公开(公告)号：US12300477B2

公开(公告)日：2025-05-13

申请号：US17730751

申请日：2022-04-27

Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited

Inventor： Jun Shinagawa ,  Toshihiro Kitao ,  Chungjong Lee ,  Masaki Kitsunezuka ,  Alok Ranjan

IPC: H01J37/32 ,  H01L21/3065 ,  H01L21/311 ,  H01L21/66

Abstract: A method of operating a plasma tool includes executing a plasma process on a wafer. Data associated with the plasma process are measured using a plurality of sensors while the plasma process is executed on the wafer. The plasma process is terminated at an endpoint time. A post-process fault detection is executed by determining whether a post-process wafer state is within a target range. When the post-process wafer state is outside the target range so that a fault is detected, the fault is corrected using the data associated with the plasma process.

公开(公告)号：US20200051787A1

公开(公告)日：2020-02-13

申请号：US16538313

申请日：2019-08-12

Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited

Inventor： Jun Shinagawa

IPC: H01J37/32

Abstract: Embodiments are described herein for sensor-to-sensor matching methods for chamber matching across multiple plasma processing chambers. For disclosed embodiments, a baseline signature in a first processing chamber is compared to a signature generated in a second processing chamber in order to adjust and match sensor display values for the second processing chamber. The baseline signature is determined using a golden reference sensor disposed within the first processing chamber and plasma sensors monitoring a baseline plasma. The signature of the plasma is determined using the golden reference sensor disposed within the second processing chamber and plasma sensors monitoring the plasma. Differences are determined between the baseline signature and the signature, and a display value for the plasma sensors for the second processing chamber is adjusted based on the differences to provide chamber matching with the first processing chamber. The golden reference sensor can be a wafer with embedded sensors.

公开(公告)号：US12032355B2

公开(公告)日：2024-07-09

申请号：US17710362

申请日：2022-03-31

Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited

Inventor： Jun Shinagawa ,  Brian Pfeifer ,  John Solis ,  Brian Gessler ,  Koichiro Nakamura ,  Yutaka Hirooka

IPC: G05B19/4099 ,  H01J37/32

CPC classification number: G05B19/4099 ,  H01J37/32963 ,  G05B2219/45031 ,  H01J37/32935

Abstract: A method for detecting an endpoint of a seasoning process for a plasma tool includes (a) operating the plasma tool to run a seasoning recipe on at least one seasoning wafer before running a monitoring recipe on at least one monitoring wafer; (b) collecting, while running the monitoring recipe on the monitoring wafer, monitoring data associated with the running the monitoring recipe; and (c) generating an estimated product parameter using a virtual metrology (VM) model that is configured to estimate a product parameter using the monitoring data. The VM model is based on production data associated with running a production recipe on production wafers and product parameters of the production wafers measured after the running the production recipe. The endpoint of the seasoning process is obtained by repeating (a), (b) and (c), and the endpoint is obtained when the estimated product parameter stabilizes.

公开(公告)号：US20240203713A1

公开(公告)日：2024-06-20

申请号：US18066078

申请日：2022-12-14

Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited

Inventor： Barton Lane ,  Jun Shinagawa ,  Merritt Funk ,  Yohei Yamazawa

IPC: H01J37/32

CPC classification number: H01J37/32972 ,  H01J37/32082 ,  H01J37/3244 ,  H01J2237/332 ,  H01J2237/3341 ,  H01J2237/335

Abstract: A method for processing a substrate that includes: processing a series of substrates using a plasma processing system having a plasma processing chamber by reactive ion etching (RIE) according to a RIE process condition; and after the processing, performing an in-situ diagnosis of the plasma processing system, the in-situ diagnosis including loading a substrate in the plasma processing chamber, depositing a film over the substrate, purging the plasma processing chamber with an inert gas, generating a RF plasma in the plasma processing chamber from the inert gas, sputtering the film to generate an etch product, the sputtering including exposing the substrate to the RF plasma, determining a rate of the sputtering of the film, and based on the rate of the sputtering of the film, determining a usability condition of the plasma processing system for processing another substrate.

公开(公告)号：US11869756B2

公开(公告)日：2024-01-09

申请号：US17350439

申请日：2021-06-17

Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited

Inventor： Jun Shinagawa ,  Toshihiro Kitao ,  Atsushi Suzuki ,  Megan Wooley ,  Alok Ranjan

IPC: G06F30/398 ,  H01J37/32

CPC classification number: H01J37/32926 ,  G06F30/398 ,  H01J2237/334

Abstract: A method of optimizing a recipe for a plasma process includes (a) building a virtual metrology (VM) model that predicts a wafer characteristic resulting from the plasma process based on a plasma parameter and (b) building a control model that describes a relationship between the plasma parameter and a recipe parameter. (c) The wafer characteristic is measured after performing the plasma process according to the recipe. (d) Whether the wafer characteristic is within a predetermined range is determined. (e) The VM model and the control model are calibrated based on the wafer characteristic. (f) The recipe is optimized by updating the plasma parameter based on the wafer characteristic using the VM model and updating the recipe parameter based on the plasma parameter using the control model. (c), (d), (e) and (f) are repeated until the wafer characteristic is within the predetermined range.

