NSF Award
9901714
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II will provide IC manufacturers with a real-time sensor to optimize the efficiency of their Plasma Etch and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) chambers. Etch and CVD are the staples of semiconductor manufacturing. In both, deposits accumulate on chamber walls, eventually flake off and cause particle defects that reduce yields. The manufactures control defects with periodic chamber cleans, and thereby decrease the availability of their expensive tools. Cleaning schedules are currently set conservatively and statistically.<br/> The state-of-the-art ultrasonic Sensys Sensor has three competitive advantages: (1) it measures precisely the naturally occurring deposits inside the chamber; (2) exterior mounting eliminates the possibility of contaminating the plasma environment; and (3) it measures the wall temperature and erosion. The objectives of this project are to develop the sensor, mount it on chambers and to demonstrate that the sensor allows the manufacturer to clean the chambers when and only they need it, thus optimizing the tradeoff between yield and utilization. The ultimate market size for the wall sensor, based on the number of chambers sold, exceeds $100M/year. The initial market is about $0.5M in 1999, and will grow to $90M by 2003.
