Method and hardware for post maintenance vacuum recovery system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12072267-B2
Application number	US-202117459545-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 27, 2021
Priority date	Aug 31, 2020
Publication date	Aug 27, 2024
Grant date	Aug 27, 2024

Abstract

A method and system for vacuum chamber integrity verification after chamber maintenance or venting. The method includes a computing system causing a measurement cycle that includes causing a pump to pump down pressure of the vacuum chamber for a set duration of time or to a target pressure; causing an isolation valve to isolate the vacuum chamber; receiving sensor data from an optical emission sensor; and analyzing the sensor data to determine whether the sensor data satisfies one or more sensor data criteria. The method further includes, the computing system, causing one or more repetitions of the measurement cycle until the sensor data meets the one or more sensor data criteria. The method further includes analyzing the sensor data that meets the sensor data criteria to determine at least one of vacuum chamber leak rate or vacuum chamber moisture content. The system includes the vacuum chamber, pump, isolation valve, optical emission sensor, and computing system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for verifying vacuum chamber leak integrity, the method comprising:
causing, by a computing system, a measurement cycle comprising:
causing a pump to pump down pressure of a semiconductor processing chamber for a set duration of time, independent of a target pressure;
responsive to completion of the set duration of time, causing an isolation valve to isolate the semiconductor processing chamber;
receiving sensor data from an optical emission sensor; and
analyzing the sensor data to determine whether the sensor data satisfies one or more sensor data criteria;

causing, by the computing system, one or more repetitions of the measurement cycle until the sensor data meets the one or more sensor data criteria; and
analyzing the sensor data that meets the sensor data criteria to determine a vacuum chamber leak rate.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analyzing of the sensor data comprises determining a stability of the sensor data across a plurality of measurement cycles by:
comparing first sensor data from a most recent measurement cycle to previous sensor data from one or more previous measurement cycles; and
determining whether a difference between the first sensor data and the previous sensor data is less than a difference threshold.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the sensor data criteria comprise the difference threshold, a sensor data value threshold, and a measurement cycle number threshold, and wherein the sensor data meets the one or more sensor data criteria if a) the difference between the first sensor data and the previous sensor data is less than the difference threshold for a number of measurement cycles that at least equals the measurement cycle number threshold, or b) the sensor data for a number of measurement cycles that at least equals the measurement cycle number threshold is below the sensor data value threshold.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the sensor data value threshold comprises at least one of a purity number threshold, a rate of pressure rise threshold, or an optical sensor integration time threshold, as measured for one or more gases.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more gases are selected from nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, argon, or hydroxyl.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor data received from the optical emission sensor comprises at least one of semiconductor processing chamber pressure, partial pressure of one or more gases, composition of atmosphere in the semiconductor processing chamber, purity number for one or more gases, optical sensor integration time for one or more gases, rate of pressure rise of one or more gases, optical emissions measurements, or a combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein causing the pump to pump down pressure of the semiconductor processing chamber occurs for a first duration of about 1 minute to about 5 minutes.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein causing the isolation valve to isolate the semiconductor processing chamber occurs for a second duration of about 30 seconds to about 90 seconds.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor data correlates to rate of pressure rise in the semiconductor processing chamber.

10. A method for monitoring vacuum chamber moisture content, the method comprising:
causing, by a computing system, a measurement cycle comprising:
causing a pump to pump down pressure of a semiconductor processing chamber for a set duration of time, independent of a target pressure;
responsive to completion of the set duration of time, causing an isolation valve to isolate the semiconductor processing chamber;
receiving hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl related sensor data from an optical emission sensor; and
analyzing the hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data to determine whether the hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data satisfies one or more sensor data criteria;

causing, by the computing system, one or more repetitions of the measurement cycle until the hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data meets the one or more sensor data criteria; and
analyzing the hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data that meets the one or more sensor data criteria to determine vacuum chamber moisture content.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the analyzing the hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data comprises determining a stability of the hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data across a plurality of measurement cycles by:
comparing a first hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data from a most recent measurement cycle to a previous hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data from one or more previous measurement cycles; and
determining whether a difference between the first hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data and the previous hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data is less than a difference threshold.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the sensor data criteria comprise the difference threshold, a sensor data value threshold, and a measurement cycle number threshold, and wherein the hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data meets the one or more sensor data criteria if a) the difference between the first hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data and the previous hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data is less than the difference threshold for a number of measurement cycles that at least equals the measurement cycle number threshold, or b) the hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data for a number of measurement cycles that at least equals the measurement cycle number threshold is below the sensor data value threshold.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the sensor data value threshold comprises at least one of purity number threshold, rate of pressure rise threshold, or an optical sensor integration time threshold, as measured for hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data received from the optical emission sensor comprises at least one of semiconductor processing chamber pressure, partial pressure of hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl, composition of atmosphere in the semiconductor processing chamber, purity number for hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl, optical sensor integration time for hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl, optical emissions measurements for hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl, rate of pressure rise of hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl, or a combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein causing the pump to pump down pressure of the semiconductor processing chamber occurs for a first duration of about 1 minute to about 5 minutes.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein causing the isolation valve to isolate the semiconductor processing chamber occurs for a second duration of about 30 seconds to about 90 seconds.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the hydrogen, oxygen, or hydroxyl sensor data correlates to rate of pressure rise in the semiconductor processing chamber.

18. A system, comprising:
a vacuum chamber comprising a body coupled to an isolation valve configured to isolate a cavity formed by the body;
an optical emission sensor mounted onto the isolation valve, the optical emission sensor configured to generate sensor data corresponding to emission of one or more gases from the cavity;
a pump coupled to the vacuum chamber, the pump configured to manipulate pressure in the vacuum chamber; and
a computing system configured to:
cause a measurement cycle comprising:
cause the pump to pump down pressure of the vacuum chamber for a set duration of time, independent of a target pressure;
responsive to completi

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Hilkene Martin A

Classifications

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title

• H01J37/32972

  Spectral analysis · CPC title

• C30B25/16

  Controlling or regulating (controlling or regulating in general G05) · CPC title

• G01M3/34 Primary

  by testing the possibility of maintaining the vacuum in containers, e.g. in can-testing machines · CPC title

• H01J37/32834 Primary

  Exhausting · CPC title