Integrated optical sensor controller for device manufacturing machines

Abstract

To provide a sensor controller and a computer readable medium that accurately detect substrate placement while substrates are being transported by a robot blade to various destinations in device manufacturing machines.SOLUTION: An integrated sensor controller 200 comprises a sensor circuit and a logic circuit. The sensor circuit includes: a light source driver to generate a driving signal; a demultiplexer to produce, using the driving signal, multiple output driving signals to be delivered to one of multiple sensors; an amplifier configured to receive a first signal from a first sensor, the first signal being associated with a first event representative of a position of a substrate within a device manufacturing machine, and generate a second signal; an analog-to-digital converter to receive the second signal and generate a third signal; and a processing device to obtain, based on the third signal, information about the position of the substrate.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001]

[0001] This specification generally relates to quality control of substrate yield in systems (e.g., various processing chambers) used in the manufacture of electronic devices. More specifically, this specification relates to accurately detecting the placement of substrates while the substrates are being transported to various destinations by a robot blade in a device manufacturing machine.

Background Art

[0002]

[0002] Modern material manufacturing often involves various deposition techniques such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques. In these techniques, one or more selected types of atoms are deposited onto a substrate held in a low-vacuum or high-vacuum environment provided by a vacuum processing (e.g., deposition, etching, etc.) chamber. Materials manufactured in this way can include single crystals, semiconductor films, fine coatings, and numerous other substances used in practical applications such as electronic device manufacturing. Many of these applications rely on the purity of the materials grown within the processing chamber. Due to the advantage of maintaining the separation of the inter-chamber environments and minimizing exposure of the inter-chamber environments to the ambient atmosphere and contaminants therein, various robotic techniques such as sample manipulation and chamber inspection have been developed. There are many technical challenges to continuously develop electronic device manufacturing in order to improve the accuracy, reliability, and efficiency of such robotic techniques. This is particularly important considering that the requirements for the quality of chamber-manufactured products are increasing.

Summary of the Invention

[0003]

[0003] In one implementation form, a sensor controller including a sensor circuit and a logic circuit is disclosed. The sensor circuit includes a light source driver that generates a drive signal, and a demultiplexer that generates a plurality of output drive signals using the drive signal, and each of the plurality of output drive signals is supplied to one of the plurality of sensors. The sensor circuit further includes an amplifier connected to each of the plurality of sensors, and the amplifier receives a first signal from a first sensor among the plurality of sensors, where the first signal is associated with a first event representing the position of a substrate in a device manufacturing machine, receives the first signal, and generates a second signal based on the received first signal. The sensor circuit further includes an analog / digital converter that receives the second signal and generates a third signal based on the second signal. The logic circuit includes a memory device that stores instructions, and a processing device connected to the memory device, and the processing device acquires information regarding the position of the substrate using the stored instructions and based on the third signal.

[0004]

[0004] In another embodiment, a method is disclosed that includes generating a drive signal by a light source driver, generating a plurality of output drive signals by a demultiplexer and using the drive signal, and supplying each of the plurality of output drive signals to one of the plurality of sensors. The method further includes receiving, by an amplifier, a first signal from a first sensor among the plurality of sensors, the first signal being associated with an event representing the position of a substrate in a device manufacturing machine, and generating, by the amplifier and based on the received first signal, a second signal. The method further includes receiving, by an analog / digital converter, the second signal, generating, by the analog / digital converter and based on the second signal, a third signal, and acquiring information regarding the position of the substrate based on the third signal.

[0005] In another embodiment, a non - transitory computer - readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processing device, cause a sensor controller to: generate a drive signal by a light source driver; generate a plurality of output drive signals by a demultiplexer using the drive signal; and supply each of the plurality of output drive signals to one of each of a plurality of sensors is disclosed. The instructions further cause the sensor controller to: receive, by an amplifier, a first signal associated with an event representing the position of a substrate within a device manufacturing machine from a first one of the plurality of sensors; and generate, by the amplifier and based on the received first signal, a second signal. The instructions further cause the sensor controller to: receive, by an analog - to - digital converter, the second signal; generate, by the analog - to - digital converter and based on the second signal, a third signal; and obtain information regarding the position of the substrate based on the third signal.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0006]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0007]

[0011] The implementations disclosed herein provide an integrated sensor controller for precisely optically sensing the placement of a substrate while the substrate is being transported into a processing chamber (which may include a deposition chamber, an etching chamber, a plasma chamber, etc.) or while being transported between processing chambers. For example, the disclosed implementations can help provide data to a controller of a robot blade to accurately determine the placement of a substrate on the robot blade and to correct or compensate for misplacement of the substrate before the substrate reaches its destination.

