Foam in ion implantation system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11222768-B2
Application number	US-201916551042-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 26, 2019
Priority date	Sep 7, 2018
Publication date	Jan 11, 2022
Grant date	Jan 11, 2022

Abstract

Disclosed is a semiconductor processing apparatus including one or more components having a conductive or nonconductive porous material. In some embodiments, an ion implanter may include a plurality of beam line components for directing an ion beam to a target, and a porous material along a surface of at least one of the plurality of beamline components.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ion implanter, comprising:
a plurality of beam line components for directing an ion beam to a target, the plurality of beam line components including a plasma flood gun;
a shield assembly directly coupled to the plasma flood gun, the shield assembly comprising a first shield having a first main side facing the target; and
a porous material along the first main side of the first shield.

2. The ion implanter of claim 1 , wherein the target is a wafer located within a process chamber.

3. The ion implanter of claim 2 , wherein the porous material is further disposed along a process chamber wall of the process chamber.

4. The ion implanter of claim 2 , wherein the wafer is supported by a platen, and wherein the porous material is further disposed along a surface of the platen.

5. The ion implanter of claim 1 , the porous material comprising an aluminum foam, a silicon carbide foam, an aluminum oxide foam, or a graphite foam.

6. The ion implanter of claim 1 , wherein the porous material has a uniform pore density.

7. The ion implanter of claim 1 , wherein the porous material has a non-uniform pore density.

8. The ion implanter of claim 1 , wherein the first main side of the first shield defines a plane oriented perpendicular to a beam line defined by a direction of travel of the ion beam.

9. An apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of beam line components for directing an ion beam to a wafer, the plurality of beam line components including a plasma flood gun;
a shield assembly directly coupled to the plasma flood gun, the shield assembly comprising a first shield having a first main side facing the wafer; and
a porous material along the first main side of the first shield.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the wafer is located within a process chamber.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the porous material is further disposed along a process chamber wall of the process chamber.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the wafer is supported by a platen, and wherein the porous material is further disposed along a surface of the platen.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , the porous material comprising an aluminum foam, a silicon carbide foam, an aluminum oxide foam, or a graphite foam.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the porous material has a uniform pore density or a non-uniform pore density.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the porous material is further disposed along a surface of the plasma flood gun.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the first main side of the shield assembly defines a plane oriented perpendicular to a beam line defined by a direction of travel of the ion beam.

17. An ion implanter, comprising:
a plurality of beam line components for directing an ion beam to a wafer within a processing chamber, the plurality of beam line components including a plasma flood gun;
a shield assembly directly coupled to the plasma flood gun, the shield assembly comprising a first shield having a first main side facing the wafer; and
a porous material along the first main side of the first shield.

18. The ion implanter of claim 17 , wherein the wafer is supported by a platen, and wherein the porous material is further disposed along a surface of the platen.

19. The ion implanter of claim 17 , the porous material comprising an aluminum foam, a silicon carbide foam, an aluminum oxide foam, or a graphite foam.

20. The ion implanter of claim 17 , wherein the porous material is further disposed along a surface of the plasma flood gun.

Assignees

• Varian Semiconductor Equipment Ass Inc

Inventors

• Pixley James Alan
• Hermanson Eric D
• Layne Philip
• Stone Lyudmila
• Stacy Thomas

Classifications

• H10P90/15

  by making porous regions on the surface · CPC title

• H10W20/051

  by ion implantation · CPC title

• H01J37/3171 Primary

  for ion implantation · CPC title

• H01J2237/022

  Avoiding or removing foreign or contaminating particles, debris or deposits on sample or tube · CPC title

• H01J37/32412

  Plasma immersion ion implantation · CPC title