Integrated Optical Sensor Controller for Device Manufacturing Machines

Abstract

The disclosed implementation describes an integrated sensor controller including a sensor circuit and a logic circuit. The sensor circuit includes a light source driver that generates a drive signal, a demultiplexer that uses the drive signal to generate multiple output drive signals that are provided to one of multiple sensors, and an amplifier that receives a first signal from a first sensor, the first signal being associated with a first event that represents a position of a substrate within a device manufacturing machine, and generates a second signal. The sensor circuit further includes an analog-to-digital converter that receives the second signal and generates a third signal. The logic circuit includes a memory device and a processing device coupled to the memory device, and the processing device obtains information regarding the position of the substrate based on the third signal.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001]

[0001] This disclosure relates generally to quality control of substrate yield in systems (e.g., various processing chambers) used in electronic device manufacturing, and more specifically to accurately detecting the placement of a substrate in a device manufacturing machine while it is being transported by a robot blade to various destinations. [Background technology]

[0002] Modern materials manufacturing often involves various deposition techniques, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques, in which one or more selected types of atoms are deposited on a substrate held in a low or high vacuum environment provided by a vacuum processing (e.g., deposition, etching, etc.) chamber. The materials thus produced may include single crystals, semiconductor films, fine coatings, and numerous other materials used in practical applications such as electronic device manufacturing. Many of these applications depend on the purity of the material grown in the processing chamber. The advantages of maintaining the separation of the inter-chamber environments and minimizing exposure to the ambient atmosphere and contaminants therein have led to various robotic techniques, such as sample manipulation and chamber inspection. Improving the accuracy, reliability, and efficiency of such robotic techniques presents many technical challenges for the continued advancement of electronic device manufacturing. This is especially important in light of the ever-increasing demands on the quality of the products of chamber manufacturing. Summary of the Invention

[0003]

[0003] In one implementation, a sensor controller is disclosed that includes a sensor circuit and a logic circuit. The sensor circuit includes a light source driver that generates a drive signal, and 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 the plurality of sensors. The sensor circuit further includes an amplifier coupled to each of the plurality of sensors, the amplifier receiving a first signal from a first sensor of the plurality of sensors, the first signal being associated with a first event representative of a position of a substrate in a device manufacturing machine, and generating a second signal based on the received first signal. The sensor circuit further includes an analog-to-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 coupled to the memory device, the processing device obtaining 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, by a light source driver, a drive signal, generating, by a demultiplexer and using the drive signal, a plurality of output drive signals, and providing each of the plurality of output drive signals to a respective one of a plurality of sensors. The method further includes receiving, by an amplifier, a first signal associated with an event from a first sensor of the plurality of sensors representative of a 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-to-digital converter, the second signal, generating, by the analog-to-digital converter and based on the second signal, and obtaining information regarding the position of the substrate based on the third signal.

[0005]

[0005] In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable medium is disclosed that stores instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause a sensor controller to generate, by a light source driver, a drive signal, generate, by a demultiplexer and with the drive signal, a plurality of output drive signals, and provide each of the plurality of output drive signals to a respective one of a plurality of sensors. The instructions further cause the sensor controller to receive, by an amplifier, a first signal associated with an event from a first sensor of the plurality of sensors indicative of a position of a substrate in a device manufacturing machine, and generate, by the amplifier and based on the received first 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] 1 illustrates an exemplary implementation of a manufacturing machine capable of supporting precise optical sensing of a substrate being transported into a processing chamber on a moving blade. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary integrated circuit configuration capable of providing precise optical sensing of a substrate's positional placement before, during, or after transfer of the substrate into or out of a processing chamber, in accordance with some implementations of the present disclosure. [Diagram 3] 1 illustrates an example configuration of an integrated sensor controller logic circuit capable of providing precise optical sensing of substrate position placement in accordance with some implementations of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] 1 is a flow diagram of one possible implementation of a method for precise optical sensing of the positional location of a substrate transported by a moving blade, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5]A block diagram of an exemplary processing device that operates according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure and is capable of precise optical detection of a substrate being transported on a moving blade into a processing chamber in accordance with some implementations of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0007]