[0008]

[0012] The robot system enables rapid and efficient conveyance of substrates for loading into the processing chamber and automatically unloading the processed substrates from the processing chamber. The loading / unloading system by the robot greatly improves the yield of the manufacturing process but has some specific quality control issues. When a substrate is picked up by a robot blade (e.g., from a substrate carrier such as a front opening unified pod), passes through the factory (front end) interface, load lock chamber, transfer chamber, etc., and is conveyed to one of the processing chambers of the device manufacturing machine, the position of the substrate on the blade may be different from the ideal position relative to the blade, and there is a risk of misplacement of the substrate supplied into the processing chamber. As a result, the physical and / or chemical properties of the final product may fall below the standard (e.g., inaccurate placement of dopants on the substrate, uneven thickness of the film deposited on the surface of the substrate, etc.). To improve the quality of the product yield, an optical sensor system connected to a microcontroller can be used to determine the exact time when the substrate (or its end) arrives at a specific point in space. Based on the difference between the actual arrival time and the (ideal) reference arrival time, the microcontroller can determine the actual position (e.g., shift or angular deviation) of the substrate on the robot blade for several such specific points in space. Subsequently, the blade control module can determine what corrective actions (e.g., correcting the trajectory of the blade) can be executed to correct the misplacement of the substrate position.

[0009]

[0013] In one embodiment, the optical sensor outputs an optical signal and operates to detect the exact time when an event associated with the output light occurs. In some implementations, such an event may be the case when the output light reflects from the arriving substrate and enters the light detector. In other implementations, there are cases where the output light continuously enters the detector but is blocked by the arriving substrate. The light output by the sensor and detected by the light detector can be processed by an optical amplifier. In existing implementations, dedicated amplifiers are typically associated with each individual sensor. Therefore, adjustment and maintenance may be required for each amplifier. As a result, the cost of the light detector becomes high. Each individual optical amplification circuit (and the optical path of the associated optical signal) can have a unique detection delay time (the time it takes for the optical and electrical circuits to detect and process an event), or even a unique delay time distribution. The distribution for each amplification circuit can be centered around various delay time values and have various widths. In various devices, the overall distribution of the delay time can extend over a fairly wide range, for example, 30 microseconds or more.

[0010]

[0014] Aspects and implementations of the present disclosure address such technical drawbacks and other technical drawbacks by improving the tunability, consistency, and accuracy of optical sensing techniques used in substrate processing. Described herein is an integrated optical sensing controller in which an optical amplifier and other optical circuits (e.g., light-emitting diode (LED) drivers, one or more optical (de)multiplexers, analog / digital converters, etc.) can support a plurality of optical sensors. Further, it is disclosed that the settings of the optical circuits can be implemented in software using a microcontroller integrated with the optical circuits. The optical circuits, analog electronics, and digital electronics integrated in such a single assembly reduce the cost of the system, improve the accuracy of optical sensing, and enable real-time software control. This reduces or eliminates the manual operation calibration and maintenance of the optical amplifiers in conventional sensing where separate amplifiers are applied to separate sensors.

[0011]

[0015] FIG. 1 is an exemplary implementation of a manufacturing machine 100 capable of supporting precise optical sensing of a substrate 112 that is conveyed into and / or out of a processing chamber 106 on a moving blade (as schematically shown at the location of the substrate in chamber 116). The embodiments described for optical sensing of substrates conveyed into and out of a processing chamber are also applicable to optical sensing of substrates conveyed into and out of a loading station (e.g., a load lock) and / or other stations. In one implementation, the manufacturing machine 100 includes a loading station 102, a transfer chamber 104, and one or more processing chambers 106. In some embodiments, one or more processing chambers 106 are in contact with the transfer chamber 104 via a transfer port (not shown). The number of one or more processing chambers associated with the transfer chamber 104 can vary (in FIG. 1, for example, three processing chambers are shown). Further, the design and shape of the transfer chamber 104 may not be uniform. In the illustrated embodiment, the transfer chamber 104 has a hexagonal shape, and each side has a substantially equal width. In other embodiments, the transfer chamber 104 can have four, five, seven, eight, or more sides. Further, the different sides can have different widths or lengths. For example, the transfer chamber 104 can have four sides and be rectangular or square in shape. In another example, the transfer chamber can have five sides and be wedge-shaped. As shown, each side of the transfer chamber 104 is connected to a single processing chamber 106. However, in other implementations, one or more of the sides may be connected to multiple processing chambers. For example, the first side may be connected to two processing chambers, and the second side may be connected to one processing chamber.

[0012]

[0016] The substrate 112 may be a wafer package such as a silicon wafer (e.g., a crystalline wafer or an amorphous silicon wafer), a glass wafer, a film or a stack of films, a thin wafer on a carrier, etc. In some implementation forms, the substrate 112 can be a processing kit component (e.g., an edge ring, or any other replaceable component of a manufacturing machine). The substrate 112 can be a diagnostic device such as an optical inspection tool that is introduced into a processing chamber (a load lock chamber, or any other part of a manufacturing machine) for inspection, replacement, and / or maintenance.

