Encapsulated instrumented substrate apparatus for acquiring measurement parameters in high temperature process applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11823925-B2
Application number	US-201916665960-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 28, 2019
Priority date	Jun 15, 2016
Publication date	Nov 21, 2023
Grant date	Nov 21, 2023

Abstract

An apparatus includes an instrumented substrate apparatus, a substrate assembly including a bottom and top substrate mechanically coupled, an electronic assembly, a nested enclosure assembly including an outer and inner enclosure wherein the outer enclosure encloses the inner enclosure and the inner enclosure encloses the electronic assembly. An insulating medium between the inner and outer enclosure and a sensor assembly communicatively coupled to the electronic assembly including one or more sensors disposed at one or more locations within the substrate assembly wherein the electronic assembly is configured to receive one or more measurement parameters from the one or more sensors.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a substrate assembly including a bottom substrate and a top substrate, wherein the top substrate is mechanically couplable to the bottom substrate, wherein at least one of the bottom substrate or the top substrate are formed from at least one of silicon, silicon carbide, silicon nitride or silicon dioxide;
an electronic assembly;
a nested enclosure assembly including an outer enclosure and an inner enclosure, wherein the outer enclosure encloses the inner enclosure, wherein the inner enclosure encloses at least the electronic assembly;
an insulating medium disposed within a cavity between an outer surface of the inner enclosure and an inner surface of the outer enclosure; and
a sensor assembly communicatively coupled to the electronic assembly, wherein the sensor assembly includes one or more sensors, the one or more sensors disposed within the substrate assembly at one or more locations across the substrate assembly, wherein the one or more sensors are configured to acquire one or more measurement parameters at the one or more locations across the substrate assembly, wherein the electronic assembly is configured to receive the one or more measurement parameters from the one or more sensors.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise:
one or more temperature sensors configured to acquire one or more parameters indicative of temperature.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the one or more temperature sensors comprise:
one or more thermocouple devices.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the one or more temperature sensors comprise:
one or more resistance temperature devices.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise:
one or more pressure sensors configured to acquire one or more parameters indicative of pressure.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise:
one or more chemical sensors configured to acquire one or more parameters indicative of a presence of a targeted chemical.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise:
one or more radiation sensors configured to acquire one or more parameters indicative of a presence of radiation.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the bottom substrate or the top substrate are formed from at least one of a ceramic, a cermet, a crystalline material or a glass.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the bottom substrate and the top substrate are sealed by at least one of welding or bonding.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the enclosure assembly is mechanically coupled to the substrate assembly.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the enclosure assembly is sealed to the substrate assembly by at least one of welding or bonding.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the electronic assembly comprises:
one or more processors;
communication circuitry;
memory; and
a power source.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a dummy enclosure assembly, wherein the dummy enclosure assembly is disposed at a position on the substrate assembly to maintain a center of mass of the apparatus at a center of the substrate assembly.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more sensors are disposed on or within a sensor substrate, wherein the sensor substrate is disposed between the bottom substrate and the top substrate of the substrate assembly.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the sensor substrate comprises:
at least one of, a silicon substrate, a silicon carbide substrate, a silicon nitride substrate, a gallium nitride substrate, a gallium arsenide substrate, a germanium substrate, or a substrate of gallium and indium.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the insulating medium comprises:
a porous solid material.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the insulating medium is opaque.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the insulating medium is absorptive.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the insulating medium comprises:
an aerogel.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the insulating medium comprises:
a ceramic material.

21. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the insulating medium comprises:
one or more gases.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the one or more gases are maintained at vacuum pressure, wherein vacuum pressure is a pressure less than atmospheric pressure.

23. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more support structures supporting the inner enclosure on the internal surface of the outer enclosure.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the one or more support structures are formed from a thermal insulating material.

25. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more support structures for supporting the outer enclosure on the substrate assembly.

26. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the inner enclosure is formed from a material having a heat capacity above a selected value.

27. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the inner enclosure is formed from at least one of a metal, an alloy, or a composite.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 , wherein the inner enclosure is formed from at least one of an iron-nickel-cobalt alloy, an iron-nickel alloy, or an iron-carbon alloy.

29. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the inner enclosure is formed from one or more crystalline materials.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 , wherein the inner enclosure is formed from at least one of sapphire or crystalline quartz.

31. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the outer enclosure is formed from at least one of a ceramic, a cermet, a crystalline material or a glass.

32. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the outer enclosure is formed from at least one of silicon, silicon carbide, silicon nitride or silicon dioxide.

33. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the electronic assembly is configured to calculate one or more values from the one or more acquired measurement parameters.

34. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a remote data system communicatively coupled to the electronic assembly, wherein the electronic assembly is configured to transmit the one or more measurement parameters to the remote data system, wherein the remote data system is configured to calculate a value from the one or more acquired measurement parameters acquired by the one or more sensors.

35. The apparatus of claim 34 , wherein the remote data assembly is configured to map the one or more values to the one or more locations of the substrate assembly.

36. The apparatus of claim 35 , wherein the remote data assembly is configured to report the mapped one or more values to a user interface.

37. An apparatus comprising:
a substrate assembly including a bottom substrate and a top substrate, wherein the top substrate is mechanically couplable to the bottom substrate, wherein at least one of the bottom substrate or the top substrate are formed from at least one of silicon, silicon carbide, silicon nitride or silicon dioxide;
an electronic assembly;
a nested enclosure assembly including an outer enclosure and an inner enclosure, wherein the outer enclosure encloses the inner enclosure, wh

Assignees

• Kla Tencor Corp
• Kla Corp

Inventors

• Sun Mei
• Jensen Earl
• Zhou Jing G
• Liu Ran

Classifications

• H10P72/7618

  characterised by a movable susceptor, stage or support, others than those only rotating on their own vertical axis, e.g. susceptors on a rotating carrousel · CPC title

• H10P72/0602

  Temperature monitoring · CPC title

• H10P72/0604 Primary

  Process monitoring, e.g. flow or thickness monitoring · CPC title

• H10P72/06

  Apparatus for monitoring, sorting, marking, testing or measuring · CPC title

• H10P72/0431

  Apparatus for thermal treatment · CPC title