[0011] Implementations disclosed herein provide an integrated sensor controller for precise optical sensing of the positional placement of a substrate while it is being transferred to or between processing chambers, which may include deposition chambers, etch chambers, plasma chambers, etc. For example, the disclosed implementations are useful for accurately determining the positional placement of a substrate on a robot blade and providing data to a controller of the robot blade to correct or compensate for mispositioning of the substrate before the substrate is delivered to its destination.

[0008]

[0012] Robotic systems allow for fast and efficient transport of substrates for loading and unloading into and from processing chambers automatically. Robotic loading and unloading systems greatly improve the yield of the manufacturing process, but they have some inherent quality control challenges. When a substrate is picked up by a robot blade (e.g., from a substrate carrier, such as a front-opening unified port) and transported through a factory (front-end) interface, a load lock chamber, a transfer chamber, etc., to one of the processing chambers of a device manufacturing machine, the position of the substrate on the blade may differ from the ideal position relative to the blade and may lead to mispositioning of the substrate fed into the processing chamber. This may result in substandard physical and / or chemical properties of the final product (e.g., inaccurate placement of dopants on the substrate, non-uniform 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 may be used to determine the exact time when the substrate (or its edge) arrives at a particular 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 misalignment) of the substrate on the robot blade for some particular point in such space. The blade control module can then determine what corrective action (e.g., correctively change the blade trajectory) can be taken to correct for the misplacement of the substrate.

[0009]

[0013] In one embodiment, the optical sensor operates to output an optical signal and detect the exact moment when an event associated with the output light occurs. In some implementations, such an event may be when the output light reflects off an arriving substrate and enters the optical detector. In other implementations, the output light continuously enters the detector, but is blocked by an arriving substrate, and so on. The light output by the sensor and detected by the optical detector may be processed by an optical amplifier. In existing implementations, a dedicated amplifier is typically associated with each individual sensor. As such, tuning and maintenance may be required for each amplifier. Hence, the cost of the optical detector is high. Each individual optical amplifier circuit (and associated optical path of the optical signal) may have a unique detection delay time (the time it takes the optical and electrical circuitry to detect and process an event), or even a unique delay time distribution. The distribution for each amplifier circuit may have different widths, centered around different delay time values. In various devices, the overall distribution of delay times may span a fairly wide range, for example, 30 microseconds or more.

[0010]

[0014] Aspects and implementations of the present disclosure address these and other technical shortcomings by improving the tunability, consistency, and accuracy of optical sensing technology used in substrate processing. Described herein is an integrated optical sensing controller that can support multiple optical sensors with optical amplifiers and other optical circuitry (e.g., light emitting diode (LED) drivers, one or more optical (de)multiplexers, analog to digital converters, etc.). It is further disclosed that a microcontroller integrated with the optical circuitry can be used to configure the optical circuitry in software. Such integrated optical circuitry, analog electronics, and digital electronics in a single assembly reduces system cost, improves optical sensing accuracy, and allows real-time software control. This reduces or eliminates manual calibration and maintenance of optical amplifiers in traditional sensing where separate amplifiers are dedicated to separate sensors.

[0011]

[0015] FIG. 1 is an exemplary implementation of a manufacturing machine 100 capable of supporting precise optical detection of a substrate 112 transferred into and / or out of a processing chamber 106 on a moving blade (as shown diagrammatically by the position of the substrate in the chamber 116). The embodiments described for optical detection of a substrate transferred into and out of a processing chamber also apply to optical detection of a substrate transferred 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, the 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 may vary (three processing chambers are shown in FIG. 1 by way of example). Additionally, the design and shape of the transfer chamber 104 may also vary. In the illustrated embodiment, the transfer chamber 104 has a hexagonal shape with each side having approximately equal width. In other embodiments, the transfer chamber 104 may have four, five, seven, eight, or more sides. Furthermore, different sides may have different widths or lengths. For example, the transfer chamber 104 may have four sides and be rectangular or square shaped. In another example, the transfer chamber may have five sides and be wedge shaped. As illustrated, 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, a first side may be connected to two processing chambers and a second side may be connected to one processing chamber.