[0013]

[0017] The transfer chamber 104 includes an optical sensing tool for precisely optically sensing the positioning of the substrate 112 conveyed by the robot blade 110 for processing in one of the robot 108, the robot blade 110, and the processing chamber 106. An optical sensing tool can be additionally or alternatively arranged to optically sense the positioning of the substrate 112 conveyed by the robot blade 110 inside and outside the loading station 102 and / or other processing chambers 106. The transfer chamber 104 may be maintained at a pressure higher or lower than atmospheric pressure. For example, the transfer chamber 104 may be maintained under vacuum. In some embodiments, additionally or alternatively, the transfer chamber 104 can be maintained at an elevated temperature. The robot blade 110 can be attached to an extensible arm that is extensible enough to move the robot blade 110 into the processing chamber 106, load the substrate into the chamber before processing, and unload the substrate from the chamber after processing is completed.

[0014]

[0018] While the lid of one or more processing chambers 106 is closed, the robot blade 110 is configured to enter one or more processing chambers 106 via a slit valve port (not shown). One or more processing chambers 106 may contain processing gases, plasmas, and various particles used in the deposition process. A magnetic field may exist inside one or more processing chambers 106. The interior of one or more processing chambers 106 may be maintained at a temperature and pressure different from the temperature and pressure outside one or more processing chambers 106.

[0015]

[0019] The manufacturing machine 100 includes an integrated sensor controller (ISC) 150 that may be coupled to a plurality of sensors 114. Each sensor 114 includes a sensor head that outputs an optical signal. In some implementations, the sensor head includes a light emitting diode (LED). In some implementations, the sensor head is the end of an optical fiber that delivers light generated elsewhere (e.g., inside the ISC 150). Each sensor 114 includes a photodetector that detects the light output by each respective sensor head. In some implementations, the photodetector is a photodetector configured to send the received (RX) optical signal to the ISC 150. For example, some or each of the photodetectors may be the end of an optical fiber connected to the ISC 150. In other embodiments, the photodetector is a photoemission detector configured to send an electrical signal to the ISC 150. The light (TX) sent to the optical head may be in the visible, infrared, ultraviolet, or any other region of electromagnetic radiation suitable for the task of sensing the substrate position. In some implementations, the sensor 114 is mounted inside any one of the door of the transfer chamber 104, the interior of the transfer chamber 104, the interior of the slit valve assembly, the interior of the load port, the interior of the load station 102, and / or the processing chamber 106.

[0016]

[0020] The master computing device 118 can control the operation of the robot 108 and can further receive optical sensing data from the ISC 150 (including the processed information derived from the data obtained by the sensor 114). In some implementations, the master computing device 118 reconfigures the ISC 150 at runtime. In some implementations, the communication between the master computing device 118 and the ISC 150 is performed wirelessly. The master computing device 118 may include a blade control module 120. The blade control module can modify the position of the substrate 112 on the robot blade 110 based on the information obtained from the ISC 150 and can, for example, determine whether the position is outside the tolerance of the manufacturing process. In some implementations, some functions of the blade control module 120 are implemented as part of the ISC 150.

[0017]

[0021] FIG. 2 shows an exemplary integrated circuit configuration 200 according to some implementations of the present disclosure that can provide precise optical sensing of substrate placement before, during, or after transporting the substrate into and out of the processing chamber. The integrated circuit configuration 200 includes a number of sensors 114 (numbered 114-1 through 114-n, where n is the number of sensors), a sensor connector 206, a sensor circuit 210, an isolation circuit 220, and / or a logic circuit 240. In some implementations, the sensor connector 206, the sensor circuit 210, the isolation circuit 220, and the logic circuit 240 are integrated as a single system-on-chip (SoC) sensor controller. The sensor circuit 210 may include one or more light source drivers 212, such as an LED driver. The LED driver can regulate the amount of electrical power supplied to the sensors 114. Electrical signals generated by the one or more light source drivers 212 can be selectively routed to the sensors 114 through blocks of the sensor connector 206. The blocks of the sensor connector 206 are programmable in various embodiments by the logic circuit 240 and / or the master computing device 118. Specifically, the blocks of the sensor connector 206 may include a set of switches. In some implementations, the logic circuit 240 has numerous pre-settings of switches (delivering an unprocessed substrate to the processing chamber, transferring a partially processed substrate between various processing chambers, retrieving a fully processed chamber, etc.) selected according to the processing tasks to be performed.

[0018]

[0022] In some implementations, the light driver outputs an optical signal (instead of an electrical signal) to the sensors 114. In such implementations, the block 206 of the sensor connector includes a set of optical connectors and switches for supplying a preset amount of optical power to each (or a portion) of the sensors 114. For example, the sensor connector 206 may include one or more demultiplexers that split the drive (optical or electrical) signals generated by one or more of the light source drivers 212 and supply each of the split signals to a respective sensor head.

