Ultrathin conformal coatings for electrostatic dissipation in semiconductor process tools

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11540432-B2
Application number	US-202016890336-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 2, 2020
Priority date	Sep 26, 2019
Publication date	Dec 27, 2022
Grant date	Dec 27, 2022

Abstract

Disclosed in some embodiments is a chamber component (such as an end effector body) coated with an ultrathin electrically-dissipative material to provide a dissipative path from the coating to the ground. The coating may be deposited via a chemical precursor deposition to provide a uniform, conformal, and porosity free coating in a cost effective manner. In an embodiment wherein the chamber component comprises an end effector body, the end effector body may further comprise replaceable contact pads for supporting a substrate and the contact surface of the contact pads head may also be coated with an electrically-dissipative material.

First claim

We claim:

1. An end effector for a robot arm, comprising:
an end effector body; and
a coating deposited on a surface of the end effector body, the coating comprising an electrically-dissipative material, wherein the electrically-dissipative material is to provide a dissipative path from the coating to ground, wherein the coating is uniform, conformal, and porosity free, wherein the coating has a thickness ranging from about 20 nm to about 500 nm, and wherein the coating has an electrical resistance ranging from about 1×10 5 ohm/sq to about 1×10 11 ohm/sq.

2. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the electrical resistance of the coating remains unchanged after thermal cycling at a temperature ranging from about 300° C. to about 700° C.

3. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the coating has a thickness ranging from about 20 nm to about 200 nm.

4. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the end effector body comprises an electrically-conductive material, a ceramic, or quartz.

5. The end effector of claim 4 , wherein the end effector body comprises a conductive material that is a metal.

6. The end effector of claim 4 , wherein the end effector body comprises quartz and the coating is transparent.

7. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the end effector body comprises a ceramic that is bulk alumina.

8. The end effector of claim 7 , wherein the electrically-dissipative material comprises alumina, titania, or a combination thereof.

9. The end effector of claim 8 , wherein the electrically-dissipative material comprises an alternating stack of alumina and titania.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein a ratio of a thickness of each alumina layer to a thickness of each titania layer in the alternating stack of alumina and titania ranges from about 10:1 to about 1:1.

11. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the coating is resistant to corrosive plasma.

12. The end effector of claim 1 , further comprising a replaceable contact pad disposed on the end effector body, the replaceable contact pad comprising a contact pad head having a contact surface configured to contact a substrate, and a shaft coupled to the contact pad head and received in an aperture formed in the body of the end effector and extending into a recess.

13. The end effector of claim 12 , wherein the coating is deposited on the surface of the end effector body and on the contact surface of the contact pad head.

14. A method comprising:
depositing a coating onto a surface of an end effector for a robot arm using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process or a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, the coating comprising an electrically-dissipative material,
wherein the electrically-dissipative material is to provide a dissipative path from the coating to ground, wherein the coating is uniform, conformal, and porosity free, wherein the coating has a thickness ranging from about 20 nm to about 500 nm, and wherein the coating has an electrical resistance ranging from about 1×10 5 ohm/sq to about 1×10 11 ohm/sq.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein depositing the coating using the ALD process comprises performing a deposition cycle comprising:
injecting a first material-containing precursor into a deposition chamber containing the end effector body to cause the first material-containing precursor to adsorb onto the surface of the end effector body to form a first half-reaction;
injecting a first reactant into the deposition chamber to form a second half reaction;
repeating the injecting the first material-containing precursor and the injecting the first reactant one or more times until a first target thickness of a first material-containing layer of the coating is achieved;
injecting a second material-containing precursor into the deposition chamber to cause the second material-containing precursor to adsorb onto the first material-containing layer to form a third half reaction;
injecting a second reactant into the deposition chamber to form a fourth half reaction; and
repeating the injecting the second material-containing precursor and the injecting the second reactant one or more times until a second target thickness of a second material-containing layer of the coating is achieved; and
repeating the deposition cycle one or more times until the thickness ranging from about 20 nm to about 500 nm is achieved.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the coating comprises an alternating stack of alumina and titania,
wherein the first material-containing precursor is an aluminum-containing precursor that comprises at least one of trimethylaluminum (TMA), diethylaluminum ethoxide, tris(ethylmethylamido)aluminum, aluminum sec-butoxide, aluminum tribromide, aluminum trichloride, triethylaluminum (TEA), triisobutylaluminum, trimethylaluminum, or tris(diethylamido)aluminum;
wherein the second material-containing precursor is a titanium-containing precursor that comprises at least one of tetrakis(dimethylamido)titanium;
wherein the first reactant and the second reactant comprises, independently, at least one of water, ozone, alcohol, and oxygen.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein a ratio of a thickness of each alumina layer to a thickness of each titania layer in the alternating stack of alumina and titania ranges from about 10:1 to about 1:1.

18. A substrate processing system, comprising:
a chamber;
a robot disposed in the chamber; and
a robot arm connected to the robot, the robot arm comprising:
an end effector body;
a replaceable contact pad disposed on the end effector body, the replaceable contact pad comprising a contact pad head having a contact surface configured to contact a substrate, and a shaft coupled to the contact pad head and received in an aperture formed in the body of the end effector and extending into a recess; and
a coating deposited on a surface of the end effector body and on the contact surface of the contact pad head, the coating comprising an electrically-dissipative material, wherein the electrically-dissipative material is to provide a dissipative path from the coating to ground, and wherein the coating is uniform and conformal.

19. The substrate processing system of claim 18 , wherein the end effector body comprises an electrically-conductive material, a ceramic, or quartz, wherein the coating has an electrical-resistance ranging from about 1×10 5 ohm/sq to about 1×10 11 ohm/sq, wherein the coating has a thickness ranging from about 20 nm to about 500 nm, and wherein the coating is porosity free.

20. The substrate processing system of claim 18 , wherein the end effector body comprises bulk alumina, and wherein the electrically-dissipative material comprises an alternating stack of alumina and titania.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Natu Gayatri
• Bajaj Geetika
• Goradia Prerna
• Thakare Darshan
• Fenwick David
• He Xiaoming
• Seppaelae Sanni
• Sun Jennifer
• Thanu Rajkumar
• Hudgens Jeff
• Muthukamatchy Karuppasamy
• Dhayalan Arun

Classifications

• H10P72/7616 Primary

  characterised by a coating, a hardness or a material · CPC title

• H01J37/32495 Primary

  Means for protecting the vessel against plasma · CPC title

• H01J2237/3321

  CVD [Chemical Vapor Deposition] · CPC title

• H05F1/00

  Preventing the formation of electrostatic charges · CPC title

• H01J37/32477

  characterised by the means for protecting vessels or internal parts, e.g. coatings · CPC title