Integrated substrate measurement system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12148647-B2
Application number	US-202217584322-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2022
Priority date	Jan 25, 2022
Publication date	Nov 19, 2024
Grant date	Nov 19, 2024

Abstract

An apparatus includes a substrate holder, a first actuator to rotate the substrate holder, a second actuator to move the substrate holder linearly, a first sensor to generate one or more first measurements or images of the substrate, a second sensor to generate one or more second measurements of target positions on the substrate, and a processing device. The processing device estimates a position of the substrate on the substrate holder and causes the first actuator to rotate the substrate holder about a first axis. The rotation causes an offset between a field of view of the second sensor and a target position on the substrate due to the substrate not being centered on the substrate holder. The processing device causes the second actuator to move the substrate holder linearly along a second axis to correct the offset. The processing device determines a profile across a surface of the substrate based on the one or more second measurements of the target positions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising
a substrate holder to secure a substrate;
a first actuator to rotate the substrate holder about a first axis;
a second actuator to move the substrate holder linearly along a second axis;
a first sensor to generate one or more first measurements or images of a first plurality of target positions on the substrate;
a second sensor to generate one or more second measurements of a second plurality of target positions on the substrate; and
a processing device to:
determine, based on the one or more first measurements or images of the first plurality of target positions, an estimate of a position of the substrate on the substrate holder;
cause the first actuator to rotate the substrate holder about the first axis for measurement of a target position of the second plurality of target positions, wherein the rotation causes an offset between a field of view of the second sensor and the target position on the substrate due to the substrate not being centered on the substrate holder;
cause the second actuator to move the substrate holder linearly along the second axis to correct the offset; and
determine a profile across a surface of the substrate based on the one or more second measurements of the second plurality of target positions generated by the second sensor.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further to:
determine one or more coordinate transformations between a first center of the substrate holder that corresponds to the first axis about which the substrate holder rotates and a second center of the substrate; and
apply the one or more coordinate transformations during the rotation to correct the offset.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first sensor is a camera configured to capture one or more images of at least one of an edge of the substrate or one or more features on the substrate, and the processing device is further to determine the second center of the substrate using the one or more images of at least one of the edge of the substrate or the one or more features of the substrate.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further to:
identify a plurality of points corresponding to an edge of the substrate; and
fit the plurality of points of the edge to a circle.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is to determine a notch angle that is representative of an angular component of the offset based on the one or more first measurements or images generated by the first sensor.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the substrate holder is a vacuum chuck with a mass between 1.0 kilograms and 2.0 kilograms.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further to:
move the substrate holder in a first direction along the second axis to cause the substrate holder to be positioned at a transfer station, wherein the substrate is received on the substrate holder while the substrate holder is positioned at the transfer station; and
move the substrate holder in a second direction along the second axis to cause an edge of the substrate to be detected by the first sensor.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second sensor is a reflectometry sensor, and wherein the one or more second measurements comprise reflectometry measurements.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus has dimensions between 20 inches and 28 inches in a first dimension, 22 inches and 28 in a second dimension, and 14 inches and 20 inches in a third dimension, wherein the first dimension, the second dimension, and the third dimension are mutually perpendicular.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a wafer, wherein the profile is a full wafer uniformity profile, and wherein the processing device determines the full wafer uniformity profile of the wafer in a time duration between 20 seconds and 50 seconds.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the first sensor or the second sensor comprises an infrared sensor, an ultraviolet sensor, a visible light sensor, or a combination thereof.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a reference target attached to the substrate holder, the reference target comprising a film having a known property;
wherein the second sensor is further to generate a measurement of the reference target; and
wherein the processing device is further to calibrate the second sensor by comparing the measurement of the reference target to the known property of the reference target.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a reference target attached to the substrate holder;
wherein the apparatus is to generate one or more third measurements of the reference target at a first position of the substrate holder using the first sensor and to generate one or more fourth measurements of the reference target at a second position of the substrate holder using the second sensor; and
wherein the processing device is to calibrate a position of the second sensor relative to the first sensor based on the one or more third measurements and the one or more fourth measurements.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more diffusers positioned above the substrate holder, the one or more diffusers to flow a gas towards the substrate; and
an exhaust to exhaust the gas out of an enclosure of the apparatus.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more integrated stops on the substrate holder to prevent the substrate from moving off of the substrate holder during movement of the substrate holder, the one or more integrated stops comprising at least one of a substrate-shaped pocket, one or more guard rails, or a plurality of protrusions.

16. A system comprising:
a transfer chamber;
a process chamber;
a load lock connected to the transfer chamber;
a factory interface connected to the load lock, the factory interface comprising a robot arm; and
an optical measurement device connected to the factory interface, wherein the robot arm is to move a substrate from the process chamber to the optical measurement device, and wherein the optical measurement device comprises:
a substrate holder to secure the substrate;
a first actuator to rotate the substrate holder about a first axis;
a second actuator to move the substrate holder linearly along a second axis;
a first sensor to generate one or more first measurements or images of a first plurality of target positions on the substrate;
a second sensor to generate one or more second measurements of a second plurality of target positions on the substrate; and
a processing device to:
determine, based on the one or more first measurements, an estimate of a position of the substrate on the substrate holder;
cause the first actuator to rotate the substrate holder about the first axis for measurement of a target position of the second plurality of target positions, wherein the rotation causes an offset between a field of view of the second sensor and the target position on the substrate due to the substrate not being centered on the substrate holder;
cause the second actuator to move the substrate holder linearly along the second axis to correct the offset; and
determine a profile across a surface of the substrate based on the one or more second measurements of the second plurality of target positions generated by the second sensor.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the optical measurement device is mechanically isolated from the factory interface and an external environment to isolate the

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Schulze Patricia
• FREEMAN Gregory John
• Kutney Michael
• Ramachandraiah Arunkumar
• Chou Chih Chung
• Zhu Zhaozhao
• Celik Ozkan

Classifications

• H10P72/7606

  characterised by edge clamping, e.g. clamping ring · CPC title

• H10P72/72

  using electrostatic chucks · CPC title

• H10P72/53 Primary

  using optical controlling means · CPC title

• H10P72/0606 Primary

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

• G01N21/9501

  Semiconductor wafers (manufacturing processes per se of semiconductor devices implementing a measuring step H10P74/20) · CPC title