[0019]

[0023] In one embodiment, sensor heads 202-1...202-n each output a respective optical signal (TX). Photodetectors 204-1...204-n can receive the signals (RX) output by their respective sensor heads 202. In some implementations, the RX signals are generated by respective TX signals reflected from the surface of substrate 112. In other implementations, the RX signals are TX signals that propagate (in air) from sensor head 202 to photodetector 204. Each of the photodetectors 204 may be capable of detecting an event associated with the propagation of light from the sensor head 202. Such events may be related to, for example, reflection of light from the substrate, termination of TX signal detection due to shielding by the substrate, and recovery of TX signal detection due to removal of the substrate. In some implementations, the RX signals generated by the photodetectors 204 are optical signals. For example, the RX signal may represent the amount of light emitted through the end of a first optical fiber (sensor head 202) and then recaptured through the end of a second optical fiber (photodetector 204). In some implementations, the RX signal is an electrical signal generated by a photoelectric element (within photodetector 204) under the influence of the incident optical TX signal.

[0020]

[0024] The RX signals can be received and processed by one or more amplifiers 214. In some implementations, a single amplifier 214 receives the RX signals from all sensors 114. In some implementations, multiple amplifiers 214 receive the RX signals, and some or all of the amplifiers 214 receive the RX signals from multiple sensors 114. In implementations where the photodetector 204 is a photoelement-based detector, the amplifier 214 is an electronic amplifier. In implementations where the photodetector 204 is an optical detector, the amplifier 214 is an optical amplifier. In the latter case, the sensor circuit 210 may include additional components for converting the optical RX signal to an electrical signal. The RX signals amplified by one or more amplifiers 214 can be further processed by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 216.

[0021]

[0025] In various embodiments, the digital signal output by the ADC216 is received by the logic circuit 240. The signal may be received by the isolation circuit 220 via the logic circuit 240. The isolation circuit prevents the backpropagation of electrical signals from the logic circuit 240 to the sensor circuit 210 and / or further to the sensor 114, and may prevent spurious noise of the logic circuit 240 from affecting the accuracy of optical sensing (including preparation of the TX signal, detection and processing of the RX signal). The logic circuit 240 may perform processing of the data received from the sensor circuit 210 and provide configurable functions of the sensor circuit 210. The logic circuit 240 may include a processing device 242, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or some other processor. The logic circuit 240 may further include an integrated circuit 244 for facilitating communication between the sensor controller 150 and an external computing device (e.g., a master computing device 118 to which the sensor controller 150 may be connected, or another computing device on the same network). The integrated circuit 244 is, in some embodiments, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) 244. In some implementations, the sensor controller 150 communicates with the master computing device 118 (or another network computing device) using the EtherCAT data exchange protocol via a suitable ASIC 244. In some implementations, the sensor controller 150 communicates with the master computing device 118 using some other fieldbus protocol. For example, the sensor controller 150 may communicate with the master computing device 118 using the AS-Interface, Interbus, Profibus, or any other suitable fieldbus protocol via the ASIC 244.ASIC 244 can be configured to define a profile of the sensor controller 150 (e.g., as a node on an EtherCAT network) so that the sensor controller 150 determines how to exchange data with a master node of the network (e.g., the master computing device 118) according to the functionality currently provided by the sensor controller 150, and can be customized.

[0022]

[0026] The processing device 242 (e.g., an FPGA or any other processor) may include hardware (an array of logic gates and one or more memory devices) and software for setting and controlling the operation of the sensor circuit 210 and the sensor 114. The processing device 242 may be fully customizable. When powered on, the processing device 242 can implement the default configuration of the sensor circuit 210, which also includes configuring the light source driver 212 and the amplifier 214. During the operation of the sensor controller 150, the processing device 242 may receive data generated by the sensor 114 and processed and digitized by the sensor circuit 210. The processing device 242 may output information representing the position of the substrate 112 on the robot blade 110 to the master computing device 118. Depending on the processing task being performed (e.g., loading a substrate into a particular processing chamber or transferring between particular processing chambers), the processing device 242 can be reconfigured during runtime ("on the fly") using various preset settings stored in a memory accessible to the processing device 242. For example, if the processing task is loading a substrate into a chemical vapor deposition chamber, the master computing device 118 may transmit (via the ASIC 244) a command to the processing device 242 to reconfigure the sensor controller 150 to a first preset corresponding to the loading of the substrate into the vapor deposition chamber. As another example, subsequently, when the substrate is being transferred for processing in the plasma environment of an etching chamber, the master computing device 118 may transmit another command to the processing device 242 to reconfigure the sensor controller 150 to a second preset corresponding to the loading of the substrate into the etching chamber.

[0023]

[0027] The sensor controller 150 may be provided with a power supply. In some implementations, this power supply may include a power circuit 230 such as an ISO DC / DC power converter. In some implementations, the power converter converts a 12V or 24V power signal (used by the sensor circuit 210) into a 3.3V power signal used by the logic circuit 240. In other embodiments, different input and output voltages may be used. In some implementations, the power converter may be a bidirectional converter.