[0012]

[0016] The substrate 112 may be a silicon wafer (e.g., a crystalline or amorphous silicon wafer), a glass wafer, a film or stack of films, a wafer package such as a thin wafer on a carrier, etc. In some implementations, the substrate 112 may be a process kit component (e.g., an edge ring, or any other replaceable component of a manufacturing machine). The substrate 112 may be a diagnostic device, such as an optical inspection tool, that is introduced into a processing chamber (e.g., 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 the robot 108, the robot blade 110, and optical sensing tools for precise optical sensing of the positional location of the substrate 112 being transferred by the robot blade 110 for processing in one of the processing chambers 106. The optical sensing tools may additionally or alternatively be positioned for optical sensing of the positional location of the substrate 112 being transferred by the robot blade 110 into and out of the loading station 102 and / or other processing chambers 106. The transfer chamber 104 may be held at a pressure higher or lower than atmospheric pressure. For example, the transfer chamber 104 may be maintained under vacuum. In some embodiments, the transfer chamber 104 may additionally or alternatively be maintained at an elevated temperature. The robot blade 110 may be attached to an extendable arm that is extendable enough to move the robot blade 110 into the processing chamber 106, load a substrate into the chamber prior to processing, and load a substrate out of the chamber after processing is completed.

[0014]

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

[0015]

[0019] The manufacturing machine 100 includes an integrated sensor controller (ISC) 150 that can be coupled to a number 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 the respective sensor head. In some implementations, the photodetector is a photodetector configured to send a 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 implementations, 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 range, the infrared range, the ultraviolet range, or any other range of electromagnetic radiation suitable for the task of sensing the substrate position. In some implementations, the sensor 114 is mounted on the door of the transfer chamber 104, inside the transfer chamber 104, inside the slit valve assembly, inside the load port, inside the load station 102, and / or inside any one of the processing chambers 106.

[0016]

[0020] The master computing device 118 can control the operation of the robot 108 and can also receive optical sensing data from the ISC 150, including processing information derived from data obtained by the sensor 114. In some implementations, the master computing device 118 reconfigures the ISC 150 at run-time. In some implementations, communication between the master computing device 118 and the ISC 150 is performed wirelessly. The master computing device 118 can include a blade control module 120. The blade control module can be capable of correcting the position of the substrate 112 on the robot blade 110 based on information obtained from the ISC 150, for example, determining whether the position is outside the tolerances 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] 2 illustrates an exemplary integrated circuit configuration 200 capable of providing precise optical sensing of a positional arrangement of a substrate before, during, or after the substrate is transferred into or out of a processing chamber according to some implementations of the present disclosure. 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 may regulate the amount of power provided to the sensor 114. Electrical signals generated by the one or more light source drivers 212 may be selectively routed to the sensors 114 via a sensor connector 206 block, which in embodiments is programmable by the logic circuitry 240 and / or the master computing device 118. In particular, the sensor connector 206 block may include a set of switches. In some implementations, the logic circuitry 240 has a number of preset settings for the switches that are selected depending on the processing task to be performed (delivering unprocessed substrates to a processing chamber, transferring partially processed substrates between various processing chambers, retrieving fully processed substrates, etc.).

[0018]

[0022] In some implementations, the light drivers output optical signals (rather than electrical signals) to the sensors 114. In such implementations, the block of sensor connectors 206 includes a set of optical connectors and switches to provide a preset amount of optical power to each (or some) of the sensors 114. For example, the sensor connectors 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 provide each split signal to a respective sensor head.

