IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,217,985

Granted Patent B2

US 12,217,985 · App. 17/593,791 · Granted Feb 4, 2025

Wafer placement correction in indexed multi-station processing chambers

Inventors: Stephen Topping (Portland, OR); Dong Niu (West Linn, OR)

Assignee: Lam Research Corporation

H01L21/67196 H01L21/67742 H01L21/6875 H01L21/68764 H01L21/68771

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 12,217,985
App. No.: 17/593,791
Granted: Feb 4, 2025
Kind: B2

External Links

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Abstract

Systems and techniques for determining and using multiple types of offsets for providing wafers to a transfer pedestal of a multi-station processing chamber are disclosed. Such techniques may be used to provide pedestal-specific offsets that may be selected based on which pedestal of a multi-station chamber is assigned to a particular wafer. Similar techniques may be used to provide wafer support-specific offsets based on which indexer arm of an indexer is assigned to a given wafer.

Claims (114)

1. An apparatus comprising:

a wafer handling robot having a robot arm configured to provide individual wafers to the transfer pedestal of the first chamber; and

a controller that includes one or more processors and one or more memory devices, wherein:

the one or more processors, the one or more memory devices, the wafer handling robot, the indexer of the first chamber, and the active wafer centering system of the first chamber are operably connected with each other, and

the one or more memory devices store computer-executable instructions for controlling the one or more processors to:

a) select one of the N pedestals of the first chamber as a destination pedestal of the first chamber for a first wafer;

b) select a first pedestal offset associated with the destination pedestal of the first chamber from a set of N pedestal offsets of the first chamber, each pedestal offset of the set of N pedestal offsets of the first chamber associated with a different pedestal of the N pedestals of the first chamber;

c) obtain information from the active wafer centering system of the first chamber indicative of a horizontal location of the center of the first wafer while the first wafer is on the robot arm;

d) determine a first end effector offset associated with the first wafer based, at least in part, on the information obtained from the active wafer centering system of the first chamber indicative of the horizontal location of the center of the first wafer;

e) cause the robot arm to provide the first wafer to the transfer pedestal of the first chamber based on the first pedestal offset and the first end effector offset;

f) the indexer of the first chamber to move the first wafer from the transfer pedestal of the first chamber to the destination pedestal of the first chamber; and

g) the first chamber to perform one or more semiconductor processing operations on the first wafer on the destination pedestal of the first chamber.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the transfer pedestal of the first chamber is the destination pedestal of the first chamber, and

the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to cause the first chamber to process the first wafer while the first wafer is on the destination pedestal of the first chamber.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , and the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to:

perform (a) through (e) for each of N wafers, wherein a different pedestal of the N pedestals of the first chamber is selected as the destination pedestal of the first chamber for each of the N wafers;

cause the indexer of the first chamber to move each wafer of the first through M th wafers of the N wafers to the destination pedestal of the first chamber selected for each wafer of the first through M th wafers, wherein M=N−1 and the transfer pedestal of the first chamber is the destination pedestal of the first chamber for the Nth wafer; and

cause the first chamber to perform one or more semiconductor processing operations on the N wafers while each wafer of the N wafers is supported by the corresponding destination pedestal of the first chamber.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to:

f) select one of the N pedestals of the first chamber as a destination calibration pedestal of the first chamber for a first calibration wafer;

g) obtain information from the active wafer centering system indicative of a horizontal location of the center of the first calibration wafer;

h) cause the robot arm to provide the first calibration wafer to the transfer pedestal of the first chamber;

i) cause the first chamber to perform a calibration process that includes performing one or more semiconductor processing operations on the first calibration wafer; and

j) obtain a preliminary pedestal offset for the destination calibration pedestal of the first chamber based, at least in part, on information indicative of non-uniformity of the first calibration wafer resulting from the performance of the calibration process in (i) and the horizontal location of the center of the first calibration wafer.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to cause the indexer of the first chamber to move the first calibration wafer from the transfer pedestal of the first chamber to the destination calibration pedestal of the first chamber in between the performance of (h) and (i).

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to use the preliminary pedestal offset as the pedestal offset for the destination calibration pedestal of the first chamber.

7. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to:

k) obtain information from the active wafer centering system associated with the transfer pedestal of the first chamber indicative of a horizontal location of the center of a second calibration wafer;

l) Cause the robot arm to provide the second calibration wafer to the transfer pedestal of the first chamber;

m) cause the first chamber to perform the calibration process on the second calibration wafer; and

n) determine the pedestal offset for the destination calibration pedestal based at least in part on information indicative of non-uniformity of the second calibration wafer, the information indicative of non-uniformity of the first calibration wafer, the horizontal location of the center of the first calibration wafer, and the horizontal location of the center of the second calibration wafer.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein one of the N pedestals of the first chamber is a secondary transfer pedestal, the first chamber includes a secondary active wafer centering system associated with the secondary transfer pedestal, the wafer handling robot has an additional robot arm configured to provide individual wafers to the secondary transfer pedestal of the first chamber; and

the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to:

f) select one of the N pedestals of the first chamber as a destination pedestal of the first chamber for an additional wafer;

g) select a corresponding pedestal offset associated with the destination pedestal of the first chamber from N second pedestal offsets of the first chamber, each pedestal offset of the first chamber associated with a different pedestal of the N pedestals of the first chamber;

h) obtain information from the secondary active wafer centering system of the first chamber indicative of a horizontal location of the center of the additional wafer;

i) determine a second end effector offset associated with the additional wafer based, at least in part, on the information obtained from the secondary active wafer centering system of the first chamber indicative of the horizontal location of the center of the additional wafer; and

j) cause the additional robot arm to provide the additional wafer to the secondary transfer pedestal of the first chamber based on the pedestal offset and the second end effector offset.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

a second chamber having an indexer and R pedestals in a circular array centered around a rotational axis of the indexer, wherein one of the R pedestals of the second chamber is a transfer pedestal of the second chamber, each pedestal of the second chamber is configured to support a wafer, R is an integer greater than one, the second chamber includes an active wafer centering system associated with the transfer pedestal of the second chamber, and the second chamber is a multi-station semiconductor processing chamber;

the one or more processors, the one or more memory devices, the wafer handling robot, the indexer of the second chamber, and the active wafer centering system of the second chamber are operably connected with each other, and

the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to:

f) select one of the R pedestals of the second chamber as a destination pedestal of the second chamber for an additional wafer;

g) select a corresponding second pedestal offset associated with the destination pedestal of the second chamber from a set of R second pedestal offsets of the second chamber, each second pedestal offset of the second chamber associated with a different pedestal of the R pedestals of the second chamber;

h) obtain information from the active wafer centering system of the second chamber indicative of a horizontal location of the center of the additional wafer;

i) determine a second end effector offset associated with the additional wafer based, at least in part, on the information obtained from the active wafer centering system of the second chamber indicative of the horizontal location of the center of the additional wafer; and

j) cause the robot arm to provide the additional wafer to the transfer pedestal of the second chamber based on the second pedestal offset and the second end effector offset.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the indexer arm includes a plurality of indexer arms,

each indexer arm is connected to a center hub of the indexer at one end and has a wafer support at the other end that is configured to rotate about a corresponding rotational axis relative to that indexer, and

the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to:

f) select a wafer support from the plurality of wafer supports supported by the indexer arms as a destination wafer support of the first chamber for a second wafer;

g) select a first wafer support offset associated with the destination wafer support of the first chamber from a set of N wafer support offsets, each wafer support offset associated with a different wafer support of the plurality of wafer supports;

h) obtain information from the active wafer centering system of the first chamber indicative of the horizontal location of the center of the second wafer;

i) determine a first end effector offset associated with the second wafer based, at least in part, on the information obtained from the active wafer centering system of the first chamber indicative of the horizontal location of the center of the second wafer; and

j) cause the wafer handling robot to provide the second wafer to the transfer pedestal of the first chamber based at least in part on the first wafer support offset and the first end effector offset.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to, for each pedestal of the N pedestals of the first chamber:

obtain the pedestal offset associated with the pedestal of the first chamber; and

store the pedestal offset associated with the pedestal of the first chamber in a data structure that associates each pedestal offset with the corresponding pedestal of the N pedestals of the first chamber.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein N equals four.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to:

determine a process condition for the chamber, and

perform (b) by selecting the first pedestal offset associated with the destination pedestal of the first chamber from a set of N pedestal offsets of the first chamber that is associated with the process condition, wherein there are multiple sets of N pedestal offsets of the first chamber, each associated with a different process condition.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a first chamber having an indexer and N pedestals in a circular array centered around a rotational axis of the indexer, wherein a pedestal of the N pedestals of the first chamber is a transfer pedestal, each pedestal of the first chamber is configured to support a wafer, N is an integer greater than one, the first chamber includes an active wafer centering system associated with the transfer pedestal, the first chamber is a multi-station semiconductor processing chamber, and the indexer has N indexer arms, each indexer arm having i) a proximal end connected with a central hub configured to rotate about a first axis and ii) a distal end supporting a wafer support that is configured to rotate about a corresponding second axis relative to that indexer arm;

a wafer handling robot having a robot arm configured to provide individual wafers to the transfer pedestal of the first chamber; and

a controller that includes one or more processors and one or more memory devices, wherein:

the one or more memory devices store computer-executable instructions for controlling the one or more processors to:

a) select a wafer support from the plurality of wafer supports supported by the indexer arms as a destination wafer support of the first chamber for a first wafer;

b) select a first wafer support offset associated with the destination wafer support of the first chamber from a set of N wafer support offsets, each wafer support offset associated with a different wafer support of the plurality of wafer supports;

c) obtain information from the active wafer centering system of the first chamber indicative of a horizontal location of the center of the first wafer;

e) cause the wafer handling robot to provide the first wafer to the transfer pedestal of the first chamber based at least in part on the first wafer support offset and the first end effector offset.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to:

f) cause, after (e), the indexer to rotate such that the corresponding second axis of the destination wafer support is aligned with the center of the first wafer,

g) cause the first wafer to be placed on the destination wafer support with the center of the first wafer aligned with the second axis of the destination wafer support,

h) cause the indexer to rotate, after (g), to move the first wafer from a station of the first chamber having the transfer pedestal to another station of the first chamber having a pedestal other than the transfer pedestal,

i) cause the first wafer to be placed on the pedestal of the other station,

j) cause the wafer support for the first wafer to rotate about the corresponding second axis relative to the indexer arm supporting the wafer support in between (g) and (i), and

k) cause the first chamber to perform one or more semiconductor processing operations on the first wafer while the first wafer is on the pedestal of the other station.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to, for each wafer of second through Nth wafers:

f) select a wafer support from the plurality of wafer supports supported by the indexer arms as a destination wafer support of the first chamber for that wafer;

g) select a corresponding wafer support offset associated with the destination wafer support of the first chamber for that wafer from the set of N wafer support offsets;

h) obtain information from the active wafer centering system of the first chamber indicative of a horizontal location of a center of that wafer;

i) determine a corresponding end effector offset for that wafer based, at least in part, on the information obtained from the active wafer centering system of the first chamber indicative of the horizontal location of the center of that wafer;

j) cause the wafer handling robot to provide that wafer to the transfer pedestal of the first chamber based at least in part on the corresponding wafer support offset for that wafer and the corresponding end effector offset for that wafer;

k) cause, after (j), the indexer to rotate such that the corresponding second axis of the destination wafer support for that wafer is aligned with the center of that wafer; and

l) Cause that wafer to be placed on the destination wafer support for that wafer with the center of that wafer aligned with the second axis of the destination wafer support for that wafer.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein:

each pedestal of the first chamber is associated with a corresponding station of the first chamber, and

the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to:

(m) cause, after (l), the indexer to move, in unison, each of the N wafers from the station of the first chamber that each wafer of the N wafers was in prior to (m) to a station of the first chamber that another of the N wafers was in prior to (m);

(n) cause each of the N wafers to be placed on the pedestal of the station that that wafer was moved to in (m);

(o) cause, in between (l) and (n), the destination wafer support for each of the wafers to rotate the corresponding wafer about the second axis of that destination wafer support relative to the indexer arm supporting that destination wafer support; and

(p) cause the first chamber to perform one or more processing operations on the N wafers after (n).

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to:

repeat (l) through (p) one or more times.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for further controlling the one or more processors to:

repeat (l) through (p) N or more times.

20. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for controlling the one or more processors to:

f) select one of the N wafer supports as a destination calibration wafer support of the first chamber for a first calibration wafer;

g) obtain information from the active wafer centering system indicative of a horizontal location of the center of the first calibration wafer;

h) cause the robot arm to provide the first calibration wafer to the transfer pedestal of the first chamber;

i) cause the indexer to rotate such that the destination calibration wafer support is positioned beneath the first calibration wafer;

j) cause the first calibration wafer to be placed on the destination calibration wafer support;

k) cause the destination calibration wafer support and the first calibration wafer supported thereby to rotate about the corresponding second axis by a first angular amount and in a first direction;

l) Cause the robot arm to retrieve the first calibration wafer from the first chamber;

m) obtain information from the active wafer centering system indicative of an updated horizontal location of the center of the first calibration wafer;

n) determine the wafer support offset for the destination calibration wafer support based, at least in part, on the horizontal location of the center of the first calibration wafer, the updated horizontal location of the center of the first calibration wafer, the first angular amount, and the first direction; and

o) store, in a data structure, the wafer support offset for the destination calibration wafer support in association with the wafer support that is the destination calibration wafer support.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the one or more memory devices store additional computer-executable instructions for controlling the one or more processors to repeat (f) through (o) N−1 times using a different one of the wafer supports as the destination calibration wafer support for each repetition.

Assignments (1)

ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 27, 2021

From: TOPPING, STEPHEN; NIU, DONG

To: LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION

Reel/Frame 057606/0076 →

Continuity (2)

Provisional Application 62826761 · Mar 29, 2019

Related Publication 20220172967A1 · Jun 2, 2022

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