[0024]

[0028] The various components shown in FIG. 2 communicate via a number of communication interfaces and protocols (as schematically shown in FIG. 2), such as the Synchronous Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), an I2C serial bus, a Peripheral Input / Output (PIO) interface, a General Purpose Input / Output (GPIO) interface, and a Dual Port Memory Interface (DPM), which is a serial communication interface.

[0025]

[0029] The integrated circuit shown in FIG. 2 can generate data regarding a substrate (e.g., a wafer), a processing kit, a diagnostic tool, and any other object that has been transported into or already exists inside the various chambers of the manufacturing machine 100, and provide their input values. For example, the integrated circuit can provide various characteristics of various types of processed and unprocessed wafers and films, combinations of wafers and / or films, etc. These characteristics may include position (including presence or absence), size, orientation, uniformity, thickness, chemical properties, physical properties, optical properties, etc. Further, the integrated circuit can provide data regarding various algorithms related to the loading and / or handling of the substrate (or other object carried into the processing chamber).

[0026]

[0030] In addition to generating data for accurately positioning a substrate in a processing chamber, the integrated circuit controller shown in FIG. 2 can be extended / conformed to supply sensor input values to a substrate handling control system for automatic substrate handling calibration, in-situ substrate handling monitoring and diagnostics, and other similar functions where a sensor can detect a robot body and / or select features having a vertical beam, a horizontal beam, or an angled beam.

[0027]

[0031] FIG. 3 shows an exemplary configuration of a logic circuit 240 of an integrated circuit configuration 200 that can provide precise optical sensing of substrate positioning according to some implementations of the present disclosure. The logic circuit 240 includes a processing device 242 (e.g., an FPGA) that can use various integration techniques to implement an embedded system 360. The embedded system 360 integrates an embedded processor 362 in one embodiment, which can be a hard core (e.g., an ARM® SoC) or a soft core (e.g., a Nios®) processor. The embedded system 360 may further include an on-chip random access memory (RAM) 364, a dual-port memory 366 for high-speed memory operation, a general-purpose input / output (GPIO) module 368, and other components (e.g., a system clock) not explicitly illustrated. The embedded system 360 can be connected to custom logic 370, non-volatile memory 372 (e.g., serial flash memory or any other type of non-volatile memory), and synchronous random access memory (SDRAM) 373. The embedded system 360 can be connected to a JTAG interface 374 for programming and debugging.

[0028]

[0032] Before the sensor controller 150 is powered on, the software for the embedded processor 362 and the configuration file for the processing device 242 initially reside in the non-volatile memory 372. During boot-up, the software stored in the non-volatile memory 372 is used to configure the processing device 242 and instantiate the embedded system 360 and the custom HDL logic 370. Next, the embedded processor 362 of the embedded system 360 fetches the controller software from the non-volatile memory 372 and launches the application logic for the embedded system 360. The application and libraries can be written to external memory such as synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM) 373 (or on-chip RAM 364). The custom logic 370 may be a software component that implements the application-specific functions of the sensor controller 150. The custom logic 370 can be written in a programming language (e.g., C or C++) and converted (using an appropriate compiler) to a hardware description language (HDL).

[0029]

[0033] During operation of the sensor controller 150, data received from the sensor circuit 210 can be processed by the custom logic 370 or the embedded processor 362 and communicated to the master computing device 118 via the ASIC 244. Data communicated by the custom logic 370 can include, but is not limited to, indications of events related to TX and / or RX output / detection by the sensor 114 (e.g., loading or unloading of the substrate), including the exact type of event detected, indications of the time at which the detected event occurred, channel identification (e.g., of a particular sensor 114) used to detect the event, etc. In some implementations, when a reconfiguration (reprogramming) command received from the master computing device 118 is received by the ASIC 244, the ASIC 244 sends a command to the embedded processor 362 to reconfigure the application stored in the on-chip RAM 364 or SDRAM 373 and can change one or more settings of the application (e.g., to reflect a new type of task to be performed by the robot 108 or new parameters for event detection by the sensor 114). In some implementations, when a reconfiguration (reprogramming) command received from the master computing device 118 is received by the ASIC 244, the ASIC 244 can directly reset the registers in the dual-port memory 366 to change the settings of the application.

[0030]

