Substrate-like particle sensor

1. A substrate-like particle sensor assembly for sensing particles within a sealed processing chamber of substrates, the substrate-like particle sensor assembly comprising:

a substrate-like base portion having a form factor that is similar to the substrates;

an electronics enclosure disposed on the substrate-like base portion, the electronics enclosure enclosing electronics;

a power source disposed within the electronics enclosure;

a controller disposed within the electronics enclosure and operably coupled to the power source; and

a particle sensor integrally attached to the electronics enclosure and operably coupled to the controller, the particle sensor having a light source disposed near a central region of the particle sensor and a plurality of illumination detectors disposed near a periphery of the particle sensor, the particle sensor also having a plurality of mirrors disposed near the periphery of the particle sensor and arranged to bend a light beam across a surface of the particle sensor.

2. The substrate-like particle sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the light source is a laser light source.

3. The substrate-like particle sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the light source is an LED light source.

4. The substrate-like particle sensor assembly of claim 1 , and further comprising a wireless communication module that is coupled to the controller and is configured to communicate particle sensing information while the substrate-like sensor assembly is positioned within the wafer processing system.

5. The substrate-like particle sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to calculate a quantity of particles present within the wafer processing system based upon a parameter sensed by the sensor.

6. The substrate-like particle sensor assembly of claim 5 , and further comprising a display operably coupled to the controller and configured to provide an indication of particle quantity.

7. The substrate-like particle sensor assembly of claim 1 , and further comprising a display operably coupled to the controller and configured to provide an indication of relative to particle quantity.

8. The substrate-like particle sensor assembly of claim 7 , wherein the display indicates a go/no-go based upon a level of detected particles within the wafer processing system.

9. The substrate-like particle sensor assembly of claim 1 , and further comprising a reset button operably coupled to the controller.

10. The substrate-like particle sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is configured to provide an indication of particle size.