Methods and apparatus for glitch recovery in stationary-beam ion implantation process using fast ion beam control

US7361913B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Russell J. Low · Rowley, US
• Joseph C. Olson · Beverly, US
• David Roger Timberlake · Marblehead, US
• James McLane · Beverly, US
• Mark D. Saunders · Rockport, US
• James J. Cummings · Wilmington, US
• Thomas B. Callahan · Gloucester, US
• Jonathan Gerald England · Petworth, GB

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 30, 2005
• Grant date: Apr 22, 2008
• Expiry date: Jan 28, 2026

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S438/961
• WIPO field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

An ion implanter includes a source of a stationary, planar ion beam, a set of beamline components that steer the ion beam along a normal beam path as determined by first operating parameter values, an end station that mechanically scans the wafer across the normal beam path, and control circuitry that responds to a glitch in the ion beam during implantation pass to (1) immediately alter an operating parameter of at least one of the beamline components to a second value to direct the ion beam away from the normal beam path and thereby cease implantation at an implantation transition location on the wafer, (2) subsequently move the wafer to an implantation-resuming position in which the implantation transition location on the wafer lies directly on the normal path of the ion beam, and (3) return the operating parameter to its first value to direct the ion beam along the normal beam path and resume ion implantation at the implantation transition location on the wafer. The operating parameter may be an output voltage of an extraction power supply, or other voltages and/or currents of beamline components that affect the path of the ion beam.