Machined Quartz Chamber Upper Wall Without Weld Artifacts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for forming quartz chamber bodies using welding techniques often introduce artifacts such as gas bubbles, inclusions, and residual stress, which can affect the optical and mechanical properties of the weldments, leading to potential fractures and dimensional distortions.
Innovation Solution
A chamber body with a ceramic weldment is fabricated using a subtractive manufacturing technique to form the upper wall with an unwelded ribbed region, which overlays a passthrough, thereby eliminating the need for welding and reducing the risk of artifacts and residual stress.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If welding techniques are used to form quartz chamber bodies, then structural members can be joined to walls, but artifacts such as gas bubbles, inclusions, and residual stress are introduced into the weldment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the welding process entirely from the fabrication of the upper wall. Instead of joining separate pieces through welding, the upper wall is formed as a single monolithic quartz component using subtractive manufacturing, thereby extracting the harmful welding step from the manufacturing process and eliminating the associated artifacts.
Solution Approach 2:
Rather than adding material through welding to join components, the patent uses subtractive manufacturing to remove material from a monolithic block to create the final shape. This inversion from additive (welding) to subtractive (machining) manufacturing eliminates the introduction of artifacts while achieving the desired structural form.
2Ease of manufacture
If welding is performed to join structural members, then chamber assembly can be achieved, but residual stress is imparted into the weldment structure
Solution Approach 1:
The welding process is completely removed from the manufacturing sequence for the upper wall. By forming the upper wall as a monolithic component through subtractive manufacturing, the patent extracts the source of residual stress from the process, thereby preserving the inherent strength of the quartz material without compromising it through thermal cycling and stress concentration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the manufacturing approach from additive welding to subtractive machining. This inversion allows the upper wall to be formed from a single stress-free quartz block, eliminating the residual stress that would otherwise be introduced by localized heating and cooling cycles of welding.
3Ease of manufacture
If localized heating is employed during welding, then structural members can be joined, but shape distortion occurs in the weldment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the localized heating step entirely by eliminating the welding process. The upper wall is formed through subtractive manufacturing from a monolithic quartz block, which maintains dimensional stability and shape precision without the thermal distortion inherent in welding operations.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using localized heating to join parts (additive approach), the patent uses localized material removal from a precision-machined monolithic block (subtractive approach). This inversion preserves the manufacturing precision of the quartz material while achieving the desired structural configuration.
4Productivity
If multiple welds are performed to assemble chamber components, then chamber construction can be completed, but multiple anneal operations are required to remove residual stress
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the entire welding sequence from the manufacturing process for the upper wall. By forming the component as a monolithic piece through subtractive manufacturing, it eliminates the need for multiple welds and the corresponding multiple annealing operations, thereby recovering significant fabrication time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the manufacturing philosophy from assembling multiple welded components to machining a single monolithic component. This inversion eliminates the iterative cycle of welding followed by annealing, replacing it with a direct subtractive manufacturing process that achieves the final shape without intermediate stress-relief steps.
Data Source
AI summary
A chamber body includes a ceramic weldment. The ceramic weldment has an upper wall, a sidewall, a lower wall, and a lower wall rib segment. The sidewall is coupled to the upper wall by a sidewall-to-upper wall weld, the lower wall coupled to the sidewall by a sidewall-to-lower wall weld and defining a passthrough, and the lower wall rib segment is coupled to the lower wall plate by a lower wall rib segment weld. The upper wall has an upper wall plate portion and an upper wall rib portion through that define an upper wall unwelded ribbed region, overlay the passthrough, and which is formed using a singular ceramic workpiece using a subtractive manufacturing technique. Chamber arrangements, semiconductor processing systems, and methods of making ceramic weldments are also described.