Did You Know...
...that the Slinky toy was the result of a failed attempt by engineer Richard James to produce an antivibration device for ship instruments? His goal was to develop a spring that would instantaneously counterbalance the wave motion that rocks a ship at sea. Instead, he developed the Slinky.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7058467 | Process monitoring device for sample processing apparatus and control method of sample processing apparatus A monitor data acquisition section acquires a plurality of monitor data relating to a processing state of one sample in a processing apparatus, via sensors. A data selection section selects monitor data belonging to an arbitrary processing division included in a plu... | 06/06/2006 |
| 7053002 | Plasma preclean with argon, helium, and hydrogen gases The present invention provides a method and apparatus for precleaning a patterned substrate with a plasma comprising a mixture of argon, helium, and hydrogen. Addition of helium to the gas mixture of argon and hydrogen surprisingly increases the etch rate in compari... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7054786 | Operation monitoring method for treatment apparatus In an operation monitoring method according to the present invention, operation data of a plasma processing system (1) are detected for every wafer (W) by means of a plurality of detectors, and a principal component analysis using the operation data is carrie... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7048837 | End point detection for sputtering and resputtering Plasma etching or resputtering of a layer of sputtered materials including opaque metal conductor materials may be controlled in a sputter reactor system. In one embodiment, resputtering of a sputter deposited layer is performed after material has been sputtered dep... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7033518 | Method and system for processing multi-layer films A method of etching multi-layer films, the method including: (1) etching a plurality of layers according to etching parameters, (2) determining a plurality of optical characteristics each associated with one of the plurality of layers and determined during the etchi... | 04/25/2006 |
| 7033904 | Semiconductor device, semiconductor substrate and fabrication process of a semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a first insulation layer including a first conductor pattern, a second insulation layer formed on the first insulation layer and including a second conductor pattern, and a third conductor pattern formed on the second insulation layer... | 04/25/2006 |
| 7029593 | Method for controlling CD during an etch process A method for controlling CD of etch process defines difference between designed dimension and etched dimension as dimensional displacement and defines target value of the dimensional displacement. A plurality of samples are prepared in each group having different ex... | 04/18/2006 |
| 7026172 | Reduced thickness variation in a material layer deposited in narrow and wide integrated circuit trenches A high density plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDP-CVD) process is used to deposit silicon dioxide in trenches of various widths. The thickness of the silicon dioxide filling both narrow and wide trenches is made more uniform by reducing an HDP-CVD etch to deposit... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7025895 | Plasma processing apparatus and method A plasma processing apparatus and method are capable of performing etching with high precision without damaging the semiconductor wafer. The plasma processing apparatus has a plasma generation power supply for generating a plasma within a processing chamber; a high-... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7026173 | Method and apparatus for detecting end point A mask layer and a to-be-processed layer are irradiated with light to measure interference light formed of reflected lights from the mask layer and reflected lights from the to-be-processed layer. Thereafter, an interference component brought by the mask layer is re... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7022937 | Plasma processing method and apparatus for performing uniform plasma processing on a linear portion of an object A plasma processing method is used to process a linear portion of an object to be processed by generating a linear plasma by supplying an electric power to an electrode provided at a plasma source or the object to be processed while supplying gas to the plasma sourc... | 04/04/2006 |
| 7019829 | Method and device utilizing plasma source for real-time gas sampling Aspects of the present invention provide novel methods and devices for sampling gas, exciting the sampled gas to emit radiation and detecting in real time from the emitted radiation a plurality of wave bands of an emission spectrum. Energy used to excite the sampled... | 03/28/2006 |
