Appeal 2007-1269
Application 10/636,468
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellants' invention relates to techniques for monitoring chamber
stability in a semiconductor substrate processing system and adjusting a
process recipe to optimize substrate processing. (Specification 2, paragraph
[0001].) In the words of the Appellants:
[T]he invention measures the thickness of a material
layer on a substrate using an integrated metrology
tool that is coupled to a substrate processing
chamber (e.g., a deep trench etch system). The
measurement data are utilized and tracked by the
substrate-processing chamber to adjust a process
recipe in real time, and to detect process drift. As
such, the real time adjustment of the process recipe
facilitates accurate processing of the substrate. The
real time process information also assists in
shortening the process development cycle.
(Specification 6, paragraph [0022].)
Claim 1 is exemplary:
1. A method of monitoring a process performed by a processing
chamber, comprising:
collecting pre-process measurement data prior to substrate processing
using an integrated metrology tool;
processing the substrate in the processing chamber;
recording a total processing time;
collecting post-process measurement data after substrate processing
using the integrated metrology tool; and
calculating a process rate by subtracting post-process measurement
data from pre-process measurement data and dividing the result by the total
processing time.
2
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