| Patent Number |
Title Of Patent |
Date Issued |
| 5573595 |
Methods and apparatus for generating plasma |
November 12, 1996 |
| A device for generating plasma for use in semiconductor fabrication, which includes a first radio frequency excitation source for outputting a first excitation current having a first phase and a first amplitude. The device further includes a second radio frequency excitation source for o |
| 5569356 |
Electrode clamping assembly and method for assembly and use thereof |
October 29, 1996 |
| An electrode clamping assembly for a plasma reaction chamber wherein processing of a single wafer can be carried out. The electrode assembly includes a support member, an electrode such as a silicon showerhead electrode in the form of a disk having uniform thickness and a clamping ri |
| 5543184 |
Method of reducing particulates in a plasma tool through steady state flows |
August 6, 1996 |
| A method and apparatus for reducing particulates in a plasma tool using steady state flows includes a device, operatively coupled to a housing in which an object to be processed is positioned, for generating a plasma flow adjacent the object toward a pumping aperture. A pumping mechanism |
| 5534751 |
Plasma etching apparatus utilizing plasma confinement |
July 9, 1996 |
| Plasma etching apparatus includes a stack of quartz rings that are spaced apart to form slots therebetween and that are positioned to surround an interaction space between two electrodes of the apparatus where a plasma is formed during operation of the apparatus. The dimensions of the sl |
| 5534110 |
Shadow clamp |
July 9, 1996 |
| A wafer clamping member for clamping a wafer in a plasma reaction chamber. The clamping member has a design which minimizes particle contamination of the wafer and allows more wafers to be processed before it is necessary to clean built-up deposits from the clamping member. The clamping |
| 5503676 |
Apparatus and method for magnetron in-situ cleaning of plasma reaction chamber |
April 2, 1996 |
| A method and apparatus for removing extraneous deposits from particle control surfaces in a microwave plasma generating device. An annular magnetron plasma is formed in contact with a particle control surface having a shape which intersects 200-500 G lines of magnetic induction. The |
| 5472565 |
Topology induced plasma enhancement for etched uniformity improvement |
December 5, 1995 |
| A plasma discharge electrode having a front surface with a central portion thereof including outlets for discharging reactant gas which forms a plasma and a peripheral portion substantially surrounding the outlets. The peripheral portion has at least one recess for locally enhancing a de |
| 5463526 |
Hybrid electrostatic chuck |
October 31, 1995 |
| An electrostatic chuck comprises a hybrid dielectric between a wafer and an electrode. The hybrid dielectric is comprised of two layers; a thin insulating layer for attracting and holding the bottom of the wafer; and a mechanically and electrically robust semiconducting layer below. The |
| 5368710 |
Method of treating an article with a plasma apparatus in which a uniform electric field is induc |
November 29, 1994 |
| A method of plasma treating an article in a housing having a chamber in which the article such as a wafer can be treated with plasma. The housing includes at least one inlet port connected to an interior of the chamber through which process gas can be supplied to the chamber. A radiofreq |
| 5368646 |
Reaction chamber design to minimize particle generation in chemical vapor deposition reactors |
November 29, 1994 |
| A method of controlling deposition quality of line-of-sight and target surfaces in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition apparatus. Adhesion and integrity of deposited film on the surfaces is improved by one or more of (1) avoiding differential thermal expansion of the film and |
| 5356478 |
Plasma cleaning method for removing residues in a plasma treatment chamber |
October 18, 1994 |
| A plasma cleaning method for removing residues previously formed in a plasma treatment chamber by dry etching layers such as photoresist, barriers, etc., on a wafer. The method includes introducing a cleaning gas mixture of an oxidizing gas and a chlorine containing gas into the chamber |
| 5294778 |
CVD platen heater system utilizing concentric electric heating elements |
March 15, 1994 |
| A wafer support platen heating system for low pressure chemical vapor deposition of apparatus includes multiple resistance heaters for individual heating of multiple portions of the platen to provide a predetermined uniform or non-uniform temperature gradient/profile across the plate |
| 5269879 |
Method of etching vias without sputtering of underlying electrically conductive layer |
December 14, 1993 |
| A process for etching of silicon oxide/nitride such as silicon dioxide, silicon nitride or oxynitride. The process includes etching a silicon oxide/nitride layer to expose an underlying electrically conductive layer and provide a via extending through the silicon oxide/nitride layer to t |
| 5242501 |
Susceptor in chemical vapor deposition reactors |
September 7, 1993 |
| An improved chemical reactor of the type for depositing a layer of material epitaxially onto a wafer of single crystalline silicon is disclosed. The reactor has a susceptor for supporting each wafer in a cavity of the susceptor with the cavity being curvilinearly shaped. Cavities of a |
| 5234526 |
Window for microwave plasma processing device |
August 10, 1993 |
| A microwave transmitting window for a plasma processing device. The window is a body of one or more pieces of the same or different dielectric materials. A surface of the window facing a microwave transmitting horn or waveguide is planar and extends perpendicularly to an axial direction. |
| 5226967 |
Plasma apparatus including dielectric window for inducing a uniform electric field in a plasma c |