| 7009715 | Method and apparatus for determining endpoint of semiconductor element fabricating process and method and apparatus for processing member to be processed Standard patterns of differential values of interference light that correspond to a predetermined step height of the first material being processed and standard patterns of differential values of interference light that correspond to a predetermined remaining mask l... | 03/07/2006 |
| 7010374 | Method for controlling semiconductor processing apparatus A method for controlling a semiconductor processing apparatus including a vacuum processing chamber, a plasma apparatus for generating plasma inside the vacuum processing chamber, and a process controller for controlling a process by holding a process recipe includi... | 03/07/2006 |
| 7005305 | Signal layer for generating characteristic optical plasma emissions A technique is provided that may be used to improve optical endpoint detection in a plasma etch process. A semiconductor structure is manufactured that includes at least one electrical device. The technique is adapted for forming a signal layer on or in a wafer, whe... | 02/28/2006 |
| 7001530 | Method for detecting the end point by using matrix A method for detecting the end point of plasma etching process by using matrix comprises a step of detecting a beginning matrix including emitting intensities and/or other plasma parameters of at least two different plasma species during beginning etching process. T... | 02/21/2006 |
| 7001784 | Method to control spacer width A method of fabricating final spacers having a target width comprises the following steps. Initial spacers, each having an initial width that is less than the target width, are formed over the opposing side walls of a gate electrode portion. The difference between t... | 02/21/2006 |
| 6998277 | Method of planarizing spin-on material layer and manufacturing photoresist layer A method of planarizing a spin-on material layer is provided. A substrate having a plurality of openings thereon is provided. A spin-on material layer is formed on the substrate such that the openings are completely filled. A plasma etching process is carried out to... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6995471 | Self-passivated copper interconnect structure An embodiment for a method for forming a self-passivated copper interconnect structure. An insulating layer is formed over a semiconductor structure. An opening is formed in the insulating layer. Next, we form a fill layer comprised of Cu and Ti over insulating laye... | 02/07/2006 |
| 6989281 | Cleaning method for a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus A cleaning method for a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus includes a process of forming a film on a subject piece in a processing chamber, applying light having a predetermined wavelength to a monitoring section to indirectly monitor a thickness of a film... | 01/24/2006 |
| 6982175 | End point detection in time division multiplexed etch processes An improved method for determining endpoint of a time division multiplexed process by monitoring an identified region of a spectral emission of the process at a characteristic process frequency. The region is identified based upon the expected emission spectra of ma... | 01/03/2006 |
| 6979577 | Method and apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor device Concerning a plurality of wafers which compose one lot, amounts of misalignment between alignment marks of these wafers and alignment patterns transferred on photoresists are measured in advance, and then, a mutual relation between a thickness of an interlayer diele... | 12/27/2005 |
| 6977184 | Method and apparatus for nitride spacer etch process implementing in situ interferometry endpoint detection and non-interferometry endpoint monitoring A method for fabricating a spacer of a gate structure is provided. The method performing a first etch process implementing a first etchant gas. The first etch process is configured to implement an interferometry endpoint (IEP) detection method to detect a removal of... | 12/20/2005 |
| 6976782 | Methods and apparatus for in situ substrate temperature monitoring In a plasma processing system, a method of determining the temperature of a substrate is disclosed. The method includes positioning the substrate on a substrate support structure, wherein the substrate support structure includes a chuck. The method further includes ... | 12/20/2005 |
| 6969619 | Full spectrum endpoint detection A method of endpoint detection during plasma processing of a semiconductor wafer comprises processing a semiconductor wafer using a plasma, detecting radiation emission from the plasma during the semiconductor processing, and tracking data points representing change... | 11/29/2005 |
| 6967109 | Process monitoring methods in a plasma processing apparatus, monitoring units, and a sample processing method using the monitoring units A method and apparatus for measuring a potential difference for plasma processing with a plasma processing apparatus that processes a sample by introducing a gas into a vacuum chamber and generates plasma. A light-emitting portion is formed on a measurement-use samp... | 11/22/2005 |