[0019]

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

[0020]

[0024] The RX signal may 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, with some or all of the amplifiers 214 receiving 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 to convert the optical RX signal to an electrical signal. The RX signal amplified by the one or more amplifiers 214 may be further processed by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 216.

[0021]

[0025] In embodiments, the digital signal output by the ADC 216 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 may prevent back-propagation 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 in the logic circuit 240 from affecting the accuracy of the optical sensing (including preparing the TX signal, detecting and processing the RX signal). The logic circuit 240 may process 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, for example, 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., the master computing device 118 or other computing devices on the same network to which the sensor controller 150 may be connected). The integrated circuit 244, in some embodiments, is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) 244. In some implementations, the sensor controller 150 communicates with the master computing device 118 (or other network computing devices) via a suitable ASIC 244 using an EtherCAT data exchange protocol. 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 via the ASIC 244 using AS-Interface, Interbus, Profibus, or any other suitable Fieldbus protocol.The ASIC 244 may be configurable and customizable to define a profile for the sensor controller 150 (e.g., as a node on an EtherCAT network) to determine how the sensor controller 150 exchanges data with a master node of the network (e.g., the master computing device 118) depending on the functionality currently provided by the sensor controller 150.

[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 configuring and controlling the operation of the sensor circuit 210 and the sensor 114. The processing device 242 may be fully customizable. Upon power-up, the processing device 242 may implement a default configuration of the sensor circuit 210, including configuring the light source driver 212 and the amplifier 214. During 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 representative of 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 or transferring between specific processing chambers), the processing device 242 may be reconfigured during run-time ("on the fly") using various pre-configurations stored in memory accessible to the processing device 242. For example, if the processing task is loading a substrate into a chemical vapor deposition chamber, master computing device 118 may communicate (via ASIC 244) instructions to processing device 242 to reconfigure sensor controller 150 to a first pre-setting corresponding to loading a substrate into a vapor deposition chamber. As another example, if the substrate is subsequently transferred for processing in the plasma environment of an etch chamber, master computing device 118 may communicate another instruction to processing device 242 to reconfigure sensor controller 150 to a second pre-setting corresponding to loading a substrate into an etch chamber.

[0023]

[0027] The sensor controller 150 may include a power supply, which in some implementations 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) to 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 bi-directional converter.

[0024]

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

[0025]

[0029] The integrated circuit shown in FIG. 2 can generate data and provide input for substrates (e.g., wafers), process kits, diagnostic tools, and any other objects that are transferred to or are already present within the various chambers of the manufacturing machine 100. 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. The characteristics can include position (including presence / absence), size, orientation, uniformity, thickness, chemical properties, physical properties, optical properties, etc. Additionally, the integrated circuit can provide data for various algorithms related to the loading and / or handling of substrates (or other objects loaded into the processing chambers).

[0026]

[0030] In addition to generating data for accurately placing a substrate in a processing chamber, the integrated circuit controller shown in FIG. 2 can be extended / adapted to provide sensor input values ​​to a substrate handling control system for automated substrate handling calibration, in situ substrate handling monitoring and diagnostics, and other similar functions where sensors may detect the robot body and / or select features with vertical, horizontal, or angled beams.

[0027]

[0031] 3 illustrates an exemplary configuration of the logic circuit 240 of the integrated circuit configuration 200 capable of providing precise optical sensing of the positional placement of a substrate according to some implementations of the present disclosure. The logic circuit 240 includes a processing device 242 (e.g., FPGA) that may use various integration technologies to implement an embedded system 360. The embedded system 360 integrates an embedded processor 362, which in one embodiment may be a hard core (e.g., ARM® SoC) or soft core (e.g., 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 operations, a general purpose input / output (GPIO) module 368, and other components (e.g., a system clock) that are not explicitly illustrated. The embedded system 360 may be coupled to a custom logic 370, a non-volatile memory 372 (e.g., a serial flash memory or any other type of non-volatile memory), and a synchronous random access memory (SDRAM) 373. The embedded system 360 may be coupled 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 files for the processing device 242 are initially present 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. The embedded processor 362 of the embedded system 360 then retrieves the controller software from the non-volatile memory 372 and starts the application logic for the embedded system 360. The applications and libraries can be written to an external memory such as a synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM) 373 (or an on-chip RAM 364). The custom logic 370 can be a software component that implements application-specific functionality 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) into a hardware description language (HDL).

