Magnetic annealing equipment and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12235045-B2
Application number	US-202217656588-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2022
Priority date	Mar 25, 2022
Publication date	Feb 25, 2025
Grant date	Feb 25, 2025

Abstract

The disclosure describes equipment for magnetic annealing of a substrate, the equipment including: an anneal chamber configured to heat and cool a substrate held at a soak location along a first direction in the anneal chamber, the anneal chamber including: a heater, a cooler, and a substrate lifter including a substrate holder, where the substrate holder is configured to support a substrate oriented such that the first direction is perpendicular to a major surface of the substrate; and a magnet assembly configured to establish a homogeneous zone in the anneal chamber, the soak location being within the homogeneous zone, the homogeneous zone including a region of magnetic field.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. Equipment for magnetic annealing of a substrate, the equipment comprising:
an anneal chamber configured to heat and cool the substrate held at a soak location along a first direction in the anneal chamber, the anneal chamber comprising:
a heater configured to move along the first direction relative to the substrate held at the soak location,
a cooler configured to move along the first direction relative to the substrate held at the soak location, and
a substrate lifter comprising a substrate holder, wherein the substrate holder is configured to support the substrate oriented such that the first direction is perpendicular to a major surface of the substrate; and

a magnet assembly configured to establish a homogeneous zone in the anneal chamber, the soak location being within the homogeneous zone, the homogeneous zone comprising a region of magnetic field.

2. The equipment of claim 1 ,
wherein the substrate lifter is configured to be movable in the first direction.

3. The equipment of claim 1 , wherein the anneal chamber is a vacuum chamber.

4. The equipment of claim 1 , wherein the heater and the cooler are configured to swing into position.

5. The equipment of claim 1 , wherein the substrate lifter and the magnet assembly are configured to be moved synchronously relative to the heater and the cooler.

6. The equipment of claim 1 , wherein the heater comprises a ceramic heater or a plasma torch, wherein the plasma torch is coupled to a plasma source of energetic, charge neutral, chemically inert particles.

7. The equipment of claim 1 ,
wherein the homogeneous zone extends over a region in the anneal chamber, the region being such that the substrate positioned at the soak location is immersed inside the homogeneous zone,
wherein the heater and cooler are disposed on opposite sides of the soak location, and
wherein the substrate holder is configured to support the substrate by contacting a portion of the substrate near a substrate edge and exposing the remaining portion of the substrate.

8. The equipment of claim 7 further comprising a baffle chamber comprising:
a baffle window coupled to the anneal chamber; and
a heat baffle configured to be inserted in the anneal chamber between the soak location and a heater standby location and retracted from the anneal chamber through the baffle window.

9. A method comprising:
operating an anneal chamber in a substrate transfer mode to load a substrate from a transfer window location to a soak location in the anneal chamber, the anneal chamber comprises a heater, a cooler, a substrate lifter comprising a substrate holder, and a homogeneous zone established in the anneal chamber by a magnet assembly, the homogeneous zone comprising a region of magnetic field, the soak location being within the homogeneous zone;
operating the anneal chamber in a heating mode to heat the substrate at the soak location, wherein operating the anneal chamber in the heating mode comprises:
relatively moving the heater to an active heating location proximate the substrate located at the soak location; and
powering the heater to heat the substrate;

operating the anneal chamber in a cooling mode to cool the substrate at the soak location; and
operating the anneal chamber in the substrate transfer mode to unload the substrate from the anneal chamber via the transfer window location.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein operating the anneal chamber in the substrate transfer mode to load the substrate comprises:
moving the substrate to the soak location by moving the substrate lifter, the substrate being supported by the substrate holder; and
relatively moving the cooler toward the substrate to a cooler standby location.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein operating the anneal chamber in the heating mode further comprises:
prior to moving the heater to the active heating location, retracting a heat baffle located between the heater and the substrate; and
after powering the heater, relatively moving the heater away from the substrate to a heater standby location and inserting the heat baffle between the heater and the substrate.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein operating the anneal chamber in the cooling mode comprises:
relatively moving the cooler from a cooler standby location to an active cooling location proximate the substrate located at the soak location; and
powering the cooler to cool the substrate.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein operating the anneal chamber in the substrate transfer mode to unload the substrate comprises:
releasing the substrate from the substrate holder by moving the substrate lifter away from the substrate towards a cooler parking location; and
moving the substrate to a load lock chamber by retracting a robotic arm from the anneal chamber through a gate valve and closing the gate valve.

14. A system for processing a substrate, the system comprising:
an anneal chamber comprising a heater, a cooler, and a substrate lifter;
a magnet assembly establishing a homogeneous zone in the anneal chamber, the homogeneous zone being a region of magnetic field;
a vertical drive system coupled to the anneal chamber and configured to independently move the heater, the cooler, and the substrate lifter relative to the homogeneous zone; and
a controller programmed to synchronize an operation of the vertical drive system.

15. The system of claim 14 , further comprising:
a baffle chamber comprising a heat baffle; and
a baffle window coupling the baffle chamber to the anneal chamber, the heat baffle being configured to move from a location in the anneal chamber between the heater and the substrate lifter to the baffle chamber, the controller programmed to synchronize the operation of the baffle chamber.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the heat baffle comprises a cooling jacket, and wherein the cooling jacket is coupled to a cooling mechanism comprising a flow of refrigerant.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the anneal chamber is attached to a deposition system.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the magnetic field comprises a unidirectional and/or uniform magnetic field.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein the magnetic assembly comprises an array of magnets disposed around a central axis of the anneal chamber.

20. The system of claim 14 , wherein the heater is disposed within the anneal chamber.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Colgan Ian
• Domsa Ioan
• Eyres George
• Burkowicz Bartlomiej
• Clarke Barry
• Hurley David
• Abarra Einstein Noel

Classifications

• H10P95/90

  Thermal treatments, e.g. annealing or sintering · CPC title

• F27D3/0084 Primary

  Charging; Manipulation of SC or SC wafers · CPC title

• F27D2007/066

  Vacuum · CPC title

• F27D2099/0031

  Plasma-torch heating · CPC title

• F27B17/0025 Primary

  specially adapted for treating semiconductor wafers · CPC title