Substrate Chamber Exhaust Buffering for Pressure and Temperature Stability
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing substrate processing equipment struggles to maintain consistent temperature and pressure in the chamber due to rapid changes caused by the discharge of chemical fumes, leading to decreased process yield and inconsistent quality across multiple chambers.
Innovation Solution
An exhausting device with a buffer space outside the ventilation unit temporarily stores chemical fumes before discharge, regulating the fume amount through a control unit to stabilize the chamber environment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If chemical fumes are directly discharged from the chamber through the ventilation unit, then the chemical fumes are removed from the chamber, but the internal pressure and temperature of the chamber change rapidly, making it difficult to maintain the required processing environment
Solution Approach 1:
An intermediary buffer space is introduced between the chamber and the external environment. Chemical fumes are first discharged into this buffer space through the ventilation unit, then gradually discharged from the buffer space to the outside. This intermediary structure decouples the direct pressure and temperature impact on the chamber, allowing fume removal while maintaining chamber environmental stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The buffer space pre-stores chemical fumes before they are discharged to the outside. By accumulating fumes in the buffer space first and then controlling their discharge rate, the system prepares for gradual release rather than immediate discharge, thereby preventing sudden pressure and temperature changes in the chamber.
2Productivity
If the discharge amount of chemical fumes is increased to handle processes generating large amounts of fumes (e.g., sulfuric acid cleaning), then the fume removal capacity is improved, but the chamber environment becomes harder to control
Solution Approach 1:
The buffer space serves as a mediator that decouples the chamber environment from external discharge requirements. Even when large amounts of fumes are generated requiring high removal capacity, the buffer space absorbs these fumes without directly impacting chamber pressure and temperature, thus maintaining both high productivity and environmental reliability.
3Productivity
If multiple chambers operate simultaneously in the substrate processing equipment, then the processing throughput is increased, but the environmental conditions (pressure and temperature) differ between chambers, resulting in non-uniform quality
Solution Approach 1:
Each chamber is equipped with its own independent buffer space and ventilation unit, creating segmented exhaust systems. This segmentation allows each chamber to independently discharge chemical fumes through its dedicated buffer space, preventing cross-interference between chambers and ensuring that environmental conditions in each chamber remain consistent and uniform.
4Stability of the object's composition
If a buffer space is introduced to store chemical fumes and control discharge, then the chamber environment stability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The buffer space is designed with multi-functionality: it serves as a storage space for chemical fumes, a pressure equalization chamber, and a temperature stabilization zone. By combining multiple functions into a single component, the system achieves improved chamber environment stability without proportionally increasing overall device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention discloses an exhausting device and an exhausting method in substrate processing equipment, and more particularly, a technique for controlling a processing process environment by providing a buffer space for storing chemical fumes outside a ventilation unit of the substrate processing equipment, and discharging the chemical fumes into the buffer space in accordance with a processing process in a chamber interior space.