[0034] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of one possible implementation of a method 400 for precisely optically detecting the placement of a substrate conveyed by a moving blade, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Method 400 can be executed using the systems and components shown in FIGS. 1-3, or any combination thereof. Method 400 may be executed by an integrated sensor controller 150. Some of the blocks of method 400 may be optional. Some or all of the blocks of method 400 may, in some implementations, be executed in response to commands from a processing device 242 of sensor controller 150. In some implementations, some or all of the blocks of method 400 may be executed in response to commands from a processing device (e.g., a central processing unit) of a master computing device 118 (e.g., a master computing device 118 coupled to one or more memory devices). Method 400 can be executed while a manufacturing system (e.g., manufacturing machine 100) is performing a production process on a plurality of substrates. In some implementations, method 400 may be performed when a substrate is being transferred to or from a processing chamber, a load lock chamber, a transfer chamber, etc. by a robot blade, e.g., when robot blade 110 is transferring a substrate from a loading station 102 through a transfer chamber 104 to a processing chamber 106. For example, robot 108 may extend robot blade 110 into loading station 102 from transfer chamber 104 and load a substrate for processing into processing chamber 106 (position 116) (through a transfer port). Robot blade 110 may then retract into transfer chamber 104. Precise optical detection of the placement of the substrate can be performed while the substrate is inside loading station 102, while the substrate is inside transfer chamber 104, and / or while the substrate is inside processing chamber 106. Precise optical detection of the placement of the substrate can be performed without slowing down the operation of the robot blade while the robot blade is performing standard loading or unloading procedures. Thus, precise optical detection of the placement of the substrate can be performed without delaying the manufacturing process.

[0031]

[0035] Method 400 may include the integrated sensor controller 150 generating a drive signal (either alone or in communication with the master computing device 118) by, for example, one or more light source drivers (block 410). The light source driver may be an optical driver (e.g., a driver that generates an optical signal) or an electrical driver (e.g., a driver that generates an electrical signal supplied to a light source that is powered electrically). In contrast, the optical signal or electrical drive signal may be used (e.g., by an optical or electronic demultiplexer) to generate a plurality of output drive signals (block 420).

[0032]

[0036] Method 400 may continue to supply each of the plurality of output drive signals to respective ones of the plurality of sensors (block 430). For example, the output drive signal may be supplied to one or more sensor heads 202. Method 400 may further include receiving (e.g., by amplifier 214) one or more first signals from one or more sensors (e.g., photodetector 204) associated with various optical events representing the position of a substrate within a device manufacturing machine (block 440). Such events may include direct light from the sensor head 202 colliding with the photodetector 204 and the direct light being blocked (occluded) from the photodetector by the substrate. Such events may further include light reflected from (or transmitted through) the substrate colliding with (or being blocked from) the photodetector, or any other optical event representing the position of the substrate. In some implementations, the first signal may be an optical signal (e.g., an optical signal corresponding to light captured by the fiber optic detector 204). In some implementations, the first signal may be an electrical signal (e.g., an electrical signal corresponding to a signal generated by the photodetector 204).

[0033]

[0037] Method 400 may continue to generate one or more second signals (block 450), for example, by amplifier 214, based on the received one or more first signals. The second signal may be an amplified first signal and may be of the same type as the first signal. For example, in an implementation where the first signal is an optical signal, amplifier 214 may be an optical amplifier, and the generated second signal may also be an optical signal. In an implementation where the first signal is an electrical signal, amplifier 214 may be an electrical signal multiplier, and the generated second signal may be an electrical signal. In some implementations where the first signal is an optical signal, amplifier 214 may be an optical amplifier, but may additionally include an optical-to-electrical signal converter so that the generated second signal may be an electrical signal.

[0034]

[0038] In block 460, the generated second signal can be received by an analog / digital converter (e.g., ADC216), which can generate one or more third signals based on the second signal (in block 470). The generated third signal can be received by a processing device (e.g., processing device 242). In some implementations, the third signal can be transmitted via an isolation circuit 220 configured to prevent noise and other spurious signals from the logic circuit 240 from affecting the circuitry of the sensor circuit 210. In block 480, the third signal can be used by the processing device to obtain information about the position of the substrate. The processing device can extract data indicating one or more basic optical events, such as the type of event (e.g., light incidence, occlusion, reflection, transmission, etc.), the timing of the event, the channel (e.g., the identifier of the sensor that detected the event), the position of the event (e.g., based on the known position of the identified sensor), etc., from the third signal. Based on this data, the processing device can obtain information about the exact position of the substrate relative to the robot blade. In some implementations, such information can be obtained, at least in part, based on the known position (and dynamics) of the robot blade, which can be obtained from the blade control module 120 resident on the master computing device 118, or from other computing devices available on a network (e.g., an EtherCAT network).

[0035]

[0039] In some implementations, method 400 can continue with the processing device providing information about the position of the substrate to the master computing device 118 (or other computer device hosting the blade control module 120) such that the blade control module can correct for misalignments in the position of the substrate, e.g., by adjusting the trajectory of the blade, so that the substrate arrives at the correct intended destination.

[0036]

[0040] In some implementations, method 400 may include receiving, by a processing device, a reprogramming command that changes a setting of one of the circuits or elements of sensor circuit 210, such as amplifier 214, one or more light source drivers 212, and / or one or more sensors 114.

[0037]

[0041] FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of an exemplary processing device 500 that operates according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure and enables precise optical sensing of a substrate carried on a transfer blade into a processing chamber. In one implementation, processing device 500 may be the computing device 118 of FIG. 1A or the microcontroller 152 of FIG. 1B.

