Claims
- 1. A sensing apparatus for sensing conditions in target environments in a processing facility where a standard substrate is transported in a standard substrate carrier that establishes a position of the standard substrate relative to a surface of the standard substrate carrier and where the robot of at least one processing tool is calibrated to the position of the standard substrate relative to the surface of the standard substrate carrier, comprising:
a first portion that includes:
a substrate; a plurality of sensors attached to the substrate; a second portion that includes:
a substrate carrier that establishes the position of the first portion relative to a surface of the substrate carrier to be the same as the position of the standard substrate relative to the surface of the standard substrate carrier; an electronics module that communicates with the first portion, the electronics module attached to the substrate carrier; and wherein the first portion may be moved independently of the second portion.
- 2. The sensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the substrate carrier is a standard substrate carrier.
- 3. The sensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the position of the standard substrate relative to the surface of the standard substrate is the vertical height of the standard substrate above the bottom surface of the standard substrate carrier.
- 4. The sensing apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:
a receiving unit attached to the substrate that receives power from the electronics module; and a transmitting unit in the electronic module that transmits power to the receiving unit.
- 5. The sensing apparatus of claim 4 wherein the receiving unit is located at the center of the substrate so that when the substrate is placed in the substrate carrier the receiving unit is aligned with the transmitting unit regardless of the rotational orientation of the substrate.
- 6. The sensing apparatus of claim 4 wherein the receiving unit receives data from the electronics module and the transmitting unit transmits data to the receiving unit.
- 7. The sensing apparatus of claim 4 wherein the transmitting unit comprises an E-coil and the receiving unit comprises a conductive coil and a magnetic conductive layer.
- 8. The sensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second portion further comprises an RFID transceiver electrically connected to the electronics module so that data may be sent from the electronics module to the RFID transceiver and data may be sent from the RFID transceiver to an external receiver.
- 9. The sensing apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:
a pattern on at least one surface of the substrate; and an optical reading apparatus attached to the substrate carrier that reads the greycode pattern on the substrate to determine the orientation of the substrate.
- 10. The sensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second portion further comprises an alignment module that aligns the first portion relative to the substrate carrier.
- 11. A sensing apparatus for sensing process conditions in a processing tool that has a robot that transfers a standard substrate between a standard substrate carrier and a process chamber, comprising:
a process condition measuring device, comprising:
a substrate; a plurality of sensors attached to the substrate; a handling system, comprising:
a substrate carrier that holds the process condition measuring device, the robot transferring the process condition measuring device between the substrate carrier and the process chamber; and an electronics module attached to the substrate carrier that communicates with the process condition measuring device while the substrate carrier holds the process condition measuring device.
- 12. The sensing apparatus of claim 11 wherein the substrate carrier is a standard substrate carrier.
- 13. The sensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the substrate carrier is a front opening unified pod (FOUP).
- 14. The sensing apparatus of claim 11 wherein the substrate carrier is a wafer cassette.
- 15. The sensing apparatus of claim 11 wherein the process condition measuring device further includes at least one battery and other components attached to the substrate and the location of the at least one battery and the other components that are attached to the substrate are configured such that the center of gravity of the substrate with the at least one battery and the other components is the same as the center of gravity of the substrate alone.
- 16. The sensing apparatus of claim 11 wherein the process condition measuring device further includes conductive traces connecting sensors to a CPU, at least one battery, a clock crystal and an RF inductive coil.
- 17. A process condition measuring device for measuring conditions in a target environment, comprising:
a substrate; a plurality of sensors attached to the substrate; and a plurality of components located on the surface of the substrate or within cavities formed in the surface of the substrate such that the balance of the substrate with the plurality of sensors and the plurality of components is the same as the balance of the substrate alone when the substrate spins about a central axis.
- 18. The process condition measuring device of claim 17 wherein the center of gravity of the process condition measuring device is along a central axis of the process condition measuring device, the central axis passing perpendicularly through the center of the surface of the substrate.
