Detection of lost wafer from spinning chuck
View Patent ↗The disclosure relates to systems and methods for detecting when a microelectronic substrate is no longer properly secured or lost from a rotating chuck. A microelectronic substrate may be secured to a rotating chuck that may rotate the substrate when exposing the substrate to the chemicals during a treatment in a process chamber. The rotating chuck may include one or more detectors to detect the position of a gripping mechanism that secure the microelectronic substrate. The detectors may generate an electrical signal that correlates to the position of the microelectronic substrate. When the electrical signal(s) exceed a threshold the system may stop rotating the chuck to prevent additional damage to the process chamber.
1. A method for treating a microelectronic substrate, comprising:
securing the microelectronic substrate to a rotating chuck in a chemical processing system using a gripping mechanism that grips the microelectronic substrate in a desired position in a manner such that the position of the gripper mechanism changes if the microelectronic substrate is unsecured;
rotating the microelectronic substrate using the rotating chuck;
detecting a position of the gripping mechanism as the rotating chuck rotates;
using the detected position of the gripping mechanism to determine if the microelectronic substrate is unsecured from the rotating chuck; and
decreasing a rotational speed of the rotating chuck if the detected position of the gripping mechanism indicates the microelectronic substrate is unsecured.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising at least one position indicator provided on the gripping mechanism and wherein the position indicator comprises a magnet having a magnetic field.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one detection component comprises a magnetic field detection sensor and wherein the at least one detection component detects a field strength of the magnetic field.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the detection of the position indicator component is based, at least in part, on a magnetic field strength detected by the detection component.
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the field strength detected by the at least one detection component indicates the position of the at least one position indicator component relative to the at least one detection component.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising at least one position indicator is provided on the gripping mechanism and wherein the at least one position indicator component comprises at least two magnets with different polarity.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising at least one position indicator provided on the gripping mechanism and wherein the at least one position indicator component comprises a light emitting component.
8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising using at least one detection component to detect light emitted by the light emitting component, wherein the at least one detection component comprises a photosensor.
9. A system comprising a rotating check and one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable media that store computer processor executable instructions that, when executed by a computer processor, cause the system to implement a method comprising:
rotating a microelectronic substrate using the rotating chuck, wherein a gripping mechanism grips and secures the microelectronic substrate to the rotating chuck, wherein the gripping mechanism grips the microelectronic substrate in a desired position in a manner such that the position of the gripper mechanism changes if the microelectronic substrate is unsecured;
detecting a position of the gripping mechanism as the chuck rotates;
using the detected position of the gripping mechanism to determine if the microelectronic substrate is unsecured from the rotating chuck; and
decreasing a rotational speed of the rotating chuck when the detected position indicates the microelectronic substrate is unsecured.
10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a position indicator provided on the gripping mechanism, wherein the at least one position indicator component comprises a magnet having a magnetic field.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the detecting step comprises using at least one detection component to detect a position of the position indicator using a magnetic field detection sensor.
12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the step of detecting the position of the gripping mechanism comprises using a detection component to detect the magnetic field strength.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the magnetic field strength correlates to the position of the gripping mechanism.