Method for detecting environmental parameter in semiconductor fabrication facility

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11892382-B2
Application number	US-202117460020-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 27, 2021
Priority date	Aug 27, 2021
Publication date	Feb 6, 2024
Grant date	Feb 6, 2024

Abstract

A method of monitoring a semiconductor fabrication facility and a semiconductor fabrication facility are provided. The method includes collecting an ambient air in a clean room through a plurality of gas lines with their gas inlets arranged at a plurality of sampling positions in the clean room. The method also includes measuring a parameter of the ambient air by a plurality of metrology devices which are connected to the gas lines. At least two of the sampling positions are measured simultaneously. The method further includes issuing a warning when the parameter detected by the metrology devices is outside a range of acceptable values.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of monitoring a semiconductor fabrication facility, comprising:
collecting an ambient air in a clean room through a plurality of gas lines with their gas inlets arranged at a plurality of sampling positions in the clean room;
measuring a parameter of the ambient air by a plurality of metrology devices which are connected to the gas lines, wherein at least two of the sampling positions are measured simultaneously through at least two of the metrology devices; and
issuing a warning when the parameter detected by the metrology devices is outside a range of acceptable values.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the ambient air is collected at the sampling positions which are arranged in array in the clean room.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a time interval between two measurements of the concentration of the ambient air by each of the metrology devices is within 2 seconds.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the collecting the ambient air in the clean room is performed such that the ambient air is pumped into the gas inlets that are positioned on a raised floor of the clean room on which one or more processing tools for fabricating semiconductor wafers are located.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the ambient air in the gas lines are guided to the metrology devices which are positioned in a chassis located in a sub-clean room underneath the raised floor.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the parameter comprises total organic carbon (TOC) concentration, and the operation of measuring the parameter of the ambient air comprises:
forming ions by ionizing the ambient air;
guiding the ambient air which is ionized to a detecting unit; and
measuring an electric current produced by ions to determine the TOC concentration according to the electric current.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the parameter comprises TOC concentration and the method further comprises:
generating a TOC concentration contour map of the clean room according to measurement results produced by the metrology devices and data in relation to locations of the sampling positions.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein after the warning is issued, the method further comprises:
collecting the ambient air from the clean room through a sampling tube; and
identifying species in the ambient air collected by the sampling tube through a mass spectrometry.

9. A method of monitoring a semiconductor fabrication facility, comprising:
collecting an ambient air in a first processing area and a second processing area of a clean room through a plurality of gas lines, wherein each of the gas lines has a gas inlet, which is formed at one end thereof and exposed to the clean room;
monitoring a parameter of the ambient air in both of the first processing area and the second processing area by a plurality of metrology devices; and
issuing a warning when the parameter detected by the metrology devices in at least one of the first processing area and the second processing area is outside a range of acceptable values.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the number of the metrology devices for monitoring the parameter in an unit area of the first processing area is different from the number of the metrology devices for monitoring the parameter in an unit area of second processing area.

11. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein a time interval between two measurements of the parameter of the ambient air in the first processing area is different from a time interval between two measurements of the parameter of the ambient air in the second processing area.

12. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the range of acceptable values in the first processing area is different from the range of acceptable values in the second processing area.

13. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the collecting the ambient air in the clean room is performed such that the ambient air is pumped into the plurality of gas lines through their gas inlets, wherein the gas inlets are positioned on a raised floor of the clean room on which the processing tools are located.

14. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the parameter comprises total organic carbon (TOC) concentration, and the operation of monitoring the parameter of the ambient air comprises:
forming ions by ionizing the ambient air;
guiding the ambient air which is ionized to a detecting unit; and
measuring an electric current produced by ions to determine the TOC concentration according to the electric current.

15. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the parameter comprises TOC concentration and the method further comprises:
generating a TOC concentration contour map of the clean room according to measurement results produced by the metrology devices and data in relation to the locations of a plurality of sampling positions at which the ambient air is collected.

16. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein after the warning is issued, the method further comprises:
identifying location of the abnormality;
collecting the ambient air from one of the first processing area and the second processing area that is identified abnormal; and
identifying species in the ambient air through mass spectrometry.

17. A semiconductor fabrication facility, comprising:
a clean room;
a sub-clean room located underneath the clean room and separated from the clean room by a raised floor;
a plurality of gas lines extending from the clean room to the sub-clean room, wherein each of the gas lines comprises a gas inlet, and the gas inlets are positioned at different sampling positions in the clean room;
a plurality of metrology devices, wherein each of the metrology devices is connected with one of the gas lines and configured to independently measure a parameter of an ambient air collected from the sampling positions by the one of the gas lines; and
a database server configured to process measurement results produced by the metrology devices and to identify an abnormity while the parameter is outside a range of acceptable values.

18. The semiconductor fabrication facility as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the metrology devices each comprises a photo ionization detector.

19. The semiconductor fabrication facility as claimed in claim 17 , further comprising a plurality of pumps connected to the gas lines and configured to collect the ambient air from the clean room to the metrology devices.

20. The semiconductor fabrication facility as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the clean room comprises a first processing area and a second processing area, wherein different processing tools are positioned in the first processing area and the second processing area to perform different processes over semiconductor wafers, and the number of sampling positions per unit area in the first processing area is different from the number of the sampling positions per unit area in the second processing area.

Assignees

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Tsao Chih-Ming
• Chuang Tzu-Sou

Classifications

• H10P72/06

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

• G01N1/24 Primary

  Suction devices {(G01N1/22 - G01N1/2294 take precedence)} · CPC title

• G01N1/2273

  Atmospheric sampling · CPC title

• G08B3/10

  using electric transmission; using electromagnetic transmission · CPC title

• G01N1/2205

  with filters · CPC title