Methods and apparatus for microwave processing of polymer materials

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021001520-A1
Application number	US-202016919736-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 2, 2020
Priority date	Jul 7, 2019
Publication date	Jan 7, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for curing a substrate or polymer using variable microwave frequency are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of curing a substrate or polymer using variable microwave frequency includes: contacting a substrate or polymer with a plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths or a plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy frequencies to cure the substrate or polymer.

First claim

1 . A method of curing a substrate or polymer using variable microwave frequency, comprising:
contacting a substrate or polymer with a plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths or a plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy frequencies to cure the substrate or polymer.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate or polymer is cured at a temperature below 200 degrees Celsius.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate or polymer is cured in 1 to 180 minutes.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths comprises 2 to 20 predetermined discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths, or wherein the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy frequencies comprises 2 to 20 predetermined discontinuous microwave energy frequencies.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting the substrate or polymer with the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths to cure the substrate or polymer further comprises hopping among the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths in a predetermined order.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting the substrate or polymer with the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy frequencies to cure the substrate or polymer further comprises hopping among the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy frequencies in a predetermined order.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting the substrate or polymer with the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths to cure the substrate or polymer further comprises hopping among the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths in a predetermined order and predetermined duration.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting the substrate or polymer with the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy frequencies to cure the substrate or polymer further comprises hopping among the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy frequencies in a predetermined order and predetermined duration.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one material property of the substrate or polymer is tuned by adjusting one or more tuning knobs configured to adjust at least one of frequency, power, temperature, pressure, waveguide configuration, chamber configuration, or in-chamber microwave distribution.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths or the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy frequencies are provided at microwave frequencies ranging from 300 GHz to 300 MHz.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting the substrate or polymer with the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths or the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy frequencies to cure the substrate or polymer is performed at about 100 degrees to about 500 degrees Celsius.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths or the plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy frequencies is provided at a sweep rate of about 25.0 microseconds per frequency to 1000 microseconds per frequency.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting a substrate or polymer comprises delivering microwave energy to the substrate or polymer within a microwave processing chamber under vacuum.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate or polymer is one of an organic dielectric material formed from one of polyimide (PI), poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole (PBO), phenolic resin, epoxy, or benzocyclobutene (BCB), or an inorganic dielectric material formed of one of oxide, oxynitride, nitride, or carbide.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymer is polyimide (PI), poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole (PBO), phenolic resin, epoxy, or benzocyclobutene (BCB).

16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a plurality of discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths or a plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy frequencies to cure the substrate or polymer.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising selecting a plurality of discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths or a plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy frequencies.

18 . A substrate processing system, comprising:
a variable frequency microwave chamber configured for contacting a polymer disposed within the chamber during use with a plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths or discontinuous microwave frequencies to cure the polymer.

19 . The substrate processing system of claim 18 , further comprising:
a vacuum substrate transfer chamber, wherein the variable frequency microwave chamber is coupled to the vacuum substrate transfer chamber; and an additional chamber coupled to the vacuum substrate transfer chamber, wherein the substrate processing system is configured to move the polymer from the variable frequency microwave chamber to the additional chamber under vacuum.

20 . A computer readable medium, having instructions stored thereon which, when executed, cause a variable frequency microwave process chamber to perform a method, the method comprising:
contacting a substrate or polymer with a plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy bandwidths or a plurality of predetermined discontinuous microwave energy frequencies to cure the substrate or polymer.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Koh Tuck Foong
• Hsiung Chien-Kang
• Ow Yueh Sheng
• Deng Felix
• Cui Yue
• Chen Nuno Yen-Chu
• Jupudi Ananthkrishna
• Goh Clinton
• Ramachandran Vinodh

Classifications

• H05B6/705

  using microwave tuning · CPC title

• H05B6/68

  for monitoring or control · CPC title

• H05B6/80

  Apparatus for specific applications (stoves or ranges F24C7/02) · CPC title

• H05B2206/046

  Microwave drying of wood, ink, food, ceramic, sintering of ceramic, clothes, hair · CPC title

• H05B6/70

  Feed lines · CPC title