- 19. The process condition measuring device of claim 17 wherein the target environment is a process chamber that processes substrates having predetermined physical dimensions and the physical dimensions of the process condition measuring device are the same as the predetermined physical dimensions.
- 20. The process condition measuring device of claim 17 wherein the plurality of components includes two or more batteries that are located equidistant from the central axis and at opposite sides of the central axis.
- 21. The process condition measuring device of claim 17 further comprising an energy receiving device comprising an RF induction coil overlying an RF return pad located at the center of the substrate.
- 22. The process condition measuring device of claim 17 further comprising a plurality of data transmitting devices that transmit data from the process condition measuring device.
- 23. The process condition measuring device of claim 22 wherein the data transmitting devices are LEDS at different locations and wherein individual ones of the plurality of LEDs may be separately enabled or disabled.
- 24. The process condition measuring device of claim 17 further comprising a CPU that is mounted to the substrate and is individually covered by a prefabricated lid.
- 25. The process condition measuring device of claim 24 further comprising a memory IC and a clock crystal and wherein the CPU, the memory IC and the clock crystal are individually covered by prefabricated lids.
- 26. The process condition measuring device of claim 17 further comprising a single prefabricated lid that covers most or all of a surface of the substrate and covers a plurality of components mounted on the surface or mounted within individual cavities within the surface.
- 27. The process condition measuring device of claim 26 wherein the lid is composed of the same material as the substrate.
- 28. The process condition measuring device of claim 17 further comprising a crystal oscillator circuit, the circuit having a temperature compensation feature that modifies a bias voltage within the crystal oscillator circuit to compensate for temperature changes.
- 29. A method of surveying conditions in a target environment comprising:
robotically moving a process condition measuring device from a substrate carrier to a target environment; acquiring data in the target environment and recording the data in the process condition measuring device; robotically returning the process condition measuring device to the substrate carrier; and transferring the data from the process condition measuring device to an electronics module attached to the substrate carrier while the process condition measuring device is in the substrate carrier.
- 30. The method of claim 29 further comprising transferring energy from the electronics module to the process condition measuring device and storing the energy within the process condition measuring device.
- 31. The method of claim 29 further comprising sending the data from the electronics module attached to the substrate carrier to a receiver that is not attached to the substrate carrier.
- 32. The method of claim 29 wherein the substrate carrier is a cassette.
- 33. The method of claim 29 wherein the substrate carrier is a front opening unified pod (FOUP).
- 34. The method of claim 29 wherein transferring the data from the process condition measuring device to an electronics module is by light from an LED, the LED being selected from a plurality of LEDs in the process condition measuring device according to a routine that selects the optimum LED.
- 35. The method of claim 29 wherein the process condition measuring device comprises a plurality of electrical components having specified operating temperature ranges and the process conditioning measuring device experiences a high temperature in the target environment that is outside the specified operating temperature range of at least one of the plurality of electrical components, the process condition measuring device having temperature compensation circuitry to allow the process condition measuring device to operate at the high temperature.
- 36. The method of claim 29 wherein the process condition measuring device is spun at high speed in the target environment.
- 37. The method of claim 29 further comprising determining the position of the process condition measuring device in the substrate carrier.
- 38. The method of claim 29 further comprising moving the process condition measuring device in the substrate carrier.
- 39. The method of claim 29 further comprising changing the rotational orientation of the process condition measuring device in the substrate carrier.
- 40. The method of claim 29 further comprising moving a portion of the electronics module while the process condition measuring device is in the substrate carrier.
- 41. A method of making a process condition measuring device that may collect data and may record or transmit the data for subsequent use, comprising:
depositing a conductive layer on a substrate; patterning the conductive layer to form a plurality of traces; forming a plurality of cavities in the substrate; placing a plurality of electrical components in the plurality of cavities, the plurality of components including at least one sensor and at least one battery; connecting individual ones of the plurality of electrical components to one or more of the plurality of traces; and depositing a passivation layer over the traces and components.
- 42. The method of claim 41 further comprising forming a shield layer over the passivation layer.
- 43. The method of claim 42 wherein the shield layer is comprised of a composite of different layers.