[0029]

[0033] During operation of the sensor controller 150, data received from the sensor circuitry 210 may 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 may include, but is not limited to, an indication of an event (e.g., substrate in or out) associated with the TX and / or RX output / detected by the sensor 114 (including the exact type of event detected), an indication of the time the detected event occurred, the channel identification (e.g., of the 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 may send a command to the embedded processor 362 to reconfigure an application stored in the on-chip RAM 364 or SDRAM 373 to 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 detecting an event by the sensor 114). In some implementations, when a reconfiguration (reprogramming) command is received by the ASIC 244 from the master computing device 118, the ASIC 244 may directly reconfigure registers in the dual-port memory 366 to change the application's settings.

[0030]

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

[0031]

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

[0032]

[0036] The method 400 may continue by providing each of the plurality of output drive signals to a respective one of the plurality of sensors (block 430). For example, the output drive signals may be provided to one or more sensor heads 202. The method 400 may further include receiving (e.g., by the amplifier 214) one or more first signals from one or more sensors (e.g., the photodetector 204) associated with various optical events indicative of a position of the substrate in the device manufacturing machine (block 440). Such events may include direct light from the sensor head 202 impinging on the photodetector 204 and the direct light being blocked (obstructed) from the photodetector by the substrate. Such events may further include light reflected from (or transmitted through) the substrate impinging on (or being blocked from) the photodetector, or any other optical event indicative of a 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 (eg, an electrical signal corresponding to the signal generated by the photodetector 204).

[0033]

[0037] The method 400 may continue with generating (e.g., by the amplifier 214) one or more second signals based on the received one or more first signals (block 450). The second signals may be the amplified first signals and may be of the same type as the first signals. For example, in implementations where the first signals are optical signals, the amplifier 214 may be an optical amplifier and the generated second signals may be optical signals as well. In implementations where the first signals are electrical signals, the amplifier 214 may be an electrical signal multiplier and the generated second signals may be electrical signals. In some implementations where the first signals are optical signals, the amplifier 214 may be an optical amplifier but may additionally include an optical-to-electrical signal converter such that the generated second signals may be electrical signals.

[0034]

[0038] In block 460, the generated second signal may be received by an analog-to-digital converter (e.g., ADC 216), which may generate (at block 470) one or more third signals based on the second signal. The generated third signal may be received by a processing device (e.g., processing device 242). In some implementations, the third signal may be transmitted through an isolation circuit 220 configured to prevent noise and other spurious signals from logic circuit 240 from affecting the circuitry of sensor circuit 210. In block 480, the third signal may be used by the processing device to obtain information regarding the position of the substrate. The processing device may be able to extract data from the third signal indicative of the underlying optical event(s), such as the type of event (e.g., light incidence, obstruction, reflection, transmission, etc.), the timing of the event, the channel (e.g., the identifier of the sensor that detected the event), the location of the event (e.g., based on the known location of the identified sensor), etc. Based on this data, the processing device may obtain information regarding the precise location of the substrate relative to the robot blade. In some implementations, such information may be obtained, in part, based on the known position (and dynamics) of the robot blade, which may be obtained from a blade control module 120 resident on the master computing device 118 or from other computing devices available on the network (e.g., an EtherCAT network).

[0035]

[0039] In some implementations, the method 400 may continue with the processing device providing information regarding the position of the substrate to the master computing device 118 (or other computing device hosting the blade control module 120) so that the blade control module can correct any misplacement of the substrate by, for example, adjusting the trajectory of the blade so that the substrate arrives at its correct intended destination.

