Motor Shaft and Heater Plane Leveling for Uniform Chamber Gaps
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In semiconductor manufacturing, especially in ALD and CVD processing chambers, maintaining consistent and uniform gaps between substrate support surfaces and gas distribution plates is challenging due to motor runout and rotational axis misalignment, affecting process precision and consistency.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a processing chamber design with a motor shaft, substrate support, and multiple sensors to measure and level the motor shaft and support plane, ensuring precise alignment and uniformity by determining shim values for motor bolts and heater support planes, thereby minimizing gap deviations and ensuring parallelism between heaters and gas distribution plates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a motor assembly with shaft and support surface is used to rotate substrates, then substrate processing capability is enabled, but motor runout causes precession and rotating gap discrepancies
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary leveling of the motor shaft and support plane using sensors and shim calculations before actual substrate processing begins. The angle-dependent motor leveling profile is obtained and shim values are determined in advance to compensate for runout, ensuring the shaft is properly aligned before rotation starts.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple sensors are positioned at different angular positions to continuously measure the support plane and detect deviations from the ideal rotational axis. This feedback information is used to calculate shim values for motor bolts, creating a closed-loop system that compensates for motor runout and maintains gap uniformity during substrate processing.
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple sensors are used to measure the support plane and correct alignment, then manufacturing precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The measurement system is segmented into multiple sensors positioned at different angular positions around the rotational axis. Each sensor independently measures the support plane at its specific location, and the measurements are processed to create an angle-dependent leveling profile. This segmentation allows comprehensive coverage of the rotational path while maintaining manageable complexity through modular sensor placement.
Data Source
AI summary
Process chambers and methods for leveling a motor shaft and substrate support plane are described. The process chamber includes a motor shaft connected to the process chamber with a plurality of motor bolts. A first plurality of sensors is arranged at about the same radial distance from the rotational axis and at different angular positions relative to the rotational axis and a second plurality of sensors are arranged to measure the support plane. An angle-dependent motor leveling profile is determined and shim values for the motor bolts are determined to level the motor shaft. The support plane is measured using the second plurality of sensors to level the support plane perpendicular to the motor shaft.