July 13, 1993 |
| An apparatus for plasma etching or plasma deposition including a housing having a chamber in which a wafer can be treated with plasma. The housing includes at least one inlet port connected to an interior of the chamber through which process gas can be supplied to the chamber. A radiofre |
| 5200232 |
Reaction chamber design and method to minimize particle generation in chemical vapor deposition |
April 6, 1993 |
| A method of controlling deposition quality of line-of-sight and specimen surrounding surfaces in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition apparatus. Adhesion and integrity of deposited film on the surfaces is improved by one or more of (1) avoiding differential thermal expansion of |
| 5198725 |
Method of producing flat ECR layer in microwave plasma device and apparatus therefor |
March 30, 1993 |
| A microwave plasma generating device including a plasma chamber for generating plasma, a reaction chamber having a specimen stage on which a specimen is treated with the plasma, a gas supply for supplying gas to the plasma generating chamber, a microwave generator for generating a mi |
| 5160576 |
Method of end point detection in a plasma etching process |
November 3, 1992 |
| A method of optically detecting a change in intensity of an emission peak in a plasma process, such as a plasma etching process, by reflecting an emission spectrum of radiation from the plasma reaction off of a pair of rugate filters. The reflected emission spectrum has increased in-band |
| 5104482 |
Simultaneous glass deposition and viscoelastic flow process |
April 14, 1992 |
| A glass deposition viscoelastic flow process for forming planar and semi-planar insulator structures on semiconductor devices, which comprises feeding vaporized reactants into a reaction chamber at a reaction temperature between 750.degree.-950.degree. C. and subjecting the surface o |
| 5098741 |
Method and system for delivering liquid reagents to processing vessels |
March 24, 1992 |
| A system for delivering a liquid reagent to a low pressure reactor in the vapor phase includes a source of the liquid reagent, a metering valve for measuring precise volumes of the liquid reagent and transporting those volumes to an expansion valve at a precisely controlled flow rate, an |
| 5091219 |
Chemical vapor deposition method |
February 25, 1992 |
| A CVD process for the deposition of at least one layer of material on a wafer substrate is disclosed, which comprises the steps of : (a) positioning at least one wafer substrate horizontally within a generally circular wafer deposition zone; (b) passing a reactive gas radially throug |
| 5074456 |
Composite electrode for plasma processes |
December 24, 1991 |
| An electrode assembly for a plasma reactor, such as a plasma etch or plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition reactor, comprises an electrode plate having a support frame attached to one surface thereof. The electrode plate is composed of a substantially pure material which is compa |
| 4976996 |
Chemical vapor deposition reactor and method of use thereof |
December 11, 1990 |
| A chemical vapor deposition (CVD) recstor is described which comprises an annular reaction zone with means for one or more reactive gases to be passed in single pass radial flow in which there is little lateral diffusion, means for preventing recirculation of reactive gases or reacti |
| 4948458 |
Method and apparatus for producing magnetically-coupled planar plasma |
August 14, 1990 |
| An apparatus for producing a planar plasma in a low pressure process gas includes a chamber and an external planar coil. Radiofrequency resonant current is induced in the planar coil which in turn produces a planar magnetic field within the exclosure. The magnetic field causes circulatin |
| 4871421 |
Split-phase driver for plasma etch system |
October 3, 1989 |
| A plasma etching system includes a radio frequency generator and a parallel plate plasma reactor vessel. A phase inverter circuit is used to couple the RF generator to the electrodes in the plasma reactor so that the electrodes are driven with voltages of substantially equal magnitude bu |
| 4728252 |
Wafer transport mechanism |
March 1, 1988 |
| A workpiece transfer apparatus includes a drive assembly and a transfer arm assembly. The transfer arm assembly is articulated, including a linking arm enclosure pivotally attached to a transfer arm. The linking arm enclosure is mounted on a rotatable sleeve, which in turn is mounted in |
| 4721282 |
Vacuum chamber gate valve |
January 26, 1988 |
| A gate valve assembly includes a housing, a shaft axially mounted within the housing, and a gate member secured to one end of the shaft. A mechanism within the housing is provided for axially extending and rotating the shaft in order to move the gate member into sealing engagement wi |
| 4483654 |
Workpiece transfer mechanism |
November 20, 1984 |
| A loadlock apparatus for a workpiece processing chamber such as those incorporated in vacuum processing systems. The apparatus includes an isolation chamber having evacuation apertures and workpiece transfer apertures with independently operable doors for closing and sealing the work |
| 4433951 |
Modular loadlock |
February 28, 1984 |
| A loadlock apparatus for a workpiece processing chamber such as those incorporated in vacuum processing systems. The apparatus includes an isolation chamber having evacuation apertures and workpiece transfer apertures with independently operable doors for closing and sealing the work |
| 4340462 |
Adjustable electrode plasma processing chamber |
July 20, 1982 |
| A plasma processing chamber incorporating parallel plate electrodes whose separation may be mechanically adjusted from the outside thereof. The chamber includes a sealable assembly including an electrode housing and a reaction chamber body. The body includes an aperture to receive a plan |
