Methods and apparatuses for effluent monitoring for brush conditioning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020006162-A1
Application number	US-201916564175-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 9, 2019
Priority date	May 19, 2017
Publication date	Jan 2, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

Provided is a disclosure for embodiments that perform effluent monitoring for brush conditioning, where the monitored data may be fed back for use in the conditioning.

First claim

What is claimed:

1 . A system for monitoring contamination level of effluent of an offline brush conditioning system, the system comprising:
a first reservoir configured to collect a first effluent from a first portion of a brush in the offline brush conditioning system; a second reservoir configured to collect a second effluent from a second portion of the brush, wherein the second portion is different from the first portion, and the first and second effluents are from a fluid used to condition a brush configured to clean a surface of a semiconductor wafer; and an effluent contamination monitor configured to monitor a first and a second contamination levels of the first effluent and the second effluent, respectively.

2 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a control system configured to control the conditioning of the brush based on the first and second contamination levels.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein a material for at least one of the first reservoir or the second reservoir comprises at least one of quartz, perfluoroalkoxy alkane (PFA), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), or polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the measured first and second contamination levels comprises at least one of: a liquid particle count, a pH level, or a resistivity.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the effluent contamination monitor comprises a liquid particle counter (LPC) configured to measure the liquid particle count.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the LPC is configured to use a laser light scattering measurement system.

7 . The system of claim 4 , wherein at least a portion of the first and second contamination levels are recorded in real-time.

8 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a pump system downstream of the first and second reservoirs configured to pump the first and second effluents.

9 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a delivery system configured to provide the fluid to the brush.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein during an idle mode of the offline brush conditioning system when the first and second contamination levels are not monitored, the fluid is ultra pure water.

11 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising correlating at least one of the first contamination level or the second contamination level with time.

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein a first flow rate of the first effluent and a second flow rate of the second effluent are used to estimate a flow rate variation of the brush.

13 . A method for monitoring contamination level of effluent of an offline brush conditioning system, the method comprising:
collecting a first effluent from a first portion of a brush in the offline brush conditioning system in a first reservoir; collecting a second effluent from a second portion of the brush in a second reservoir, wherein the second portion is different from the first portion, and the first and second effluents are from a fluid used to condition a brush configured to clean a surface of a semiconductor wafer; and determining, with an effluent contamination monitor, a first and second contamination levels of the first effluent and the second effluent, respectively.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising controlling the conditioning of the brush based on the first and second contamination levels.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein a material for at least one of the first reservoir or the second reservoir comprises at least one of quartz, perfluoroalkoxy alkane (PFA), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), or polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein each of the first and second contamination levels comprises at least one of: a liquid particle count, a pH level, or a resistivity.

17 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the effluent contamination monitor comprises a liquid particle counter (LPC) configured to determine a respective liquid particle count of each of the first and second effluents.

18 . The method of claim 13 , comprising recording in real-time at least a portion of the first and second contamination levels.

19 . The method of claim 13 , comprising correlating at least one of the first contamination level or the second contamination level with time.

20 . The method of claim 13 , wherein a first flow rate of the first effluent and a second flow rate of the second effluent are used to estimate a flow rate variation of the brush.

Assignees

• Illinois Tool Works

Inventors

• Withers Bradley Scott
• Hughes Corey Alan
• Nelson Erik Scott
• Christie Steven Kenneth
• Best Brent Allan

Classifications

• H10P90/12

  Preparing bulk and homogeneous wafers · CPC title

• H10P74/238

  comprising acting in response to an ongoing measurement without interruption of processing, e.g. endpoint detection or in-situ thickness measurement · CPC title

• H10P72/0406

  for cleaning followed by drying, rinsing, stripping, blasting or the like · CPC title

• H10P72/0402

  Apparatus for fluid treatment (H10P72/0441, H10P72/0448 take precedence) · CPC title

• H10P72/32

  between different workstations · CPC title