- 44. The method of claim 41 further comprising forming a second conductive layer and patterning the second conductive layer to form a second plurality of traces.
- 45. An instrument for measuring a parameter, comprising:
a substrate, a plurality of sensors carried by and distributed at positions across a surface of the substrate that individually measure the parameter at those positions, at least one electronic processing component carried by the substrate surface, electrical conductors extending across the substrate surface and connected to the plurality of sensors and said at least one electronic processing component, wherein the sensors and said at least one electronic component are positioned in cavities formed into the substrate surface, and a material filling the cavities around the sensors and said at least one electronic component.
- 46. The instrument of claim 45, additionally comprising a rigid protective cover extending across the substrate over at least the sensors and said at least one electronic component.
- 47. The instrument of claim 45, wherein the substrate is a circularly shaped silicon wafer.
- 48. The instrument of claim 47, wherein the parameter being measured includes temperature.
- 49. The instrument of claim 45, wherein measurement of the parameter by the sensors depends at least in part upon their temperature, the substrate has given thermal characteristics and the material filling the cavities have the given thermal characteristics of the substrate.
- 50. The instrument of claim 49, wherein the parameter being measured includes temperature.
- 51. The instrument of claim 45, wherein at least some of the sensors and said at least one electronic processing component are integrated circuit die attached to bottoms of the cavities.
- 52. The instrument of claim 45, wherein the material filling the cavities includes a cured polymer and at least seventy per-cent by volume of particles of thermally conductive material.
- 53. The instrument of claim 52, wherein the material filling the cavities is electrically insulative.
- 54. The instrument of claim 53, wherein the sensors and said at least one electronic processing component are attached to bottoms of the cavities by an adhesive material that contains particles of thermally conductive material and that is electrically insulative.
- 55. The instrument of claim 54, wherein at least some of the sensors and said at least one electronic processing component are integrated circuit die attached to bottoms of the cavities.
- 56. The instrument of claim 55, wherein the electrical conductors are connected to the integrated circuit die by wire leads attached between the electrical conductors and bonding pads of the circuit die.
- 57. The instrument of claim 56, wherein the material filling the cavities also extends around the wire leads for protection of them.
- 58. The instrument of claim 45, wherein the electrical conductors are encapsulated in an insulating film to which the plurality of sensors and at least one electronic processing component are physically attached in a manner to make electrical connections with the electrical conductors therein.
- 59. The instrument of claim 58, additionally comprising a rigid protective cover extending across the substrate over at least the sensors, said at least one electronic processing component and the electrical conductors encapsulated in an insulating film.
- 60. The instrument of claim 59, wherein the electrical conductors and the insulating film encapsulating them extend between the plurality of sensors and said at least one electronic processing component in grooves formed in one of the substrate and cover, and the substrate and cover are rigidly attached to each other in abutting surface regions between the grooves.
- 61. The instrument of claim 60, wherein the attached abutting surface regions of the substrate and cover extend over at least eighty percent of a common area of the substrate and cover.
- 62. The instrument of claim 61, wherein the substrate and cover are each circular in shape with the same diameter.
- 63. A measuring instrument, comprising:
first and second substrate portions held together at a common interface, a plurality of cavities positioned between the first and second substrate portions, a plurality of grooves positioned between the first and second substrate portions and extending between the plurality of cavities, strips of electrically insulative film with electrical conductors therein positioned within the grooves, a plurality of sensors of a parameter and electronic components positioned within the cavities and electrically connected with the electrical conductors in the film strips, and wherein the first and second substrate portions are directly attached together in regions of their common interface between the grooves and cavities.
- 64. The instrument of claim 63, wherein the first and second substrate portions are each circular discs having the same diameter.
- 65. The instrument of claim 63, wherein the plurality of cavities and the plurality of grooves are arranged so that one or more patterns of segments of the film strips are repeated across the interface between the first and second substrate portions, thereby to simplify manufacture of the instrument.
- 66. The instrument of claim 65, wherein the sensors and electronic components have been attached to the film strip segments before installation in the cavities and grooves.
