Apparatus and methods to transfer substrates into and out of a spatial multi-substrate processing tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12183618-B2
Application number	US-202017061015-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 1, 2020
Priority date	Oct 1, 2020
Publication date	Dec 31, 2024
Grant date	Dec 31, 2024

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for loading and unloading substrates from a spatial processing chamber are described. A support assembly has a rotatable center base and support arms extending therefrom. A support shaft is at the outer end of the support arms and a substrate support is on the support shaft. Primary lift pins are positioned within openings in the substrate support. Secondary lift pins are positioned within openings in the support arms and are aligned with the primary lift pins. An actuation plate within the processing volume causes, upon movement of the support assembly, the primary lift pins to elevate through contact with the secondary lift pins.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process chamber comprising:
a support assembly comprising:
a rotatable center base defining a rotational axis, the rotatable center base movable along the rotational axis;
at least two support arms extending from the center base, each of the support arms having an inner end in contact with the center base, a top surface and a bottom surface defining a thickness of the support arms;
a support shaft at an outer end of each of the support arms;
a substrate support on each of the support shafts, the substrate support having a support surface and bottom surface defining a thickness of the substrate support, the bottom surface spaced a distance from the top surface of the support arm;
at least three primary lift pins positioned within openings in each of the substrate supports, each of the primary lift pins having a top end and a bottom end defining a length of the primary lift pin, at least a portion of the bottom end extending from the bottom surface of the substrate support, the primary lift pins and openings configured to cooperatively interact to prevent the primary lift pins from passing fully through the bottom surface of the substrate support;
at least three secondary lift pins positioned within openings in the support arms, the secondary lift pins aligned with the primary lift pins, each of the secondary lift pins having a top end and a bottom end defining a length, at least a portion of the bottom end extending from the bottom surface of the support arm, the secondary lift pins and openings in the support arms configured to cooperatively interact to prevent the secondary lift pins from passing fully through the bottom surface of the support arms; and

an actuation plate positioned a distance from the rotational axis to align with the outer end of the support arms, the actuation plate having an actuation surface spaced a distance from the bottom surface of the support arm and the bottom surface of the secondary lift-pins,
wherein the support assembly is movable between a process position in which there is a space between the bottom ends of the primary lift pins and the top ends of the secondary lift pins, and a transfer position in which one of the support arms is aligned with the actuation plate and the bottom end of the primary lift pins are in direct contact with the top ends of the secondary lift pins,
and, in the transfer position, the primary lift pins are extended above a top surface of the substate support by movement of the support assembly along the rotation axis toward the actuation plate to lift the secondary lift pins and the primary lift pins.

2. The process chamber of claim 1 , wherein the support assembly is movable along the rotational axis between the process position and the transfer position.

3. The process chamber of claim 2 , wherein when the support assembly is in the process position, the bottom end of the primary lift pins extend a process distance from the bottom surface of the substrate support and are spaced a distance from the top end of the secondary lift pins, the bottom end of the secondary lift pins extending a process distance from the bottom surface of the support arms, and when adjacent the actuation plate, the bottom end of the secondary lift pins are a process distance from the actuation surface.

4. The process chamber of claim 2 , wherein when the support assembly is in the transfer position, the bottom surface of the support arm is spaced a loading distance from the actuation plate so that the bottom ends of the secondary lift pins contact the actuation plate and the top ends of the secondary lift pins contact the bottom ends of the primary lift pins and the top end of the primary lift pins extend a loading distance from the support surface.

5. The process chamber of claim 4 , wherein when in the process position, the top end of the primary lift pins are coplanar with or below the support surface.

6. The process chamber of claim 5 , wherein each of the substrate supports comprise one or more heating elements and the primary lift pins comprise a thermally conductive material.

7. The process chamber of claim 5 , wherein the bottom end of each of the primary lift pins are rounded and the top end of each of the secondary lift pins are flat.

8. The process chamber of claim 5 , wherein the top end portion of the primary lift pins are flared and the openings in the substrate supports have a complementary flared surface to prevent the length of the primary lift pin from passing through the bottom surface of the substrate support.

9. The process chamber of claim 8 , wherein the primary lift pins and openings in the substrate support are configured to prevent the primary lift pin from tilting greater than 0.33°.

10. The process chamber of claim 9 , wherein the primary lift pins have no auxiliary weight to prevent wobble of the primary lift pins.

11. The process chamber of claim 4 , wherein the opening in the support arms is sized within 0.005 inches of a diameter of the lower end portion of the secondary lift pins.

12. The process chamber of claim 4 , wherein the secondary lift pins and openings in the support arms are configured to prevent the secondary lift pins from tilting greater than 0.33° during movement of the support assembly.

13. The process chamber of claim 4 , wherein the secondary lift pins have a bushing positioned along the length of the pin, the bushing has a bottom surface configured to prevent the secondary lift pin from moving beyond the process position.

14. The process chamber of claim 4 , wherein the secondary lift pins have a stepped diameter along the length so that an upper portion of the secondary lift pins have a larger diameter than a lower portion of the secondary lift pins and the upper portion and lower portion form a contact surface.

15. The process chamber of claim 4 , wherein when the support assembly is in the transfer position, only one of the support arms is positioned over the actuation plate and movement of the support assembly along the rotational axis actuates the secondary lift pins in only the support arm positioned over the actuation plate.

16. The process chamber of claim 1 , further comprising at least one removable secondary lift pin block connected to the outer end of the support arm, the removable secondary lift pin block having at least one opening configured to support one of the secondary lift pins.

17. The process chamber of claim 16 , wherein the removable secondary lift pin block comprises two openings configured to engage a secondary lift pin and one of the openings is not used.

18. The process chamber of claim 1 , further comprising:
a chamber body enclosing a processing volume, the support assembly and actuation plate positioned within the processing volume;
a plurality of process stations within the processing volume having an equal number to a number of the substrate supports; and
an access port in a side of the chamber body,
wherein the actuation plate is aligned with one of the process stations so that a substrate is loaded and/or unloaded directly onto a substrate support aligned with a process station.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Baluja Sanjeev
• Ulavi Tejas
• Hoffmann Eric J
• Agarwal Ashutosh

Classifications

• H10P72/7621

  characterised by supporting two or more semiconductor substrates · CPC title

• H10P72/7612 Primary

  characterised by lifting arrangements, e.g. lift pins · CPC title

• C23C16/45544

  characterized by the apparatus · CPC title

• C23C16/4584 Primary

  the substrate being rotated · CPC title

• C23C16/4586 Primary

  Elements in the interior of the support, e.g. electrodes, heating or cooling devices · CPC title