| US 7,519,885 B2 | ||
| Monitoring a monolayer deposition (MLD) system using a built-in self test (BIST) table | ||
| Sanjeev Kaushal, San Jose, Calif. (US); Pradeep Pandey, San Jose, Calif. (US); and Kenji Sugishima, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Mar. 31, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/278,382. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0234953 A1, Oct. 11, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. G06F 11/00 (2006.01); G11C 29/00 (2006.01); G06F 11/30 (2006.01); G06F 19/00 (2006.01); G01R 31/26 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 714—733 [714/39; 714/47; 714/723; 714/737; 714/742; 702/182; 702/183; 702/185; 700/108; 700/109; 700/110; 438/17] | 49 Claims |
| 1. A method of monitoring a monolayer deposition (MLD) system using a Built-In Self Test (BIST) table comprising:
positioning one or more wafers at different heights in a thermal processing chamber;
reducing pressure in the thermal processing chamber;
performing a first precursor process, wherein a first precursor-containing gas is flowed into the thermal processing chamber,
and the first precursor-containing gas includes a first reactant;
monitoring data for the first precursor process using a first set of nonlinear differential equations x1 and a first output equation y1, wherein
x1=ƒ(x1, p1,u1)
y1=g(x1, p1, u1)
and x1, P1 and u1 are first precursor process parameters in which the first vector x1 comprises a first state vector for the first precursor process, the first vector p1 comprises one or more modeling parameters for the first precursor process, the vector u1 comprises one or more inputs applied to the first precursor process;
calculating a first dynamic estimation error for the first precursor process using the monitored data for the first precursor
process;
comparing the first dynamic estimation error to a first operational limit established by one or more BIST rules in the BIST
table for the first precursor process;
continuing the first precursor process when the first dynamic estimation error is within the first operational limit; and
comparing the first dynamic estimation error to a first warning limit established for the first precursor process when the
first dynamic estimation error is not within the first operational limit, and either
sending a warning message identifying a potential problem with the first precursor process and/or MLD system and continuing
the first precursor process when the first dynamic estimation error is within the first warning limit, or
sending a fault message identifying a known problem with the first precursor process and/or MLD system when the first dynamic
estimation error is not within the first warning limit.
|