGS. 16 and 17 are simplified plan and side views, respectively, showing the wafer chuck 116 in its chuck wafer transfer position without a wafer 118 positioned on the wafer chuck 116. FIG. 18 is a simplified plan view showing wafer chuck 116 in its wafer processing position within chamber 130 without wafer 118 being positioned on wafer chuck 116. No attempt has been made to show the upper door recess 172 or the lower door recess 176 in FIGS. 16 and 18. The recess 172 and the lower door recess 176 are shown in FIG. 17. Figure 17 also shows the sliding door 172 in its closed position, blocking the slot 170 and blocking access to the chamber 130. Note that a lower end 172A of the sliding door 172 is positioned in the lower door recess 176 in its closed position.As indicated, the plurality of support rods 132 are operatively connected to the body 112 and the attachment structures 116A. As before, the support rods 132, along with the means for actuating the support rods 132, are configured to allow movement of the wafer chuck 118 from its wafer processing position within the chamber 130 (FIG. 18 ) to its chuck wafer transfer position outside the process chamber 130 (FIG. 16 or 17 ). The position of the support rods 132 with the sliding door 172 closed and the wafer chuck in the wafer processing position within the process chamber 130 is shown in FIG. 18. As before, in this position, the support rods 132 are positioned in recesses or channels (not shown) in the body 112 that are adapted to receive the support rods 132. The support rods 132 may be actuated using various means as described above. The sliding door 170 may be actuated from a retracted position (FIG. 12 ) in which the slot 170 is open to an extended position (FIG. 17 ) in which the slot 170 is closed, and vice versa, using any of a variety of conventional electromechanical actuator options known to those skilled in the art. For example, the means for actuating the sliding door 170 may include one or more hydraulically or pneumatically actuated cylinders (not shown), one or more position sensing switches (e.g., position switches), and one or more electric motors (not shown) operatively (directly or indirectly) coupled to the sliding door 170 to move from the retracted position to the extended position, and vice versa.This embodiment of the processing tool 102 is adapted to cooperate with the above-described wafer lifting system 104 and wafer handling system 106 in substantially the same manner as the previous embodiment. For example, when the wafer chuck 116 is in its chuck wafer transfer position (see FIGS. 16 and 17 ), the combination of the wafer lift system 104 and the wafer handling system 106, as in the previous embodiment, is adapted to either (1) position a wafer 118 to be processed in the chamber 130 on the wafer chuck 116 or (2) remove a wafer 118 previously processed in the chamber 130 from the wafer chuck 116.An example process flow or method for using an example embodiment of the system disclosed herein will now be described. It is assumed that a carrier comprising a plurality of wafers to be processed in the processing tool 102 is located at a position where the wafer handling system 106 can access these wafers and that the processing tool 102 is empty: 1. moving the wafer chuck 116 to its chuck wafer transfer position outside the process chamber 130 (e.g., FIGS. 6-7; 16-17 ); 2. actuating the wafer lift system 104 with the wafer chuck 116 in its chuck wafer transfer position to guide the wafer lift pins 140 through the corresponding openings 124 in the wafer chuck 116 until the wafer lift pins 140 reach their extended position, whereby the top surfaces 140S of the wafer lift pins 140 are in the plane 141 - the lift pin wafer transfer position - (see e.g., FIG. 10 ); 3. actuating the wafer transfer system 106 to grasp a single wafer 118 from the wafer carrier and place the grasped wafer 118 on the extended wafer lift pins 140; 4. actuating the gripper 138 to disengage the wafer, thereby leaving the wafer 118 in place on the top surfaces 140S of the wafer lift pins 140, with the wafer lift pins 140 in their extended wafer transfer position; 5. retracting the robotic arm 137 / gripper 138 to a position not interfering with the movement of the wafer chuck 116 or other system components; 6.Actuating the wafer lift system 104 to retract the wafer lift pins 140 through the openings 124 in the wafer chuck 116 to their retracted position, whereby the top surfaces 140S of the pins 140 are in a plane, whereby the wafer lift pins 140 do not interfere with any further movement of system components or wafer transfers. This operation results in the wafer 118 to be processed being placed in the process chamber 130 on the upper surface of the wafer chuck 116; 7. operating the wafer chuck moving system to move the wafer chuck 116 with the wafer 118 positioned thereon to the wafer processing position within the process chamber 130 in the processing tool 102 (see, e.g., FIGS. 2 and 12 (the slide door 170 is closed while the wafer 118 is being processed); 8. performing processing operations on the wafer 118 in the chamber 130 until completion; 9. actuating the wafer chuck moving system to move the wafer chuck 116 with the now processed wafer 118 thereon to the chuck wafer transfer position of the wafer chuck 116 (see, e.g., FIGS. 6-7 and 16-17 ); 10. when the wafer chuck 116 is in its wafer transfer position, actuating the wafer lift system 104 to guide the wafer lift pins 140 through the openings 124 in the wafer chuck 116 and thereby engage the bottom of the now processed wafer 118. Continuing to move the wafer lift pins 140 upward until the wafer lift pins 140 are in their extended position, whereby the top surfaces 140S of the wafer lift pins 140 are in the plane 141 - the lift pin-wafer transfer position - (see, e.g., FIG. 10 ); and 11. actuating the wafer transfer system 106 to grasp the now processed wafer 118, lift the now processed wafer from the extended wafer lift pins 140, and return the now processed wafer 118 to the wafer carrier.Of course, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art upon full reading of the present application, many of the actions described immediately above may be performed simultaneously and need not necessarily be fully completed before another action is performed. For example, wafer lift system 104 may be actuated to move wafer lift pins 140 through openings 124 in wafer chuck 116 and toward their final extended wafer transfer position (surfaces 140S in plane 141) as wafer handling system 106 moves a wafer 118 to be processed in chamber 130 toward wafer chuck 116.

