Calibration of an aligner station of a processing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11823937-B2
Application number	US-202016990839-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 11, 2020
Priority date	Aug 19, 2019
Publication date	Nov 21, 2023
Grant date	Nov 21, 2023

Abstract

A calibration object is retrieved, by a first robot arm of a transfer chamber, from a processing chamber connected to the transfer chamber and placed in a load lock connected to the transfer chamber. The calibration object is retrieved from the load lock by a second robot arm of a factory interface connected to the load lock and placed at an aligner station housed in or connected to the factory interface. The calibration object has a first orientation at the aligner station. A difference is determined between the first orientation and an initial target orientation at the aligner station. A first characteristic error value associated with the processing chamber is determined based on the determined difference. The first characteristic error value is recorded in a storage medium. The aligner station is to use the first characteristic error value for alignment of objects to be placed in the processing chamber.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
retrieving, by a first robot arm of a transfer chamber, a calibration object from a processing chamber connected to the transfer chamber, the calibration object having a target processing chamber orientation in the processing chamber;
placing, by the first robot arm, the calibration object in a load lock connected to the transfer chamber;
retrieving the calibration object from the load lock by a second robot arm of a factory interface connected to the load lock;
placing, by the second robot arm, the calibration object at an aligner station housed in or connected to the factory interface, wherein the calibration object has a first orientation at the aligner station;
determining a difference between the first orientation at the aligner station and a target aligner orientation at the aligner station, wherein the target aligner orientation at the aligner station is associated with the target processing chamber orientation in the processing chamber;
determining a first characteristic error value associated with a transfer path between the processing chamber and the aligner station based on the difference between the first orientation and the target aligner orientation; and
responsive to detecting, at the aligner station, an object to be transferred to the processing chamber along the transfer path, aligning, by the aligner station, the object to be placed in the processing chamber according to the target processing chamber orientation based on the target aligner orientation as adjusted by the first characteristic error value determined for the transfer path between the processing chamber and the aligner station.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the object comprises a process kit ring, and wherein aligning the object to be placed in the processing chamber comprises:
retrieving, by the second robot arm, the process kit ring from a storage location;
placing, by the second robot arm, the process kit ring at the aligner station;
determining that the process kit ring is to be placed in the processing chamber;
adjusting the process kit ring to a corrected target orientation based on the target aligner orientation as adjusted by the first characteristic error value;
retrieving the process kit ring from the aligner by the second robot arm;
placing the process kit ring in the load lock;
retrieving the process kit ring from the load lock by the first robot arm; and
placing the process kit ring in the processing chamber by the first robot arm, wherein the process kit ring placed in the processing chamber approximately has the target orientation in the processing chamber.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the process kit ring placed in the processing chamber has the target orientation in the processing chamber to within a 0.00001° of accuracy.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the calibration object is a calibration ring.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a substrate support of the processing chamber comprises one or more coupling components, the method further comprising:
prior to retrieving the calibration object from the processing chamber, placing the calibration object in the processing chamber by the first robot arm, wherein, responsive to the calibration object being placed at the substrate support in the processing chamber, each coupling component engages with the calibration object to cause the calibration object to be placed at the target processing chamber orientation.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the calibration object comprises a calibration wafer, wherein the one or more coupling components comprise one or more lift pins.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the calibration object comprises a calibration ring composed of a material having a first thermal expansion coefficient, and wherein a substrate support of the processing chamber has a second thermal expansion coefficient that is lower than the first thermal expansion coefficient, the method further comprising:
prior to retrieving the calibration ring from the processing chamber, placing the calibration ring around the substrate support in the processing chamber by the first robot arm, wherein upon placement of the calibration ring in the processing chamber, the calibration ring has an orientation error associated with the first characteristic error value; and
heating an interior of the processing chamber, wherein responsive to the heating the calibration ring expands more than the substrate support, causing a change in orientation of the calibration ring that removes the orientation error; and
cooling the interior of the processing chamber, wherein the calibration ring has the target processing chamber orientation in the processing chamber after the cooling.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
placing, by the second robot arm, the calibration object in the load lock;
retrieving, by the second robot arm, the calibration object from the load lock;
placing, by the second robot arm, the calibration object at the aligner station, wherein the calibration object has a second orientation at the aligner station;
determining a difference between the first orientation at the aligner station and the second orientation at the aligner station;
determining a second characteristic error value associated with the load lock based on the difference between the first orientation and the second orientation; and
recording the second characteristic error value in a storage medium, wherein the aligner station is to further use the second characteristic error value for alignment of objects to be placed in the load lock before being placed in the processing chamber.

9. A method comprising:
placing a calibration object in a processing chamber;
capturing, by a first camera at the processing chamber, a first calibration object image depicting a first orientation of the calibration object in the processing chamber;
retrieving, by a first robot arm of a transfer chamber connected to the processing chamber, the calibration object from the processing chamber;
placing, by the first robot arm, the calibration object in a load lock connected to the transfer chamber;
retrieving the calibration object from the load lock by a second robot arm of a factory interface connected to the load lock;
placing, by the second robot arm, the calibration object at an aligner station housed in or connected to the factory interface, wherein the calibration object has a second orientation at the aligner station;
determining, based on the second orientation and the first orientation depicted in the first calibration object image, a characteristic error value associated with a transfer path between the processing chamber and the aligner station; and
responsive to detecting, at the aligner station, an object to be transferred to the processing chamber along the transfer path, aligning, by the aligner station, the object to be placed in the process chamber according to a target processing chamber orientation based on a target aligner orientation of the object at the aligner station as adjusted by the characteristic error value determined for the transfer path between the processing chamber and the aligner station.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining the characteristic error value comprises:
capturing, by a second camera at the aligner station, a second calibration object image depicting the second orientation of the calibration object;
determining a first orientation error associated with the first orientation depicted in the first calibration object image;
determining a second orientation error associated with the second orientation depicted in the second calibration object image; and
determining a diffe

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Bergantz Nicholas Michael
• Schmid Andreas
• Volfovski Leon
• Kim Sanggyum
• Cox Damon
• Wirth Paul

Classifications

• H10P72/7602

  the wafers being placed on a robot blade or gripped by a gripper for conveyance · CPC title

• H10P72/0606 Primary

  Position monitoring, e.g. misposition detection or presence detection · CPC title

• H10P72/0466

  characterised by the construction of the load-lock chamber · CPC title

• H10P72/0464

  characterised by the construction of the transfer chamber · CPC title

• B25J9/1692

  Calibration of manipulator · CPC title