公开(公告)号：US09927622B2

公开(公告)日：2018-03-27

申请号：US15003996

申请日：2016-01-22

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Stephen Moffatt ,  Douglas E. Holmgren ,  Samuel C. Howells ,  Edric Tong ,  Bruce E. Adams ,  Jiping Li ,  Aaron Muir Hunter

IPC: G02B27/12 ,  G02B27/10 ,  G02B27/14 ,  G02B27/00 ,  G02B27/30 ,  G02B17/08

CPC classification number: G02B27/106 ,  G02B17/0888 ,  G02B27/0025 ,  G02B27/10 ,  G02B27/1006 ,  G02B27/12 ,  G02B27/123 ,  G02B27/126 ,  G02B27/14 ,  G02B27/143 ,  G02B27/30

Abstract: Apparatus and methods for combining beams of amplified radiation are disclosed. A beam combiner has a collimating optic positioned to receive a plurality of coherent radiation beams at a constant angle of incidence with respect to an optical axis of the collimating optic. The respective angles of incidence may also be different in some embodiments. The collimating optic has an optical property that collimates the beams. The optical property may be refractive or reflective, or a combination thereof. A collecting optic may also be provided to direct the plurality of beams to the collimating optic. The beam combiner may be used in a thermal processing apparatus to combine more than two beams of coherent amplified radiation, such as lasers, into a single beam.

公开(公告)号：US09908200B2

公开(公告)日：2018-03-06

申请号：US14480415

申请日：2014-09-08

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Bruce E. Adams ,  Samuel C. Howells ,  Dean Jennings ,  Jiping Li ,  Timothy N. Thomas ,  Stephen Moffatt

IPC: B23K26/02 ,  B23K26/06 ,  B23K26/073 ,  B23K26/067 ,  G02B27/09 ,  B23K26/0622 ,  B23K103/00

CPC classification number: B23K26/073 ,  B23K26/0613 ,  B23K26/0622 ,  B23K26/067 ,  B23K26/0732 ,  B23K2103/56 ,  G02B27/0961

Abstract: The present invention generally relates to an optical system that is able to reliably deliver a uniform amount of energy across an anneal region contained on a surface of a substrate. The optical system is adapted to deliver, or project, a uniform amount of energy having a desired two-dimensional shape on a desired region on the surface of the substrate. Typically, the anneal regions may be square or rectangular in shape. Generally, the optical system and methods of the present invention are used to preferentially anneal one or more regions found within the anneal regions by delivering enough energy to cause the one or more regions to re-melt and solidify.

公开(公告)号：US09904069B2

公开(公告)日：2018-02-27

申请号：US15152445

申请日：2016-05-11

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Stephen Moffatt

IPC: G02B27/48 ,  B23K26/06 ,  F21V5/00 ,  G02B27/10 ,  B23K26/0622 ,  G02B3/00 ,  G02B5/02 ,  G02B5/04 ,  H01L21/67 ,  H01S3/00

CPC classification number: G02B27/48 ,  B23K26/0622 ,  B23K26/0624 ,  B23K26/0626 ,  B23K26/0648 ,  F21V5/002 ,  F21V5/004 ,  F21V5/007 ,  G02B3/0056 ,  G02B5/021 ,  G02B5/0278 ,  G02B5/04 ,  G02B27/10 ,  H01L21/67115 ,  H01S3/0057

Abstract: Embodiments described herein provide apparatus and methods for processing semiconductor substrates with uniform laser energy. A laser pulse or beam is directed to a spatial homogenizer, which may be a plurality of lenses arranged along a plane perpendicular to the optical path of the laser energy, an example being a microlens array. The spatially uniformized energy produced by the spatial homogenizer is then directed to a refractive medium that has a plurality of thicknesses. Each thickness of the plurality of thicknesses is different from the other thicknesses by at least the coherence length of the laser energy.

公开(公告)号：US09762021B2

公开(公告)日：2017-09-12

申请号：US14857975

申请日：2015-09-18

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Stephen Moffatt

IPC: H01S3/10 ,  H01S3/08 ,  H01S3/091 ,  H01S3/11 ,  H01S3/16 ,  H01S3/23 ,  H01S5/062 ,  H01S3/06

CPC classification number: H01S3/10092 ,  H01S3/0602 ,  H01S3/08086 ,  H01S3/091 ,  H01S3/10007 ,  H01S3/10015 ,  H01S3/10038 ,  H01S3/10084 ,  H01S3/11 ,  H01S3/1611 ,  H01S3/163 ,  H01S3/1643 ,  H01S3/2375 ,  H01S5/0622

Abstract: A laser that emits light at all available frequencies distributed throughout the spectral bandwidth or emission bandwidth of the laser in a single pulse or pulse train is disclosed. The laser is pumped or seeded with photons having frequencies distributed throughout the superunitary gain bandwidth of the gain medium. The source of photons is a frequency modulated photon source, and the frequency modulation is controlled to occur in one or more cycles timed to occur within a time scale for pulsing the laser.

公开(公告)号：US09123527B2

公开(公告)日：2015-09-01

申请号：US14186783

申请日：2014-02-21

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Stephen Moffatt

IPC: C03C15/00 ,  H01L21/00 ,  C23C16/00

CPC classification number: C23C16/483 ,  C23C16/00 ,  C23C16/46 ,  C23C16/48 ,  C23C16/56 ,  H01L21/00 ,  H01L21/02529 ,  H01L21/02532 ,  H01L21/02576 ,  H01L21/0262 ,  H01L21/67069 ,  H01L31/1812 ,  Y02E10/50

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide methods for processing a substrate within a processing chamber. In one embodiment, the method comprises providing a precursor gas mixture into the processing chamber, the precursor gas mixture comprising a deposition precursor gas and an etch precursor gas, subjecting the precursor gas mixture to a thermal energy from a heat source to deposit a material layer on a surface of the substrate, wherein the thermal energy is below the minimum required for pyrolysis of the etch precursor gas, and after the material layer is formed on the surface of the substrate, subjecting the precursor gas mixture to a photon energy from a radiation source, the photon energy having a wavelength and a power level selected to promote photolytic dissociation of the etch precursor gas over the deposition precursor gas and etch a portion of the material layer from the surface of the substrate.

