Automated wafer monitoring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020058530-A1
Application number	US-201916539299-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 13, 2019
Priority date	Aug 17, 2018
Publication date	Feb 20, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

In an embodiment, a system includes: a chuck; multiple groove conduits arranged around a circumference of a wafer position on the chuck; a gas source in fluid communication with the multiple groove conduits; and a flow monitor configured to determine an amount of gas flow from the gas source to an individual one of the multiple groove conduits.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system, comprising:
a chuck; multiple groove conduits arranged around a circumference of a wafer position on the chuck; a gas source in fluid communication with the multiple groove conduits; and a flow monitor configured to determine an amount of gas flow from the gas source to an individual one of the multiple groove conduits.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each groove conduit comprises a tapered portion that varies in area with distance away from a center of the wafer position.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the tapered portion is arranged in a curved line along a greatest distance away from the center of the wafer position.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the multiple groove conduits are arranged as two concentric rings, each ring comprising at least two groove conduits.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein one of the two concentric rings comprises more groove conduits than the other.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the multiple groove conduits are arranged with an outer ring and an inner ring, wherein the outer ring is concentric with the inner ring and comprises more groove conduits than the inner ring.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the multiple groove conduits comprise a triangular shape.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the multiple groove conduits comprise at least four groove conduits in ring shape.

9 . A system, comprising:
a chuck; multiple groove conduits arranged around a circumference of a wafer position on the chuck, wherein each groove conduit comprises a tapered portion that decreases in area with distance away from a center of the wafer position; a gas source in fluid communication with the multiple groove conduits; and a flow monitor configured to determine an amount of gas flow from the gas source to an individual one of the multiple groove conduits.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein edges of the multiple groove conduits align with the wafer position.

11 . The system of claim 9 , wherein a single gas source is in fluid communication with each of the multiple groove conduits.

12 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the chuck is an electrostatic chuck.

13 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the tapered portion ends in a point at a greatest distance from the center of the wafer position.

14 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the gas source comprises at least one of a helium gas and an argon gas.

15 . A method, comprising:
placing a wafer on a chuck at a wafer position, wherein the chuck comprises:
multiple groove conduits arranged around a circumference of the wafer position on the chuck, and
a gas source in fluid communication with the multiple groove conduits;
determining a wafer offset based on an amount of gas flow from the gas source to an individual one of the multiple groove conduits; and moving the wafer on the chuck based on the wafer offset.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
determining the wafer offset based on an aggregate amount of gas flow from the gas source to multiple ones of the multiple groove conduits.

17 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
determining the wafer offset based on a rate of gas flow from the gas source to the individual one of the multiple groove conduits.

18 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising moving the wafer on the chuck using a robot.

19 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising aligning the wafer at the wafer position based on respective edges of the multiple groove conduits.

20 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
producing aggregated sensor data by aggregating sensor data produced by a flow monitor; determining a threshold value based on the aggregated sensor data; and determining the wafer offset based on the threshold value.

Assignees

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Wang Kevin

Classifications

• H10P72/0604

  Process monitoring, e.g. flow or thickness monitoring · CPC title

• H10P72/72

  using electrostatic chucks · CPC title

• H10P72/53

  using optical controlling means · CPC title

• H10P72/0606 Primary

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

• H01L21/67253

  Electricity · mapped topic