公开(公告)号：US11669079B2

公开(公告)日：2023-06-06

申请号：US17373078

申请日：2021-07-12

Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited

Inventor： Jun Shinagawa ,  Toshihiro Kitao ,  Hiroshi Nagahata ,  Chungjong Lee

IPC: G05B19/418 ,  H01L21/66 ,  H05H1/46

CPC classification number: G05B19/41875 ,  H01L22/12 ,  H05H1/46 ,  G05B2219/45031

Abstract: A method of evaluating tool health of a plasma tool is provided. The method includes providing a virtual metrology (VM) model that predicts a wafer characteristic based on parameters measured by module sensors and in-situ sensors of the plasma tool. A classification model is provided that identifies a plurality of failure modes of the plasma tool. An initial test is performed on an incoming wafer to determine whether the incoming wafer meets a preset requirement. The wafer characteristic is predicted using the VM model when the incoming wafer meets the preset requirement. A current failure mode is identified using the classification model when the wafer characteristic predicted by using the VM model is outside a pre-determined range.

公开(公告)号：US12112107B2

公开(公告)日：2024-10-08

申请号：US17025651

申请日：2020-09-18

Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited

Inventor： Jun Shinagawa ,  Megan Wooley ,  Toshihiro Kitao ,  Carlos Fonseca

IPC: G06F30/33 ,  G06F111/10

CPC classification number: G06F30/33 ,  G06F2111/10

Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for wafer result prediction. The method includes determining predictor parameters of a semiconductor process using domain knowledge that includes knowledge of the semiconductor process, a processing tool associated with the semiconductor process, a metrology tool, and/or the wafer. The method also includes removing collinearity among the predictor parameters to obtain key predictor parameters, and selecting a subset of the key predictor parameters based on metrology data of the wafer obtained from the metrology tool. The method further includes building a virtual metrology (VM) model on the subset of the key predictor parameters and may include predicting wafer results using the VM model.

公开(公告)号：US20210050191A1

公开(公告)日：2021-02-18

申请号：US16538338

申请日：2019-08-12

Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited

Inventor： Kenichi Usami ,  Norihisa Kiyofuji ,  Hiroto Otake ,  Shinji Ide ,  Jun Shinagawa

IPC: H01J37/32 ,  H01L21/67

Abstract: Embodiments are described herein for systems and methods for plasma processing tool matching after preventative maintenance (PM). Before the PM, the plasma processing tool is operated to run a process on a test wafer, and measurements are taken for pre-PM operational data associated with the process during the operating. After the PM, the plasma processing tool is again operated to run the process on a test wafer, and measurements are taken for post-PM operational data associated with the process during the operating. A prediction model is then applied to the pre-PM operational data and the post-PM operational data to generate an estimated difference in a product parameter, and the prediction model is configured to provide an estimate for the product parameter based upon operational data. One or more control settings for the plasma processing tool are then adjusted to compensate for the estimated difference in the product parameter.

公开(公告)号：US10916411B2

公开(公告)日：2021-02-09

申请号：US16538313

申请日：2019-08-12

Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited

Inventor： Jun Shinagawa

IPC: H01J37/32

Abstract: Embodiments are described herein for sensor-to-sensor matching methods for chamber matching across multiple plasma processing chambers. For disclosed embodiments, a baseline signature in a first processing chamber is compared to a signature generated in a second processing chamber in order to adjust and match sensor display values for the second processing chamber. The baseline signature is determined using a golden reference sensor disposed within the first processing chamber and plasma sensors monitoring a baseline plasma. The signature of the plasma is determined using the golden reference sensor disposed within the second processing chamber and plasma sensors monitoring the plasma. Differences are determined between the baseline signature and the signature, and a display value for the plasma sensors for the second processing chamber is adjusted based on the differences to provide chamber matching with the first processing chamber. The golden reference sensor can be a wafer with embedded sensors.

公开(公告)号：US10438805B2

公开(公告)日：2019-10-08

申请号：US15832257

申请日：2017-12-05

Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited

Inventor： Jun Shinagawa

IPC: H01L21/3065 ,  H01J37/32 ,  H01L21/66 ,  G01N21/73 ,  H01L21/67 ,  G01J3/443 ,  G01N21/68

Abstract: A method and a system for plasma etching are provided. The method includes measuring a first set of plasma etch processing parameters; determining an etch rate; altering the plasma etch processing chamber hardware configuration if the determined etch rate differs from a standard etch rate by more than a predetermined etch rate difference threshold, thereafter repeating the determining and altering until the determined etch rate differs from the standard etch rate by less than the predetermined etch rate difference threshold. The method further includes measuring a critical dimension of an etched feature and altering the etch processing parameters if the measured critical dimension differs from a standard critical dimension by more than a predetermined critical dimension difference threshold, thereafter repeating the determining and altering until the measured critical dimension differs from the standard critical dimension by less than the predetermined critical dimension difference threshold.