Bath systems and methods thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025196175-A1
Application number	US-202419006936-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 31, 2024
Priority date	Jun 7, 2021
Publication date	Jun 19, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

A bath processing tool includes a bath chamber for wet processing wafers in a bath solution, the bath chamber having wafer loading arms extending along a first direction. The tool includes a light sensor to capture light from a bath solution in the bath chamber and a plurality of light sources disposed within a plurality of gas injectors. The plurality of light sources is configured to project light of different wavelengths from each of the plurality of gas injectors towards the wafers. The plurality of light sources includes a first light source emitting light at a first wavelength towards a first zone and a second light source emitting light at a second wavelength towards a second zone, where the second wavelength is different from the first wavelength, and the first zone and second zone are different volume of the bath solution along the first direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A bath processing tool comprising:
a bath chamber for wet processing wafers in a bath solution, the bath chamber comprising wafer loading arms extending along a first direction; a light sensor to capture light from a bath solution in the bath chamber; a plurality of light sources disposed within a plurality of gas injectors,
the plurality of light sources being configured to project light of different wavelengths from each of the plurality of gas injectors towards the wafers,
the plurality of light sources comprising a first light source emitting light at a first wavelength towards a first zone and a second light source emitting light at a second wavelength towards a second zone, the second wavelength being different from the first wavelength, the first zone and second zone being different volume of the bath solution along the first direction;
a processor; and a non-transitory memory storing a program and coupled to the processor, the program to be executed in the processor and comprising instructions to:
immerse the wafers into the bath solution contained in the bath chamber;
hold the wafers inside the bath solution with the wafer loading arms, adjacent ones of the wafers being held along the first direction, each of the wafers having a diameter along a second direction orthogonal to the first direction;
generate gas bubbles in the bath solution from a plurality of gas injectors oriented along the first direction;
capture light of the first wavelength from the first zone using a first light sensor and a first filter;
capture light of the second wavelength from the second zone using a second light sensor and a second filter;
generate light sensor data based on the captured light of the first wavelength and of the second wavelength; and
convert the light sensor data into a metric for the bath solution.

2 . The bath processing tool of claim 1 , wherein the metric for the bath solution comprises a static bubble size and count density, a dynamic bubble size and count density, a static bubble uniformity, a dynamic bubble uniformity, a bath solution uniformity, or a bubble generation rate.

3 . The bath processing tool of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of light sources comprise lights configured to periodically turn on and off at a duty cycle, and wherein projecting light from the plurality of light sources comprises flashing the first zone at a first frequency synchronous with the first light sensor and flashing the second zone at a second frequency synchronous with the second light sensor.

4 . The bath processing tool of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of gas injectors comprise a plurality of orifices with openings pointed along a third direction orthogonal to the first direction and the second direction, and wherein light beams from the plurality of light sources are directed along the third direction.

5 . The bath processing tool of claim 1 , further comprising the first filter and the second filter.

6 . A bath processing tool comprising:
a bath chamber for wet processing wafers in a bath solution, the bath chamber comprising wafer loading arms extending along a first direction; a light sensor to capture light from a bath solution in the bath chamber; a plurality of gas injectors oriented along the first direction; a plurality of light sources disposed within the plurality of gas injectors,
the plurality of light sources being configured to project light of different wavelengths from each of the plurality of gas injectors towards the wafers,
the plurality of light sources comprising a first light source emitting light at a first wavelength towards a first zone and a second light source emitting light at a second wavelength towards a second zone, the second wavelength being different from the first wavelength, the first zone and second zone being different volume of the bath solution along the first direction;
a processor; and a non-transitory memory storing a program and coupled to the processor, the program to be executed in the processor and comprising instructions to:
immerse the wafers into the bath solution contained in the bath chamber;
hold the wafers inside the bath solution with the wafer loading arms, adjacent ones of the wafers being held along the first direction, each of the wafers having a diameter along a second direction orthogonal to the first direction;
capture light of the first wavelength from the first zone at a first light sensor and light of the second wavelength from the second zone at a second light sensor after generating gas bubbles in the bath solution using the plurality of gas injectors;
generate light sensor data based on the captured light of the first wavelength and of the second wavelength; and
convert the light sensor data into a metric for the bath solution.

7 . The bath processing tool of claim 6 , wherein the metric for the bath solution comprises a static bubble size and count density, a dynamic bubble size and count density, a static bubble uniformity, a dynamic bubble uniformity, a bath solution uniformity, or a bubble generation rate.

8 . The bath processing tool of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of light sources comprise lights configured to periodically turn on and off at a duty cycle, and wherein projecting light from the plurality of light sources comprises flashing the first zone at a first frequency synchronous with the first light sensor and flashing the second zone at a second frequency synchronous with the second light sensor.

9 . The bath processing tool of claim 6 , wherein each of the plurality of gas injectors comprise a plurality of orifices with openings pointed along a third direction orthogonal to the first direction and the second direction, and wherein light beams from the plurality of light sources are directed along the third direction.

10 . The bath processing tool of claim 6 , further comprising a first filter disposed between the first light sensor and the first light source and a second filter disposed between the second light sensor and the second light source.

11 . A method of processing a plurality of substrates, the method comprising:
immersing the plurality of substrates into a bath solution contained in a bath chamber, the bath chamber comprising wafer loading arms extending along a first direction; holding the plurality of substrates inside the bath solution with the wafer loading arms, adjacent ones of the plurality of substrates being held along the first direction, each of the plurality of substrates having a diameter along a second direction orthogonal to the first direction; generating gas bubbles in the bath solution from a plurality of gas injectors oriented along the first direction; generating, at a light sensor, light sensor data based on capturing electromagnetic (EM) light emanating off the gas bubbles in the bath solution; and terminating the processing of the plurality of substrates based on the captured EM light.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein terminating the processing comprises:
comparing the captured EM light to an endpoint specification stored in a nonvolatile memory; and in response to determining that the captured EM light matches the endpoint specification, removing the plurality of substrates from the bath solution.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the EM light comprises infra red (IR) light.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising IR sources for providing the EM light.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the IR sources comprise lights configured to periodically turn on and off at a duty cycle.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Carcasi Michael
• Simms Ihsan
• Estrella Joel
• Rotondaro Antonio Luis Pacheco
• Hooge Joshua
• Marumoto Hiroshi

Classifications

• H10P70/23

  during, before or after processing of insulating materials · CPC title

• H10P50/283

  by chemical means · CPC title

• H10P72/0604 Primary

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

• H10P72/0426

  with the semiconductor substrates being dipped in baths or vessels · CPC title

• B08B3/106

  by boiling the liquid · CPC title