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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6709876 | Method for detecting removal of organic material from a semiconductor device in a manufacturing process In a method for removing an organic material from semiconductor devices, at least one semiconductor device is inserted into a so-called piranha bath. Measurement data are processed to get a data curve for measuring a concentration of at least one reaction product. T... | 03/23/2004 |
| 6709962 | Process for manufacturing printed circuit boards A method for producing printed circuits utilizing direct printing methods to apply a pattern mask to a substrate. The direct printing methods include correcting positional errors in a printing apparatus by ascertaining the errors in the printer through comparison of... | 03/23/2004 |
| 6703250 | Method of controlling plasma etch process A method for automated monitoring and controlling of a semiconductor wafer plasma etching process including collecting data versus time during a plasma etching process the data including information representative of a concentration of at least one pair o... | 03/09/2004 |
| 6689521 | Method and apparatus for control of photoresist plasma removal The present invention provides for a method and an apparatus for controlling plasma photoresist removal processes. At least one manufacturing run of semiconductor devices is processed. Environmental data is acquired in response to processing the semicondu... | 02/10/2004 |
| 6663784 | Method for producing three-dimensional structures by means of an etching process A method is proposed for producing three-dimensional structures, especially microlenses, in a substrate using an etching process, at least one original shape having a known original surface shape being present initially on the substrate in a plurality of ... | 12/16/2003 |
| 6660651 | Adjustable wafer stage, and a method and system for performing process operations using same A process tool comprised of an adjustable wafer stage and various methods and systems for performing process operations using same is disclosed herein. In one illustrative embodiment, the process tool is comprised of a process chamber, and an adjustable w... | 12/09/2003 |
| 6657719 | Fiber optic tomographic plasma uniformity monitor A device for analyzing plasma enclosed in a chamber. The device has a lens array which has a plurality of lens array lenses. The lens array lenses are located in a position so that the line of sight for each lens array lens intersects one another at a sin... | 12/02/2003 |
| 6656374 | Post etch inspection system Apparatus and method for post etching inspection of electrical circuits including an optical inspection assembly viewing an electrical circuit at various regions thereon and providing output indications of etching characteristics of the electrical circuit... | 12/02/2003 |
| 6645781 | Method to determine a complete etch in integrated devices In an integrated device, an etch is performed in an intermediate layer to form a via. The via is inspected using a scanning electron microscopy. The scanning electron microscopy detects a level of brightness associated with the via and a background shade.... | 11/11/2003 |
| 6643559 | Method for monitoring a semiconductor fabrication process for processing a substrate The invention relates to a method for monitoring a production process, whereby several models are used for detecting a finish point. The results of the model are subsequently compared with one another and the best model therefrom is used in other producti... | 11/04/2003 |
| 6641746 | Control of semiconductor processing An integrated metrology and lithography/etch system and method (10) for micro-electronics device manufacturing. A process control neural network (30) is used to develop an estimated process control parameter (32) for controlling an etching process (28). T... | 11/04/2003 |
| 6642150 | Method for testing for blind hole formed in wafer layer A new method for detecting blind holes in the contact layer of a multi-chip semiconductor test wafer makes use of the fact that if the hole is not a blind hole, a subsequent etch step extends the hole a predetermined distance into the layer immediately un... | 11/04/2003 |
| 6627548 | Process for treating semiconductor substrates The invention relates to a process for treating semiconductor substrates in which metal layers are exposed by removing one or more layers of the surface of a semiconductor substrate which have been applied to the metal layer, in which exposure takes place... | 09/30/2003 |
| 6627464 | Adaptive plasma characterization system An adaptive plasma characterization system and method characterize a semiconductor plasma process using fuzzy logic and neural networks. The method includes the step of collecting input and output training data, where the input training data is based on v... | 09/30/2003 |
| 6627555 | Method and circuit for minimizing the charging effect during manufacture of semiconductor devices A protection device which is active during the manufacturing process of a semiconductor chip includes a protection transistor and an antenna. The protection transistor is connected between a metal line having devices to be protected electrically connected... | 09/30/2003 |
| 6620520 | Zirconia toughened ceramic components and coatings in semiconductor processing equipment and method of manufacture thereof A corrosion resistant component of semiconductor processing equipment such as a plasma chamber comprises zirconia toughened ceramic material as an outermost surface of the component. The component can be made entirely of the ceramic material or the cerami... | 09/16/2003 |
| 6620631 | Plasma etch method for forming patterned layer with enhanced critical dimension (CD) control Within a method for fabricating a microelectronic fabrication there is first provided a substrate. There is then formed over the substrate a blanket target layer. There is then formed over the blanket target layer a patterned mask layer. There is then mea... | 09/16/2003 |
| 6613588 | Floating particle inspection method and its apparatus and a semiconductor device processing apparatus The present invention is to detect particles suspended in a processing chamber using a single observation window and an optical system formed as a single unit and to provide precise detection of very weak particle-scattered light. When a thin film is bein... | 09/02/2003 |
| 6602793 | Pre-clean chamber An improved pre-clean chamber of a semiconductor processing system minimizes the generation of particulates during processing, thereby decreasing contamination levels that can adversely affect plasma vapor deposition film properties while also decreasing ... | 08/05/2003 |
| 6589858 | Method of making metal gate stack with etch endpoint tracer layer A metal gate structure and method of making the same provides a tracer layer over a first metal or metal compound layer. When etching a metal gate, formed of tungsten, for example, with a first etchant chemistry optimized for etching tungsten, detection o... | 07/08/2003 |
