| Patent Number |
Title Of Patent |
Date Issued |
| 8174400 |
Frequency monitoring to detect plasma process abnormality |
May 8, 2012 |
| Abnormal conditions within an RF-powered plasma process chamber are detected by detecting whether the frequency of a variable-frequency RF power supply moves outside established lower and upper limits. In a first aspect, a first pair of lower and upper limits are established as a fun |
| 8173228 |
Particle reduction on surfaces of chemical vapor deposition processing apparatus |
May 8, 2012 |
| A method of reducing the amount of particulates generated from the surface of a processing component used during plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of thin films. The body of the processing component comprises an aluminum alloy, and an exterior surface of said processing compo |
| 8147614 |
Multi-gas flow diffuser |
April 3, 2012 |
| Embodiments of the disclosure generally provide a method and apparatus for processing a substrate in a vacuum process chamber. In one embodiment a vacuum process chamber is provided that includes a chamber body and lid disposed on the chamber body. A blocker plate is coupled to the lid a |
| 8142606 |
Apparatus for depositing a uniform silicon film and methods for manufacturing the same |
March 27, 2012 |
| Methods and apparatus having a gradient spacing created between a substrate support assembly and a gas distribution plate for depositing a silicon film for solar cell applications are provided. In one embodiment, an apparatus for depositing films for solar cell applications may include |
| 8110453 |
Low temperature thin film transistor process, device property, and device stability improvement |
February 7, 2012 |
| A method and apparatus for forming a thin film transistor is provided. A gate dielectric layer is formed, which may be a bilayer, the first layer deposited at a low rate and the second deposited at a high rate. In some embodiments, the first dielectric layer is a silicon rich silicon nit |
| 8083853 |
Plasma uniformity control by gas diffuser hole design |
December 27, 2011 |
| Embodiments of a gas diffuser plate for distributing gas in a processing chamber are provided. The gas distribution plate includes a diffuser plate having an upstream side and a downstream side, and a plurality of gas passages passing between the upstream and downstream sides of the |
| 8076222 |
Microcrystalline silicon thin film transistor |
December 13, 2011 |
| Methods for forming a microcrystalline silicon layer in a thin film transistor structure are provided. In one embodiment, a method for forming a microcrystalline silicon layer includes providing a substrate in a processing chamber, supplying a first gas mixture having a hydrogen cont |
| 8075952 |
Power loading substrates to reduce particle contamination |
December 13, 2011 |
| A method for preventing particle contamination within a processing chamber is disclosed. Preheating the substrate within the processing chamber may cause a thermophoresis effect so that particles within the chamber that are not adhered to a surface may not come to rest on the substra |
| 8075690 |
Diffuser gravity support |
December 13, 2011 |
| An apparatus and method for supporting a substantial center portion of a gas distribution plate is disclosed. At least one support member is capable of engaging and disengaging the diffuser with a mating connection without prohibiting flow of a gas or gases through the diffuser and is |
| 8074599 |
Plasma uniformity control by gas diffuser curvature |
December 13, 2011 |
| Embodiments of a gas distribution plate for distributing gas in a processing chamber are provided. In one embodiment, a gas distribution assembly for a plasma processing chamber comprises a diffuser plate with gas passages passing between its upstream and downstream sides and hollow |
| 7902991 |
Frequency monitoring to detect plasma process abnormality |
March 8, 2011 |
| Abnormal conditions within an RF-powered plasma process chamber are detected by detecting whether the frequency of a variable-frequency RF power supply moves outside established lower and upper limits. In a first aspect, a first pair of lower and upper limits are established as a fun |
| 7884035 |
Method of controlling film uniformity and composition of a PECVD-deposited A-SiN.sub.x : H gate |
February 8, 2011 |
| We have discovered that adding H.sub.2 to a precursor gas composition including SiH.sub.4, NH.sub.3, and N.sub.2 is effective at improving the wet etch rate and the wet etch rate uniformity across the substrate surface of a-SiN.sub.x:H films which are deposited on a substrate by PECV |
| 7833885 |
Microcrystalline silicon thin film transistor |
November 16, 2010 |
| Methods for forming a microcrystalline silicon layer in a thin film transistor structure are provided. In one embodiment, a method for forming a microcrystalline silicon layer includes providing a substrate in a processing chamber, supplying a gas mixture having a hydrogen-based gas, |
| 7785672 |
Method of controlling the film properties of PECVD-deposited thin films |
August 31, 2010 |
| We have discovered methods of controlling a combination of PECVD deposition process parameters during deposition of thin films which provides improved control over surface standing wave effects which affect deposited film thickness uniformity and physical property uniformity. By mini |
| 7732010 |
Method for supporting a glass substrate to improve uniform deposition thickness |
June 8, 2010 |
| A method for supporting a glass substrate comprising providing a substrate support having an aluminum body, a substrate contact area formed on the surface of the substrate support, wherein the process of forming the substrate contact area comprises forming an anodization layer on a s |
| 7589031 |
Method of avoiding haze formation on surfaces of silicon-containing PECVD-deposited thin films |
September 15, 2009 |
| A method of PECVD deposition of silicon-containing films has been discovered and further developed. The method is particularly useful when the films are deposited on substrates having surface areas which are larger than 25,000 cm.sup.2. The method prevents the deposition of partially |
| 7534301 |
RF grounding of cathode in process chamber |
May 19, 2009 |
| An apparatus for providing a short return current path for RF current between a process chamber wall and a substrate support is provided. The RF grounding apparatus, which is RF grounded and is place above the substrate transfer port, establishes electrical contact with the substrate |
| 7429410 |
Diffuser gravity support |
September 30, 2008 |
| An apparatus and method for supporting a substantial center portion of a gas distribution plate is disclosed. At least one support member is capable of engaging and disengaging the diffuser with a mating connection without prohibiting flow of a gas or gasses through the diffuser and is |
| 7199061 |
Pecvd silicon oxide thin film deposition |
April 3, 2007 |
| A method of depositing a gate dielectric layer for a thin film transistor is provided. The gate dielectric layer is deposited using a plasma enhanced deposition with a gas mixture comprising a silicon and chlorine containing compound. |
| 7125758 |
Controlling the properties and uniformity of a silicon nitride film by controlling the film form |
October 24, 2006 |
| We have developed a method of PECVD depositing a-SiN.sub.x:H films which are useful in a TFT device as gate dielectric and passivation layers, when a series of TFT devices are arrayed over a substrate having a surface area larger than about 1 m.sup.2, which may be in the range of abo |
| 6825134 |
Deposition of film layers by alternately pulsing a precursor and high frequency power in a conti |
November 30, 2004 |
| A method of film layer deposition is described. A film layer is deposited using a cyclical deposition process. The cyclical deposition process consists essentially of a continuous flow of one or more process gases and the alternate pulsing of a precursor and energy to form a film on a |