| 6958249 | Method to monitor process charging effect A new method is provided for monitoring the effect of electron charging during the creation of a semiconductor device. The method of the invention makes use of electron trapping that occurs as a result of FN tunneling in a layer of interlayer oxide of an EEPROM devi... | 10/25/2005 |
| 6953733 | Method of manufacturing alignment mark and aligning method using the same A method of manufacturing an alignment mark structure and aligning a substrate includes providing a semiconductor substrate having an upper layer, the alignment mark structure being formed on a surface region of the upper layer. The method includes providing the sur... | 10/11/2005 |
| 6952014 | End-point detection for FIB circuit modification A Focused Ion Beam (FIB) milling end-point detection system uses a constant current power supply to energize an Integrated Circuit (IC) that is to be modified. The FIB is cycled over a conductive trace that is to be accessed during the milling process. The input pow... | 10/04/2005 |
| 6952657 | Industrial process fault detection using principal component analysis A method and system for use in monitoring/evaluating industrial processes such as, for example, plasma processes are provided. In one embodiment, a plasma process fault detection module (100) includes multiple sub-modules. A data selection sub-module (101 | 10/04/2005 |
| 6946305 | Apparatus for evaluating amount of charge, method for fabricating the same, and method for evaluating amount of charge A wafer for charge amount evaluation having a silicon substrate and p-type regions sandwiched between a first silicon oxide film and a SA-NSG film and surrounded by an undoped silicon film is prepared and subjected to a target process for which an amount of charge i... | 09/20/2005 |
| 6943043 | Surface contamination analyzer for semiconductor wafers, method used therein and process for fabricating semiconductor device A semiconductor wafer is radiated with an electron beam so that the inelastic scattering takes place in the narrow region, and current flows out from the narrow region; the amount of current is dependent on the substance or substances in the narrow region so that th... | 09/13/2005 |
| 6939811 | Apparatus and method for controlling etch depth An apparatus and method for etching a feature in a wafer with improved depth control and reproducibility is described. The feature is etched at a first etching rate and then at a second etching rate, which is slower than the first etching rate. An optical end point ... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6930049 | Endpoint control for small open area by RF source parameter Vdc A method of detecting endpoint of a plasma etching system that measures the DC voltage drop across both the sheath and the film being etched. When the film is nearly removed, a drop in voltage indicates thinning of the film which detects endpoint for etching before ... | 08/16/2005 |
| 6931619 | Apparatus for reshaping a patterned organic photoresist surface The invention relates to a method of improving control over the dimensions of a patterned photoresist, which enables better control of the critical dimensions of a photomask or reticle which is fabricated using the patterned photoresist. In addition, the method may ... | 08/16/2005 |
| 6927076 | Method for recovering a plasma process A method for automated monitoring and controlling of a semiconductor wafer plasma process including performing a plasma process in a plasma processing system to treat a semiconductor process wafer according to a first plasma process recipe; collecting plasma process... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6927161 | Low-k dielectric layer stack including an etch indicator layer for use in the dual damascene technique A low-k dielectric layer stack is provided including a silicon based dielectric material with a low permittivity, wherein an intermediate silicon oxide based etch indicator layer is arranged at a depth that represents the depth of a trench to be formed in the dielec... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6921724 | Variable temperature processes for tunable electrostatic chuck An etch processor for etching a wafer includes a chuck for holding the wafer and a temperature sensor reporting a temperature of the wafer. The chuck includes a heater controlled by a temperature control system. The temperature sensor is operatively coupled to the t... | 07/26/2005 |
| 6919279 | Endpoint detection for high density plasma (HDP) processes A method and system are provided for endpoint detection of plasma chamber cleaning or plasma etch processes. Optical emission spectroscopy is utilized to determine a spectral emission ratio of two or more light emitting reaction components at wavelengths in close pr... | 07/19/2005 |
| 6916746 | Method for plasma etching using periodic modulation of gas chemistry A method for etching a layer over a substrate is provided. A gas-modulated cyclic process is performed for more than three cycles. Each cycle comprises performing a protective layer forming phase using first gas chemistry with a deposition gas chemistry, which is pe... | 07/12/2005 |