[0038]

[0042] The exemplary processing device 500 may be connected to other processing devices in a LAN, intranet, extranet, and / or the Internet. Processing device 500 may be a personal computer (PC), a set-top box (STB), a server, a network router, a switch or bridge, or any device capable of executing a set of instructions (in a continuous or other manner) that specify the operations to be performed by the device. Further, although only a single exemplary processing device is illustrated, the term "processing device" should be further considered to include any collection of processing devices (e.g., computers) that execute a set of instructions (or multiple sets) individually or jointly to perform any one or more of the methods described herein.

[0039]

[0043] The exemplary processing device 500 may include a processor 502 (e.g., a CPU), a main memory 504 (e.g., a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) such as a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory, a synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), etc.), a static memory 506 (e.g., a flash memory, a static random access memory (SRAM), etc.), and a secondary memory (e.g., a data storage device 518), which can communicate with each other via a bus 530.

[0040]

[0044] Processor 502 represents one or more general-purpose processing devices such as a microprocessor, a central processing unit, etc. More specifically, processor 502 may be a complex instruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) microprocessor, a very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, a processor implementing other instruction sets, or a processor implementing a combination of instruction sets. Further, processor 502 may be one or more special-purpose processing devices such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), a network processor, etc. In accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure, processor 502 may be configured to execute instructions to implement method 400 for precisely optically detecting the positioning of a substrate conveyed by a moving blade.

[0041]

[0045] Exemplary processing device 500 may further include a network interface device 508, which may be communicatively coupled to network 520. Exemplary processing device 500 may further include a video display 510 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), a touch screen, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), an alphanumeric input device 512 (e.g., a keyboard), an input control device 514 (e.g., a cursor control device, a touch panel control device, a mouse), and a signal generating device 516 (e.g., an acoustic speaker).

[0042]

[0046] Data storage device 518 may include a computer-readable storage medium (or more specifically, a non-transitory computer-readable medium) 528 in which one or more sets of executable instructions 522 are stored. In accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure, executable instructions 522 may include executable instructions to implement method 400 for precisely optically detecting the positioning of a substrate conveyed by a moving blade.

[0043]

[0047] While the executable instructions 522 are being executed by the exemplary processing device 500, they may exist, in whole or at least in part, within the main memory 504 and / or within the processing device 502, and the main memory 504 and the processor 502 also constitute computer-readable storage media. Further, the executable instructions 522 may be further transmitted or received over the network via the network interface device 508.

[0044]

[0048] In FIG. 5, the computer-readable storage medium 528 is shown as a single medium, but the term "computer-readable storage medium" should be understood to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and / or associated caches and servers) that store one or more sets of operating instructions. Further, the term "computer-readable storage medium" should be construed to include any medium that can store or encode a set of instructions for causing a machine to perform one or more of the methods described herein. Thus, the term "computer-readable storage medium" should be construed to include, but not be limited to, solid state memory, optical media, and magnetic media.

[0045]

[0049] It should be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many other implementation examples will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the above description. While the present disclosure describes specific embodiments, it should be recognized that the systems and methods of the present disclosure are not limited to the embodiments described herein and can be implemented with modifications within the scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure should be determined with reference to the appended claims and the full scope of equivalents to which the claims are entitled.

[0046]

[0050] The method, hardware, software, firmware, or code set implementations presented above are executable by a processing element and may be implemented via instructions or code stored on a machine-accessible medium, a machine-readable medium, a computer-accessible medium, or a computer-readable medium. "Memory" includes any mechanism that provides information (i.e., stores and / or transmits) in a form readable by a machine such as a computer or an electronic system. For example, "memory" includes random access memory (RAM) such as static RAM (SRAM) or dynamic RAM (DRAM), ROM, magnetic or optical storage media, flash memory devices, electrical storage devices, optical storage devices, acoustic storage devices, and any kind of tangible machine-readable medium suitable for storing or transmitting electronic instructions or information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer).

[0047]

[0051] Throughout this specification, references to "one implementation" or "an implementation" mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with that implementation is included in at least one implementation of the present disclosure. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one implementation" or "in an implementation" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same implementation. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more implementations.

[0048]

[0052] In the foregoing specification, specific exemplary implementations have been described in detail. However, it will be apparent that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth in the appended claims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a limiting sense. Furthermore, the use of the above implementations, implementations, and / or other exemplary language does not necessarily refer to the same implementation or the same example, but may refer to different distinct implementations and potentially the same implementation.

[0049]

[0053] The terms "example" or "exemplary" are used herein to mean an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as an "example" or "exemplification" should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, the use of the terms "example" or "exemplification" is intended to present concepts in a concrete manner. The term "or" as used in this application is intended to have the meaning of an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or". That is, unless otherwise specified or apparent from the context, the statement "X includes A or B" is intended to mean any of the natural and inclusive permutations. That is, "X includes A or B" is satisfied in any of the cases where X includes A, X includes B, or X includes both A and B. Further, the articles "a" and "an" as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean "one or more" unless otherwise specified or the context clearly dictates a singular reference. Further, the use of the term "one implementation" or "an implementation" throughout is not intended to mean the same implementation unless otherwise specified. Further, the terms "first", "second", "third", "fourth", etc. as used herein are meant as labels to distinguish various elements and may not necessarily have a sequential meaning by virtue of their numerical designation.