- 67. The instrument of claim 63, wherein the regions of the first and second substrate portions that are directly attached together exceed eighty per-cent of their common interface.
- 68. An instrument for measuring a parameter, comprising:
a silicon wafer substrate having opposing planar surfaces, a plurality of recesses formed in said one substrate surface at positions distributed thereacross and having bottom surfaces, a plurality of sensors in the form of silicon integrated circuit die attached to the bottom surfaces of at least some of the recesses, thereby providing measurements of the parameter at positions distributed across said one substrate surface, at least one silicon electronic processing integrated circuit die attached to the bottom surface of at least one of the recesses, electrical conductors extending across said one substrate surface between at least the recesses containing the integrated circuit die, lead wires extending between and bonded to pads of the integrated circuit die and electrical conductors adjacent the recesses in which the die are attached, and a protective material filling the recesses around the integrated circuit die and extending around the lead wires.
- 69. The instrument of claim 68, wherein the integrated circuit die are attached to the bottoms of the recesses by an adhesive that includes heat conductive particles.
- 70. The instrument of claim 69, wherein the protective material includes heat conductive particles.
- 71. The instrument of claim 70, wherein the adhesive and protective material are electrical insulators.
- 72. The instrument of claim 68, additionally comprising at least one additional electronic component attached to the bottom surface of at least one of the recesses and connected with the electrical conductors adjacent the at least one component.
- 73. A parameter measuring system, comprising:
a portable measuring instrument comprising a substrate with a plurality of sensors of the parameter spatially distributed thereacross, a first electronics system including a processor connected with the sensors and data storage, a power storage system connected to operate the sensors and electronics system, and a coil connected to at least receive electromagnetic energy for recharging the power storage system, a docking station comprising a surface that supports the measuring instrument when inserted therein from a side, a module positioned above the supporting surface that contains a second electronics system including a processor, a flexible film carried by an underside of the module, a coil physically attached to the film and electrically driven by the second electronics system to provide electromagnetic energy to recharge the power storage system of the measuring instrument, and a mechanism carried by the underside of the module that lowers the film to rest its coil on the coil of the measuring instrument when carried by the surface in order to recharge the power storage system under control of the first and second electronics systems.
- 74. The system of claim 73, wherein the film is attached at one extreme to the underside of the module and the lowering mechanism includes an electromagnetic device attached to an opposite extreme of the film for providing slack in the film to rest on the measuring instrument and relative tautness in the film to raise it above the measuring instrument.
- 75. The system of claim 73, wherein the surface of the docking station that supports the measuring instrument includes a plurality of wheels upon which the measuring instrument rests, the wheels being constrained to rotate about axes which intersect in a center of the measuring instrument and being powered by individual electrical motors, thereby to rotate the measuring instrument about said center when the electrical motors are energized.
- 76. In a battery powered portable measuring instrument including a substrate with a plurality of sensors of a parameter distributed across a surface thereof, a method of compressing the amount of data obtained from the sensors of the parameter by processing on the measuring instrument, comprising:
calculating a first set of differences between values of the parameter read at different times by individual sensors, calculating a second set of differences between values of the parameter read at a given time by the plurality of sensors, and selecting one of the first set or second set of differences that represents the values of the parameter read by the sensors with the lesser amount of data.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a continuation-in-part of patent application Ser. No. 10/718,269, filed Nov. 19, 2003, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/430,858 filed on Dec. 3, 2002, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/496,294 filed on Aug. 19, 2003, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/512,243 filed on Oct. 17, 2003. The benefits of the filing dates of provisional applications Nos. 60/496,294 and 60/512,243 are also being directly claimed herein. Each of these applications is also incorporated herein in its entirety for all purposes by this reference.
Provisional Applications (3)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60430858 |
Dec 2002 |
US |
|
60496294 |
Aug 2003 |
US |
|
60512243 |
Oct 2003 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10718269 |
Nov 2003 |
US |
Child |
10837359 |
Apr 2004 |
US |