Crystal oscillator and the use thereof in semiconductor fabrication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9971341-B2
Application number	US-201414147996-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 6, 2014
Priority date	Jan 6, 2014
Publication date	May 15, 2018
Grant date	May 15, 2018

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for implementing a crystal oscillator to monitor and control semiconductor fabrication processes. More specifically, a method is provided for that includes performing at least one semiconductor fabrication process on a material of an integrated circuit (IC) disposed within a processing chamber. The method further includes monitoring by at least one electronic oscillator disposed within the processing chamber for the presence or absence of a predetermined substance generated by the at least one semiconductor fabrication process. The method further includes controlling the at least one semiconductor fabrication process based on the presence or absence of the predetermined substance detected by the at least one electronic oscillator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a CPU, a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage media;
program instructions to perform at least one semiconductor fabrication process on a material of an integrated circuit (IC) disposed within a processing chamber;
program instructions to generate an electrical signal using at least one electronic oscillator disposed within the processing chamber;
program instructions to monitor for a change in frequency of the electrical signal;
program instructions to determine a presence or absence of a predetermined substance comprised of a contaminant in the material, which contaminant is released into the processing chamber during the at least one semiconductor fabrication process, based on a change in mass of a crystal of the at least one electronic oscillator, which results in the change in the frequency of the electrical signal; and
program instructions to control the at least one semiconductor fabrication process based on the presence or absence of the predetermined substance,
wherein the program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory, and
wherein the presence of the contaminant is determined when a thickness of the contaminant deposited on the crystal during the at least one semiconductor fabrication process is a value between 10-40 Å.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the presence of the predetermined substance is determined when there is the change in the frequency of the electrical signal.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the absence of the predetermined substance is determined when there is no change in the frequency of the electrical signal.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising program instructions to independently control a temperature of the at least one electronic oscillator such that a signal margin of the electrical signal is enhanced.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one semiconductor fabrication process is a degassing process and the predetermined substance is a contaminant from a photoresist layer.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the controlling the at least one semiconductor fabrication process comprises:
upon determining that there is no change in the frequency of the electrical signal, continuing the degassing process; and
upon determining that there is the change in the frequency of the electrical signal, stopping the degassing process.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the predetermined substance is a polymeric material.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the material of the IC is positioned within 1-10 mm of the at least one electronic oscillator.

9. A system comprising:
a CPU, a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage media;
program instructions to perform at least one semiconductor fabrication process on a material of an integrated circuit (IC) disposed within a processing chamber;
program instructions to generate an electrical signal using at least one electronic oscillator disposed within the processing chamber;
program instructions to monitor for a change in frequency of the electrical signal;
program instructions to determine a presence or absence of a predetermined substance comprised of a contaminant in the material, which contaminant is released into the processing chamber during the at least one semiconductor fabrication process, based on a change in mass of a crystal of the at least one electronic oscillator, which results in the change in the frequency of the electrical signal; and
program instructions to control the at least one semiconductor fabrication process based on the presence or absence of the predetermined substance,
wherein the program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory; and
wherein the at least one semiconductor fabrication process is an etching process and the predetermined substance is a material from a part of the material of the IC that is etched.

Assignees

• IBM
• Globalfoundries Inc

Inventors

• Cabral Jr Cyril
• Clevenger Lawrence A
• Cohn John M
• Gambino Jeffrey P
• Murphy William J
• Telensky Anthony J

Classifications

• H10P72/0604 Primary

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

• C23C14/546

  using crystal oscillators · CPC title

• G05B2219/2602

  Wafer processing · CPC title

• G01B7/066

  for measuring thickness of coating (apparatus or processes for the manufacture of piezoelectric or electrostrictive resonators for obtaining desired frequency H03H3/04) · CPC title

• G05B19/418 Primary

  Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] or computer integrated manufacturing [CIM] · CPC title