Claims

A system (100) comprising: a processing tool (102); a process chamber (130) within the processing tool (102), wherein the process chamber (130) is sized such that only a single wafer (118) can be processed in the process chamber (130) at a given time; wherein the process chamber (130) further comprises: a notched recess (120) in a bottom of the process chamber (130); and a volume of at most 5 liters; a wafer chuck (115), the wafer chuck (115) adapted to be positioned at a wafer processing position located in the process chamber (130) and a chuck-wafer transfer position located outside the process chamber (130), the wafer chuck (115) being positioned in the indented recess (120) when the wafer (118) is positioned in the wafer processing position within the process chamber (130); a plurality of lift pin openings (124) in the wafer chuck (115); a wafer lift system (104) positioned outside of the process chamber (130), the wafer lift system (104) comprising a plurality of wafer lift pins (140) whereby, when the wafer chuck (115) is in the chuck wafer transfer position, each of the plurality of wafer lift pins (140) can be extended through a corresponding one of the plurality of lift pin openings (124) until the plurality of wafer lift pins (140) are positioned in a lift pin wafer transfer position; and a wafer transfer system (106) adapted to position a wafer (118) to be processed in the process chamber (130) on the plurality of wafer lift pins (140) when the plurality of wafer lift pins (140) is positioned in the lift pin-wafer transfer position, wherein the process chamber (130) is configured to perform an annealing process therein on a wafer (118) positioned therein, wherein the annealing process is performed at a pressure of at least 0.5 MPa using a process gas comprising deuterium or a halogen.The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the wafer chuck (115) is operably coupled to a door (114) adapted to engage a front side of the process chamber (130) to close the process chamber (130), thereby positioning the wafer chuck (115) at the wafer processing position within the process chamber (130).The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the system (100) further comprises a slot (170) in communication with the process chamber (130) and a sliding door (172) adapted to be moved from a first position whereby the slot (170) is open and the wafer chuck (115) can be positioned in the wafer processing position within the process chamber (130) to a second position whereby the sliding door (172) blocks the slot (170) and the wafer chuck (115) cannot be positioned within the process chamber (130).

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