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Method for co-registering semiconductor wafers undergoing work in one or more blind process modules
| Details |
Inventors: Gardopee, George J.; Clapis, Paul J.; Prusak, Joseph P.; Poultney, Sherman K.;
Assignee: Integrated Process Equipment Corp. (Phoenix, AZ)
Primary Examiner: Fourson; George
Assistant Examiner: Everhart; C.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Cahill, Sutton & Thomas P.L.C.
A method for co-registering a semiconductor wafer (14) undergoing work in one or more blind process modules (10), (12) requires a means (16), (18) for consistently and repeatably registering the semiconductor wafer (14) to each process module (10), (12). Given this consistent and repeatable singular wafer registration means (16), (18), the location of the coordinate axes of each process module (10), (12) is determined with respect to the position of the semiconductor wafer (14) that is registered therein. The present invention method provides three approaches for determining the location of these axes: (1) an absolute location of the axes, (2) a relative location of the axes using one blind process module (10) to measure the position of a pattern etched into the semiconductor wafer (14) with another blind process module (12), and (3) a relative location of the axes using one blind process module (10) to measure surface or layer thickness characteristics in the semiconductor wafer (14) as modified by wafer processing. Regardless of which approach is followed, the determination of the location of the coordinate axes in each process module (10), (12) is an effective co-registration of the semiconductor wafer (14). |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention contemplates a method for co-registering a semiconductor wafer undergoing work in one or more blind process modules.
This method relies on the ability to register a semiconductor wafer to a single process module in a consistent and highly repeatable, for example, on the order of tens of micrometers, manner.
An apparatus for performing such a singular registration procedure on a semiconductor wafer having a flat is described in a related patent application entitled, Apparatus for Providing Consistent, Non-Jamming Registration of Semiconductor Wafers, U.
S.
patent application Ser.
No.
07/937,793, filed on Aug.
28, 1993.
Such an apparatus can be realized in three embodiments, each of which provides a non-jamming feature.
The first two embodiments consist of a metal plate upon which a wafer undergoing work lays flat.
The wafer is registered to the metal plate by three rollers that are fixedly mounted to the plate.
Two of these three fixedly mounted rollers are positioned on the metal plate such that the flat of the wafer, when properly registered, is abutted against both of these rollers.
The third fixedly mounted roller is positioned on the metal plate such that the wafer, when properly registered, is abutted against this roller at a point on the wafer approximately -120.
degree.
from the wafer flat.
Proper registration is ensured by a fourth, adjustable roller that is fixedly mounted to a moveable metal bracket which allows the roller to move in an approximately radial direction with respect to the wafer.
This fourth, adjustable roller applies a force against the wafer, by way of a force applied to the moveable metal bracket at a point on the wafer approximately 120.
degree.
from the wafer flat.
This force, coupled with the rolling capability of the rollers, ensures that an improperly registered wafer will be rotated into the proper registration position.
Also, due to the fact that the rollers, by virtue of having rolling element bearings, generally exhibit only a slight amount of friction, or a rolling friction, the effective coefficient of friction between the rollers and the wafer is significantly less than a critical value in the effective coefficient of friction above which wafer jamming occurs
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Control Computers 
