| Apparatus for shielding process chamber port having dual zone and optical access features -> Monitor Keywords |
|
|
 
Apparatus for shielding process chamber port having dual zone and optical access featuresRelated Patent Categories: Coating Apparatus, Gas Or Vapor Deposition, Chamber SealApparatus for shielding process chamber port having dual zone and optical access features description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070169704, Apparatus for shielding process chamber port having dual zone and optical access features. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/341,079, filed Jan. 26, 2006 for "Apparatus For Shielding Process Chamber Port", in the names of Fangli J. Hao, John E. Daugherty, and Allan K. Ronne (the "Prior Application"). The disclosure of the Prior Application is incorporated by reference. The benefit of the filing date of the Prior Application is claimed under 35 U.S.C. Section 120. BACKGROUND [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates generally to semiconductor manufacturing and, more particularly, to apparatus for shielding access regions of process chambers from electrical fields, wherein the access regions allow access to semiconductor manufacturing chambers, the electric fields are applied to the chambers adjacent to the access regions, and access openings in the access regions provide access for exemplary gas injectors and process analysis and measurement tools. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] Vacuum processing chambers have been used for etching materials from substrates and for deposition of materials onto substrates, and the substrates have been semiconductor wafers, for example. U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,651 to Ni et al. issued May 15, 2001 and assigned to Lam Research Corporation, the assignee of the present application, is incorporated herein by reference and illustrates an opening, or port, in a dielectric window at a top of a processing chamber to provide access to an interior of the processing chamber, for etching and other processing of semiconductor substrates, for example. For large diameter substrates, center gas injection was said to ensure uniform etching and deposition, for example, thus improving the access to such processing chambers. [0006] However, as industry standards have increased, further improvements are required to provide even better access to such processing chambers. For example, there is a need to monitor the processes in the chambers, which requires chamber access in addition to access for gas supply. When the monitoring relies on optical data, a clear optical aperture must extend through the dielectric window. Difficulties arise, however, when the clear optical aperture is physically open to the chamber, because plasma may form in the clear optical aperture. Such plasma formation relates to a threshold electric field strength required to initiate a plasma, which threshold strength is based on gas pressure in and the diameter of a passage, or bore, used to supply the gas to the chamber. Plasma formation in a gas supply bore is generally reduced by reducing the diameter of the bore because the gas pressure tends to be controlled by process requirements. However, analysis by the applicants of the present application indicates that when there is dual use of a clear optical aperture (i.e., use for both optical and gas supply functions) the dual use presents conflicting requirements. That is, for the aspect of facilitating monitoring the optical data, there is a need to increase the diameter of the clear optical aperture. For example, in providing optical access for spectroscopic observation of chamber processes, the diameter of the clear optical aperture must generally be not less than about one-half inch, for example, and it is highly desirable to use an aperture as large as possible. This diameter may be described as a minimum diameter that is required to enable proper access to the optical data that originates in the chamber, and is referred to herein as the "minimum diameter of the clear optical aperture". This analysis also indicates that for the gas supply aspect of the dual use there is a need for a relatively small diameter (significantly less than 0.5 inch) of each gas bore for gas supply to the chamber, for avoiding plasma formation, for example. This analysis also indicates that to facilitate the dual use, an optical window must be used to seal the clear optical aperture so as to maintain a vacuum in the processing chamber, and that the optical window should be mounted at a location at which the strength of the electric field is substantially reduced, to prevent sputtering of the optical window (which creates aluminum-containing contamination), and to prevent deposition onto the optical window. Thus, applicants' analysis indicates that there is not only the minimum diameter of the clear optical aperture in conflict with the need for small diameter gas bores, but a minimum length of the clear optical aperture necessary to avoid such contamination and damage to the optical window that facilitates the dual use. [0007] This exemplary 0.5 inch minimum diameter of the clear optical aperture compares to gas bore passages of 0.4 mm provided in shielded gas inlets described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,500,299, issued 12/3/102 to Mett, et al. Although multiple ones of such passages are provided through grains of dielectric materials such as ceramics, with the 0.4 mm diameter size, such passages are not suitable for providing clear optical access for the exemplary spectroscopic observation of chamber processes. Moreover, to mount such passages of a gas bore inside a metal cup and to insert the cup in the side wall of a process chamber as described in the Mett et al. Patent, would undesirably subject the metal cup to the plasma in the chamber, for example, and introduce problems in sealing the metal cup to the wall of the process chamber. [0008] In view of the foregoing, there is a need for apparatus providing further improvements in accessing processing chambers. The need is for improved ways to provide multiple access (e.g., gas supply and optical access) to a process chamber. This need includes providing such access when the optical access is subject to the conflicting requirements of a relatively large minimum diameter of the clear optical aperture (for the optical function) and of a relatively small diameter of one or more gas bores for gas supply to the chamber (for avoiding plasma formation), for example. SUMMARY [0009] Broadly speaking, embodiments of the present invention fill these needs by providing apparatus for shielding a process chamber port having dual zone and optical access features, the shielding being from electrical fields, wherein the access region allows access to a semiconductor manufacturing chamber, the electric fields are applied to the chamber adjacent to the access region, and access openings in the access regions provide access for exemplary gas injectors and process analysis and measurement tools. Such apparatus may include configurations of an access region of a process chamber to allow dual supply of process gas to the chamber, and to provide a first clear optical aperture for optical access through a window of the chamber. Such apparatus may also provide a combination of protection of a dual gas supply fitting and the first clear optical aperture from the electric field established by the coil that surrounds the first clear optical aperture and the fitting. A shield may be configured to extend into the window to provide such protection for a first section of the first clear optical aperture with a remaining second section of the first clear optical aperture extending toward the processing chamber. The remaining section may be protectively coated to provide such protection from the electric field and provide the minimum length of the clear optical aperture. A second clear optical aperture is provided in the fitting to extend the first aperture away from the electric field. The shield and additional coatings may protect the second clear optical aperture from the electric field, and an optical window may close the second clear optical aperture at a location at which the strength of the