| 6586262 | Etching end-point detecting method The present invention is a method for end point detection where emission spectra are detected during etching of an object to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer, by a spectrometer, and an end point of the etching is detected, comprising performing... | 07/01/2003 |
| 6585908 | Shallow angle interference process and apparatus for determining real-time etching rate A process and apparatus for determining a real-time etching rate during a plasma mediated etching process. Real-time etching rate determination includes monitoring an interference pattern generated by a direct light beam and a reflected light beam from a ... | 07/01/2003 |
| 6582618 | Method of determining etch endpoint using principal components analysis of optical emission spectra A method is provided for determining an etch endpoint. The method includes collecting intensity data representative of optical emission spectral wavelengths during a plasma etch process. The method further includes calculating Scores from at least a porti... | 06/24/2003 |
| 6577915 | Applications of a semi-empirical, physically based, profile simulator A method and an apparatus for a semi-empirical process simulation using a calibrated profile simulator to create a reactor model which can predict neutral and ion flux distributions on a substrate as a function of the reactor settings include providing a ... | 06/10/2003 |
| 6573120 | Solid state imaging device for achieving enhanced zooming characteristics and method of making the same A barrier area is located adjacent a horizontal transfer area and spaced from a field insulating area. The barrier area includes an insulating layer and a conductor extending from the horizontal transfer layer over the surface of a semiconductor substrate... | 06/03/2003 |
| 6564114 | Determining endpoint in etching processes using real-time principal components analysis of optical emission spectra A method is provided for determining an etch endpoint. The method includes collecting intensity data representative of optical emission spectral wavelengths during a plasma etch process. The method further includes analyzing at least a portion of the coll... | 05/13/2003 |
| 6555397 | Dry isotropic removal of inorganic anti-reflective coating after poly gate etching Various methods of fabricating a conductor structure are provided. In one aspect, a method of fabricating a conductor structure on a first workpiece is provided. A silicon film is formed on the first workpiece. An anti-reflective coating is formed on the ... | 04/29/2003 |
| 6553332 | Method for evaluating process chambers used for semiconductor manufacturing A process chamber (12) is used for plasma etching of a wafer (21) disposed therein. A gas mixture supplied to the chamber eventually passes through openings (28) in a baffle plate (27). After the chamber has been cleaned, several test wafers are etched un... | 04/22/2003 |
| 6541282 | Plasma processes for depositing low dielectric constant films A method and apparatus for depositing a low dielectric constant film by reaction of an organosilicon compound and an oxidizing gas at a constant RF power level from about 10 W to about 200 W or a pulsed RF power level from about 20 W to about 500 W. Disso... | 04/01/2003 |
| 6535785 | System and method for monitoring and controlling gas plasma processes A system and method for monitoring the conditions in a gas plasma processing system while varying or modulating the RF power supplied to the system, so that resulting signals of the electrical circuits of the system provide information regarding operation... | 03/18/2003 |
| 6531069 | Reactive Ion Etching chamber design for flip chip interconnections RIE processing chambers includes arrangements of gas outlets which force gas-flow-shadow elimination. Means are provided to control and adjust the direction of gases to the outlet to modify and control the direction of plasma flow at the wafer surface dur... | 03/11/2003 |
| 6498045 | Optical intensity modifier A method for detecting an end point of an etching step conducted in an etching chamber. A target emission intensity level is selected for the etching step, and the etching step is performed in the etching chamber. A raw emission intensity level is sensed ... | 12/24/2002 |
| 6496959 | Method and system for estimating plasma damage to semiconductor device for layout design A system for estimating a plasma damage for subsequent layout design of a semiconductor device includes an antenna ratio extraction unit for extracting an antenna ratio from each of existing provisional layout patterns to be exposed to plasma in each of p... | 12/17/2002 |
| 6492186 | Method for detecting an endpoint for an oxygen free plasma process A method for determining an endpoint for an oxygen free plasma stripping process for use in semiconductor wafer processing. The method comprises exciting a gas composition containing a nitrogen gas and a reactive gas to form the oxygen free plasma. The ox... | 12/10/2002 |
| 6475918 | Plasma treatment apparatus and plasma treatment method An etching method capable of obtaining a fine fabricated shape, particularly, a vertical fabricated shape with less bowing upon fabrication of insulation films in the production of semiconductors, the method comprising controlling the incident amount of O... | 11/05/2002 |
| 6472231 | Dielectric layer with treated top surface forming an etch stop layer and method of making the same A metal interconnect arrangement provides a dielectric layer that has its upper surface treated to provide an etch stop etch stop layer. The upper surface is subjected to a plasma etch that treats, such as by carbonization, the dielectric material in a ma... | 10/29/2002 |
| 6461877 | Variable data compensation for vias or contacts Described herein is a method for selectively enlarging vias connecting two different layers of conductors in a semiconductor device. Whether or not an individual via is extended on each of its edges is determined by the distance of the edge to the neighbo... | 10/08/2002 |
| 6460170 | Connection block for interfacing a plurality of printed circuit boards A system and method is described for providing a robust mechanical and electrical connection between two or more circuit boards which may be employed for diagnostic purposes and/or for permanent connections. A spacer block, connection block, or pedestal, ... | 10/01/2002 |
| 6455333 | Method of achieving stable deep ultraviolet (DUV) resist etch rate for gate critical dimension (CD) A method of stabilizing the DUV resist etch rate for a gate critical dimension, especially for a CDࣘ75 μm. More specifically, the present invention provides a method for stabilizing a deep ultraviolet (DUV) resist etch rate by utilizing the directly pr... | 09/24/2002 |
| 6450683 | Optical temperature measurement as an in situ monitor of etch rate The present invention provides a method and apparatus of using optical temperature measurement as an in-situ monitoring of etch rate. First of all, a plasma etching process is performed in a plasma etcher having a vacuum chamber. Then, an optical multi-ch... | 09/17/2002 |