Abstract translation: 本发明的实施例提供了在处理室内处理衬底的方法。 在一个实施方案中，该方法包括将前体气体混合物提供到处理室中，前体气体混合物包含沉积前体气体和蚀刻前体气体，使来自热源的前体气体混合物经受热能以沉积材料层 在所述衬底的表面上，其中所述热能低于所述蚀刻前体气体的热解所需的最小值，并且在所述衬底表面上形成所述材料层之后，使所述前体气体混合物经受来自辐射的光子能量 源，具有选择波长和功率电平的光子能量以促进蚀刻前体气体在沉积前体气体上的光解离解，并从衬底的表面蚀刻材料层的一部分。

公开(公告)号：US11947888B2

公开(公告)日：2024-04-02

申请号：US18099130

申请日：2023-01-19

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Stephen Moffatt ,  Sheldon R. Normand ,  Dermot P. Cantwell

IPC: G06F30/367 ,  G06F30/398 ,  H01L21/66

CPC classification number: G06F30/367 ,  G06F30/398 ,  H01L22/20

Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein include a semiconductor manufacturing tool with a hybrid model and methods of using the hybrid model for processing wafers and/or developing process recipes. In an embodiment, a method for developing a semiconductor manufacturing process recipe comprises selecting one or more device outcomes, and querying a hybrid model to obtain a process recipe recommendation suitable for obtaining the device outcomes. In an embodiment, the hybrid process model comprises a statistical model and a physical model. In an embodiment, the method may further comprise executing a design of experiment (DoE) on a set of wafers to validate the process recipe recommended by the hybrid process model.

公开(公告)号：US11411039B2

公开(公告)日：2022-08-09

申请号：US16878142

申请日：2020-05-19

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Papo Chen ,  John Boland ,  Schubert S. Chu ,  Errol Antonio C. Sanchez ,  Stephen Moffatt

IPC: H01L31/18 ,  H01L27/146

Abstract: Generally, examples described herein relate to methods and processing chambers and systems for forming a stacked pixel structure using epitaxial growth processes and device structures formed thereby. In an example, a first sensor layer is epitaxially grown on a crystalline surface on a substrate. A first isolation structure is epitaxially grown on the first sensor layer. A second sensor layer is epitaxially grown on the first isolation structure. A second isolation structure is epitaxially grown on the second sensor layer. A third sensor layer is epitaxially grown on the second isolation structure.

公开(公告)号：US11348769B2

公开(公告)日：2022-05-31

申请号：US17014736

申请日：2020-09-08

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Lara Hawrylchak ,  Matthew D. Scotney-Castle ,  Norman L. Tam ,  Matthew Spuller ,  Kong Lung Samuel Chan ,  Dongming Iu ,  Stephen Moffatt

IPC: H01J37/32

Abstract: Implementations described herein provide for thermal substrate processing apparatus including two thermal process chambers, each defining a process volume, and a substrate support disposed within each process volume. One or more remote plasma sources may be in fluid communication with the process volumes and the remote plasma sources may be configured to deliver a plasma to the process volumes. Various arrangements of remote plasma sources and chambers are described.

公开(公告)号：US20220122865A1

公开(公告)日：2022-04-21

申请号：US17075321

申请日：2020-10-20

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Kartik Santhanam ,  Kartik Shah ,  Wolfgang Aderhold ,  Martin Hilkene ,  Stephen Moffatt

IPC: H01L21/67 ,  G06N20/00 ,  G05B19/406

Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein include a processing tool for semiconductor processing. In an embodiment, the processing tool comprises a chamber, and a plurality of witness sensors integrated with the chamber. In an embodiment, the processing tool further comprises a drift detection module. In an embodiment, data from the plurality of witness sensors is provided to the drift detection module as input data. In an embodiment, the processing tool further comprises a dashboard for displaying output data from the drift detection module.

公开(公告)号：US11040415B2

公开(公告)日：2021-06-22

申请号：US15353279

申请日：2016-11-16

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Stephen Moffatt ,  Joseph M. Ranish

IPC: H01L21/26 ,  F27B5/14 ,  F27B5/18 ,  F27D21/00 ,  B23K26/352 ,  H01L21/268 ,  B23K26/354 ,  B23K26/00 ,  B23K26/08 ,  B23K26/12 ,  B23K26/0622 ,  H01L21/225 ,  H01L21/324 ,  H01L21/67 ,  F27D19/00 ,  B23K103/00

Abstract: The present invention generally describes apparatuses and methods used to perform an annealing process on desired regions of a substrate. In one embodiment, pulses of electromagnetic energy are delivered to a substrate using a flash lamp or laser apparatus. The pulses may be from about 1 nsec to about 10 msec long, and each pulse has less energy than that required to melt the substrate material. The interval between pulses is generally long enough to allow the energy imparted by each pulse to dissipate completely. Thus, each pulse completes a micro-anneal cycle. The pulses may be delivered to the entire substrate at once, or to portions of the substrate at a time. Further embodiments provide an apparatus for powering a radiation assembly, and apparatuses for detecting the effect of pulses on a substrate.