electric field is substantially reduced, to prevent sputtering of the optical window (which creates aluminum-containing contamination), and to prevent deposition onto the optical window. [0010] Embodiments of the present invention may include a window for protecting an access region for access to a process chamber from an electric field generated adjacent to the process chamber window. The window may be a window member configured with outer and chamber sides and an annular groove extending from the outer side into the member parallel to the axis. The annular groove defines a first section of the access region to be protected from the electric field, and the window member is further configured with a clear optical aperture having an annular wall configured with a length between the outer side and the chamber side. The clear optical aperture may be partly surrounded by the annular groove and may be further configured with a diameter. A coating of a material such as yttrium oxide is provided on the annular wall of the clear optical aperture. The annular wall with the coating having an inner coating diameter that is substantially the same as a value of the length of the clear optical aperture in the window member. [0011] An other embodiment of the present invention may include a multi-function process chamber window assembly for protecting an access region for access to a process chamber from an electric field generated adjacent to the process chamber window, for admitting at least one gas to the process chamber, and for providing optical access to the chamber. An annular shield may have a length extending parallel to an axis of the region and be fabricated from material adapted to substantially block the electric field. A window member is configured with respect to the access region axis, the member being configured with outer and chamber sides and an annular groove extending from the outer side into the member. The groove defines a first section of the access region to be protected from the electric field. The groove is configured to receive a portion of the shield to protect the first section of the access region from the electric field. The groove receives the annular shield, and the shield extends out of the groove and away from the outer side so that a second section of the access region is defined within the annular shield. The annular shield protects the second section from the electric field. The window member is further configured with a first clear optical aperture defined by a first annular wall configured with a length between the outer side and the chamber side. The first clear optical aperture is partly surrounded by the annular groove, and the first clear optical aperture is further configured with a diameter for clear optical access. A coating is provided on the first annular wall. The first annular wall with the coating has an inner coating diameter that is substantially the same as a value of the axial length of the first clear optical aperture. The coating protects the first clear optical aperture from effects of the electric field so that the protection extends past the shield in the annular groove to the chamber side of the window member. [0012] Yet an other embodiment of the present invention may include a multi-function process chamber window assembly for protecting an access region for access to a process chamber from an electric field generated adjacent to the process chamber window while providing at least two gas inlets to the process chamber and allowing optical access to the chamber. The assembly may include an integrated shield and gas supply unit for protecting the access region from the electric field. The unit may be configured with a thin annular protrusion at a first end and with an annular body that is thicker than the protrusion. The body may be further configured to extend to a second end. The body may be further configured with a first annular wall defining a unit clear optical aperture extending from the first end to the second end. A further body configuration may provide a first gas supply bore extending and intersecting the unit clear optical aperture adjacent to the first end. The body may be further configured with a first coupler and the unit fabricated from material adapted to substantially block the electric field so that the unit clear optical aperture is protected from the electric field. A window member of the assembly may be configured with outer and chamber sides and a groove extending from the outer side into the member. The groove is configured to receive the thin annular protrusion to protect a first section of the access region from the electric field. The member may be further configured with a second coupler configured to cooperate with the first coupler to hold the protrusion in the groove with the unit extending away from the outer side of the member so that a second section of the access region is defined by and is protected by the body from the electric field. The window member may be further configured with a window member clear optical aperture having a second annular wall configured with a length between the outer side and the chamber side. The window member clear optical aperture is partly surrounded by the thin annular protrusion received in the annular groove. The window member clear optical aperture may be further configured with a diameter. A coating is provided on the second annular wall. The second annular wall with the coating has an inner coating diameter that is substantially the same as a value of the axial length of the window member clear optical aperture. The coating protects the window member clear optical aperture from the electric field. [0013] It will be obvious, however, to one skilled in the art, that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well known process operations have not been described in detail in order not to obscure the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0014] The embodiments of the present invention will be readily understood by reference to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals designate like structural elements, and wherein: [0015] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of an apparatus of the present invention for protecting an access region into a process chamber from an electric field; [0016] FIG. 2A is a side cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a window of the present invention for protecting an access region into the process chamber from the electric field generated adjacent to the window; [0017] FIG. 2B is a plan view of the window embodiment shown in FIG. 2A, illustrating a groove for a shield, a gas bore and a first clear optical aperture; [0018] FIG. 2C is a side cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the window of the present invention, illustrating a projection on the window; [0019] FIG. 3A is a side cross-sectional view of the window embodiment of FIG. 2B assembled with a shield and with an embodiment of a fitting separate from the shield; [0020] FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3B-3B in FIG. 3A, illustrating the assembled fitting of FIG. 3A configured with seals; Continue reading about Apparatus for shielding process chamber port having dual zone and optical access features... Full patent description for Apparatus for shielding process chamber port having dual zone and optical access features Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Apparatus for shielding process chamber port having dual zone and optical access features patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Apparatus for shielding process chamber port having dual zone and optical access features or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Advanced ceramic heater for substrate processing Next Patent Application: Cover for bird feeder Industry Class: Coating apparatus ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Apparatus for shielding process chamber port having dual zone and optical access features patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.3192 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Medical: Surgery , Surgery(2) , Surgery(3) , Drug , Drug(2) , Prosthesis , Dentistry 174 |
 * Protect your Inventions * US Patent Office filing 
PATENT INFO |
|