[0036]

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

[0037]

[0041] 5 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary processing device 500 that operates according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure and is capable of precise optical detection of a substrate being transferred on a moving blade into a processing chamber, according to some implementations of the present disclosure. The processing device 500 may be the computing device 118 of FIG. 1A or the microcontroller 152 of FIG. 1B in one implementation.

[0038]

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

[0039]

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

[0040]

[0044] The processor 502 represents one or more general-purpose processing devices, such as a microprocessor, a central processing unit, etc. More specifically, the 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. Additionally, the 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, the processor 502 may be configured to execute instructions implementing the method 400 of precisely optically sensing the positional location of a substrate transported by a moving blade.

[0041]

[0045] The exemplary processing device 500 may further include a network interface device 508, which may be communicatively coupled to a network 520. The exemplary processing device 500 may further include a video display 510 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), touch screen, or 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 generation device 516 (e.g., an audio speaker).

[0042]

[0046] The data storage device 518 may include a computer readable storage medium (or, more specifically, a non-transitory computer readable medium) 528 having stored thereon one or more sets of executable instructions 522. In accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure, the executable instructions 522 may include executable instructions for implementing the method 400 for precise optical sensing of a positional location of a substrate transported by a moving blade.

[0043]

[0047] The executable instructions 522 may reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 504 and / or within the processing device 502 during execution by the exemplary processing device 500, with the main memory 504 and the processor 502 also constituting computer-readable storage media. Additionally, the executable instructions 522 may further be transmitted or received over a network via the network interface device 508.

[0044]

[0048] 5 illustrates computer-readable storage medium 528 as a single medium, 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. Furthermore, the term "computer-readable storage medium" should be taken to include any medium capable of storing or encoding a set of instructions for execution by a machine that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies described herein. Thus, the term "computer-readable storage medium" should be taken to include, but is not 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 limiting. Many other implementation examples will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the above description. Although the present disclosure describes certain embodiments, it should be recognized that the systems and methods of the present disclosure are not limited to the embodiments described herein, but can be practiced with modification within the scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings should be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. The scope of the present disclosure should therefore be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

[0046]

[0050] The implementation of the methods, hardware, software, firmware, or code sets presented above may be implemented via instructions or codes executable by a processing element and stored on a machine-accessible, machine-readable, computer-accessible, or computer-readable medium. "Memory" includes any mechanism that provides (i.e., stores and / or transmits) information in a form readable by a machine, such as a computer or 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 type 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] References throughout this specification to "one implementation" or "an implementation" mean that particular features, structures, or characteristics described in connection with that implementation are included in at least one implementation of the present disclosure. Thus, the appearances of the phrase "in one implementation" or "in one implementation" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same implementation. Furthermore, particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more implementations.

[0048]

[0052] In the above specification, a detailed description has been given with reference to certain exemplary implementations. However, it will be apparent that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the present disclosure as set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings should therefore be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. Moreover, the use of implementations, implementations, and / or other exemplary language described above do not necessarily refer to the same implementation or the same example, but may refer to different separate implementations, as well as potentially the same implementation.

[0049]

[0053] The word "example" or "exemplary" is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as an "example" or "exemplary" should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use of the word "example" or "exemplary" is intended to present a concept in a concrete manner. The word "or" as used herein is intended to mean an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or." That is, unless otherwise specified or clear from the context, the sentence "X includes A or B" is intended to mean any of the natural and inclusive permutations. That is, if X includes A, X includes B, or X includes both A and B, then "X includes A or B" is satisfied in each of the foregoing cases. Furthermore, 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 clear from the context to be directed to the singular form. Moreover, use of the term "one implementation" or "one implementation" throughout is not intended to refer to the same implementation unless expressly stated. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," etc., as used herein are intended as labels to distinguish various elements and may not necessarily have a hierarchical meaning due to their numerical designations.

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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