Modular substrate support assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12424481-B2
Application number	US-202418583664-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 21, 2024
Priority date	Sep 22, 2023
Publication date	Sep 23, 2025
Grant date	Sep 23, 2025

Abstract

An electrostatic chuck assembly includes a first puck plate including one or more first functional elements, a second puck plate including one or more second functional elements, and an interface layer at least partially bonding the first puck plate and the second puck plate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substrate support assembly, comprising:
a first puck plate comprising one or more first functional elements;
a second puck plate comprising one or more second functional elements; and
at least one of an interface layer at least partially bonding the first puck plate to the second puck plate or one or more mechanical fasteners that fasten the first puck plate to the second puck plate, and wherein a bottom surface of the first puck plate comprises a first one of a male mating component or a female mating component and a top surface of the second puck plate comprises a second one of the male mating component or the female mating component.

2. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein the one or more first functional elements and the one or more second functional elements comprise at least one of a clamp electrode, a zone heater, a pixelated heater, a radio frequency (RF) electrode, a gas channel, or a gas pocket.

3. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein the interface layer comprises at least one of flexible graphite, an organic elastomer, Al, In, Ni, Ti, or an alloy comprising Ni—Ti or Mo—Mg or Cu—Ag or Al alloy.

4. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein the second puck plate comprises one or more heating elements operatively coupled to one or more RF filters, wherein at least one of:
a) a resonant frequency of the one or RF filters is different from a frequency of the one or more heating elements;
b) the one or more RF filters are co-located with the one or more heating elements in the second puck plate; or
c) the one or more RF filters are located in a third puck plate different from the second puck plate.

5. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , further comprising:
a third puck plate comprising electrodes to connect to at least one of the one or more first functional elements or the one or more second functional elements to a power source.

6. The substrate support assembly of claim 5 , wherein at least one of the first puck plate, the second puck plate, or the third puck plate comprise one or more vias that provide electrical connection between the electrodes of the third puck plate and at least one of the one or more first functional elements of the first puck plate or the one or more second functional elements of the second puck plate.

7. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein the interface layer comprises a bonding material and a coating material applied to the bonding material, wherein the coating material has a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) that is different from a CTE of the first puck plate and the second puck plate, and that is different from a CTE of the bonding material.

8. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein the interface layer comprises one or more heating elements.

9. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein the one or more first functional elements comprise a first set of heating elements, wherein the one or more second functional elements comprise a second set of heating elements, and wherein the first set of heating elements and the second set of heating elements are connected in series or in parallel.

10. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein the one or more second functional elements comprise a first set of heating elements and a second set of heating elements, and wherein the first set of heating elements and the second set of heating elements are connected in series or in parallel.

11. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first puck plate and the second puck plate each comprise at least one of niobium, aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, single crystal alumina, sapphire, or nitrides, oxides, oxynitrides of a metal or a semiconductor.

12. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , further comprising:
a detachable third puck plate that removably attaches to the first puck plate, the detachable third puck plate comprising one or more electrodes to electrostatically secure a substrate, wherein the detachable third puck plate is to be electrostatically secured to the first puck plate.

13. The substrate support assembly of claim 12 , wherein the detachable third puck plate is a portable carrier that comprises a halogen resistant material comprising at least one of yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) or sapphire or high purity hot isostatic or hot press alumina.

14. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein the one or more second functional elements comprise one or more heating elements operatively coupled to one or more radio frequency (RF) filters, wherein the one or more RF filters comprise an RF mesh having a first thickness at a first location and a second thickness at a second location.

15. The substrate support assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first puck plate and the second puck plate comprise at least one of a) a same material with same purities, b) different materials with same grain sizes, c) the same material with different purities, d) the same material with different grain sizes, or e) different materials with different grain sizes.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Chadha Arvinder Manmohan Singh
• Parkhe Vijay D
• Mori Glen T
• Beaudry Christopher Laurent

Classifications

• H10P72/7616

  characterised by a coating, a hardness or a material · CPC title

• H10P72/722

  Details of electrostatic chucks · CPC title

• H10P72/0602

  Temperature monitoring · CPC title

• H10P72/0432 Primary

  mainly by conduction · CPC title

• H10P72/7624 Primary

  characterised by the mechanical construction of the susceptor, stage or support · CPC title