Multi-Level Load Lock Chamber Segmentation for Substrate Throughput
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current semiconductor processing cluster tools face challenges in maximizing substrate throughput due to limitations in processing multiple substrates simultaneously within a vacuum environment without exposing them to atmosphere, necessitating innovative solutions for efficient transfer and processing.
Innovation Solution
A multi-level load lock chamber with four environmentally isolated chambers and a robotic assembly with independently moving arms, allowing for simultaneous transfer and processing of substrates between the load lock chamber and process chambers, enhancing substrate throughput by enabling continuous and contamination-free processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a single load lock chamber is used in conventional cluster tools, then the structure is simple and easy to operate, but substrate throughput is limited because only one substrate can be transferred at a time
Solution Approach 1:
The load lock chamber is segmented into four environmentally isolated chambers (first, second, third, and fourth chambers) arranged in a multi-level configuration. This segmentation allows multiple substrates to be transferred simultaneously through different chambers, thereby increasing substrate throughput while maintaining environmental isolation and controlling system complexity through modular design.
2Productivity
If multiple substrates are processed simultaneously in cluster tools, then substrate throughput increases, but the risk of contamination and evacuation time management becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The load lock chamber is divided into four environmentally isolated chambers that can operate independently. This segmentation allows simultaneous processing of multiple substrates while maintaining separate environmental controls in each chamber, preventing cross-contamination and enabling independent evacuation and pressurization cycles for each chamber.
Solution Approach 2:
The multi-level load lock chamber structure acts as an intermediary between the vacuum environment and atmospheric environment. The four isolated chambers provide intermediate staging areas where substrates can be transferred, evacuated, and pressurized independently, serving as buffers that protect the main vacuum system from contamination while enabling continuous substrate throughput.
3Ease of operation
If substrates are transferred through atmosphere between chambers, then the transfer process is simple, but substrate contamination occurs and processing continuity is broken
Solution Approach 1:
The load lock chamber maintains a vacuum environment across all four environmentally isolated chambers during substrate transfer operations. This inert vacuum environment prevents substrate contamination that would occur during atmospheric transfer, while the robotic assembly automatically handles substrate movement between chambers, preserving processing continuity without requiring atmospheric exposure.
Data Source
AI summary
A new apparatus for processing substrates is disclosed. A multi-level load lock chamber having four environmentally isolated chambers interfaces with a transfer chamber that has a robotic assembly. The robotic assembly has two arms that each can move horizontally as the robotic assembly rotates about its axis. The arms can reach into the isolated chambers of the load lock to receive substrates from the bottom isolated chambers, transport the substrates to process chambers, and then place the substrates in the upper chambers. The isolated chambers in the load lock chamber may have a pivotably attached lid that may be opened to access the inside of the isolated chambers.