Claims

1. A sensor controller, 1. A sensor circuit comprising: a light source driver that generates a drive signal; a demultiplexer that uses the drive signal to generate a plurality of output drive signals, each of the plurality of output drive signals being provided to one of a plurality of sensors; an amplifier coupled to each of the plurality of sensors, receiving a first signal from a first sensor of the plurality of sensors, the first signal associated with a first event representative of a position of a substrate within a device manufacturing machine; and generating a second signal based on the received first signal; an amplifier for performing an analog-to-digital converter that receives the second signal and generates a third signal based on the second signal; A sensor circuit comprising:

1. A logic circuit comprising: a memory device for storing instructions; a processing device coupled to the memory device, the processing device deriving information regarding the position of the substrate using the stored instructions and based on the third signal; A logic circuit comprising: A sensor controller comprising:

2. The sensor controller of claim 1 , wherein the position of the substrate within the device manufacturing machine is a position of the substrate relative to a robot blade used to transport the substrate within the device manufacturing machine.

3. The sensor controller of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of sensors comprises a light emitting diode (LED), the light source driver is an LED driver, and the drive signal is an electrical signal.

4. The sensor controller of claim 3 , wherein the demultiplexer is an electronic demultiplexer.

5. The sensor controller of claim 1 , wherein the drive signal is an optical signal, and each of the plurality of output drive signals is provided to a respective sensor of the plurality of sensors via an optical fiber.

6. The sensor controller of claim 1 , wherein the demultiplexer is an optical demultiplexer.

7. the first sensor of the plurality of sensors, a sensor head that outputs an optical signal driven by each of the plurality of output drive signals; and a photodetector that detects the optical signal output by the sensor head and generates a first signal associated with the first event that is indicative of the position of the substrate; The sensor controller of claim 1 .

8. The sensor controller of claim 7 , wherein the sensor head comprises an output optical fiber and the photodetector comprises an input optical fiber.

9. The sensor controller of claim 7 , wherein the optical detector comprises a photoelectric element, and the first signal is generated by the photoelectric element.

10. 2. The sensor controller of claim 1, wherein the processing device comprises a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and custom logic, the custom logic including a software component configured to obtain the information regarding the position of the substrate based on the third signal.

11. The sensor controller of claim 10 , further comprising a dual-port memory device that stores the software components when the sensor controller is powered on.

12. The sensor controller of claim 1 , wherein the logic circuit further comprises an application specific integrated circuit for identifying the sensor controller to an external network.

13. The sensor controller of claim 12 , wherein the external network comprises a master computing device, and the information regarding the position of the substrate is output to the master computing device.

14. The sensor controller of claim 13 , wherein the sensor controller is reprogrammable by the master computing device.

15. The sensor circuit includes: receiving a fourth signal from a second sensor of the plurality of sensors, the fourth signal being associated with a second event representative of the position of the substrate; and generating a fifth signal based on the received fourth signal; and wherein the information regarding the position of the substrate obtained by the processing device is further based on the received fifth signal.

16. generating a drive signal by a light source driver; generating, by a demultiplexer and using the drive signals, a plurality of output drive signals; providing each of the plurality of output drive signals to a respective one of a plurality of sensors; receiving, by an amplifier, a first signal from a first sensor of the plurality of sensors, the first signal associated with an event representative of a position of the substrate within the device manufacturing machine; generating a second signal by the amplifier and based on the received first signal; receiving the second signal by an analog to digital converter; generating a third signal by the analog-to-digital converter and based on the second signal; obtaining, by a processing device and based on the third signal, information regarding the position of the substrate; The method includes:

17. providing, by the processing device, the information regarding the position of the substrate to a master computing device.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

18. receiving, by the processing device, reprogramming instructions to change settings of the amplifier, light source driver, or one or more of the plurality of sensors; 20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause a sensor controller to: generating a drive signal by a light source driver; generating, by a demultiplexer and using the drive signals, a plurality of output drive signals; providing each of the plurality of output drive signals to a respective one of a plurality of sensors; receiving, by an amplifier, a first signal from a first sensor of the plurality of sensors, the first signal associated with an event representative of a position of the substrate within the device manufacturing machine; generating a second signal by the amplifier and based on the received first signal; receiving the second signal by an analog to digital converter; generating a third signal by the analog-to-digital converter and based on the second signal; obtaining information regarding the position of the substrate based on the third signal; and A non-transitory computer-readable medium for causing

20. The command is sent to the sensor controller.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising: a master computing device configured to provide the information regarding the position of the substrate.

21. The command is sent to the sensor controller.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising: receiving reprogramming instructions to change a setting of the amplifier or one or more of the plurality of sensors.

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