Substrate Temperature Control With Multi-Zone Backside Gas Pressure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Substrate processing systems face challenges in maintaining uniform substrate temperatures during high-power plasma etching due to non-uniform heat dissipation and temperature variations across the substrate support, leading to process and substrate non-uniformities.
Innovation Solution
A temperature control system that uses a heat transfer gas pressure model to correlate and adjust the heat transfer gas pressure across multiple zones of the substrate support, ensuring uniform substrate temperatures by integrating pressure sensors and a temperature calculation module to compensate for temperature variations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If high-power plasma etching is used to increase processing efficiency, then productivity is improved, but temperature uniformity across the substrate deteriorates due to non-uniform heat dissipation
Solution Approach 1:
The substrate support is divided into multiple independently controllable heating zones, each with its own heating element and temperature sensor. This segmentation allows differential temperature control across different regions of the substrate, compensating for non-uniform heat dissipation during high-power plasma etching and maintaining overall temperature uniformity while enabling high productivity
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the substrate support are provided with different heating powers and temperature control strategies based on their specific thermal characteristics. Zones experiencing greater heat loss are compensated with higher heating power, while zones with adequate heat retention use lower power, achieving uniform substrate temperature across the entire processing area during high-efficiency operations
2Temperature
If heat transfer gas pressure is increased to improve substrate cooling, then temperature control is improved, but system complexity increases due to multiple pressure controllers and sensors
Solution Approach 1:
Pressure sensors are installed in each heating zone to provide real-time feedback on the actual pressure of heat transfer gas. The controller uses this feedback information to dynamically adjust the pressure controllers, ensuring optimal cooling effectiveness while avoiding excessive system complexity through intelligent control algorithms that coordinate multiple sensors and actuators
Solution Approach 2:
The heat transfer gas system serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides thermal cooling to the substrate, acts as a pressure control medium for temperature regulation, and enables zone-independent temperature control. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated systems for each function, thereby managing system complexity while achieving effective temperature control
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively reduces temperature variations across the substrate, maintaining consistent temperatures during processing by dynamically adjusting heat transfer gas pressure based on real-time sensor data and temperature control models, thereby improving process uniformity.
Implementation Method 1
The substrate support may include a plurality of channels to provide a heat transfer gas (e.g., helium) to a backside of the substrate arranged on the ceramic layer. The heat transfer gas facilitates cooling of the substrate and/or the ceramic layer.
Implementation Method 2
receive the heat transfer gas pressure from a pressure sensor arranged within the substrate support
Data Source
AI summary
A temperature controller for substrate processing system includes memory that stores a temperature control model that correlates a heat transfer gas pressure and a first temperature of a substrate support to a second temperature of a substrate arranged on the substrate support, a temperature calculation module configured to calculate the second temperature of the substrate using the heat transfer gas pressure, the first temperature of the substrate support, and the temperature control model, and a heat transfer gas control module configured to adjust the heat transfer gas pressure based on the second temperature of the substrate calculated by the temperature calculation module and a desired third temperature of the substrate.