US 11,810,805 B2
Prevention of contamination of substrates during gas purging
Douglas Brian Baumgarten, Round Rock, TX (US); Russell Kaplan, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Amitabh Puri, San Jose, CA (US); and Paul B. Reuter, Austin, TX (US)
Assigned to Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed by Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed on Jul. 9, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/946,872.
Prior Publication US 2022/0010427 A1, Jan. 13, 2022
Int. Cl. H01L 21/673 (2006.01); H01L 21/67 (2006.01); H01L 21/677 (2006.01); C23C 16/54 (2006.01); C23C 16/458 (2006.01); C23C 16/44 (2006.01); C23C 16/52 (2006.01); C23C 16/455 (2006.01)
CPC H01L 21/67389 (2013.01) [C23C 16/54 (2013.01); H01L 21/67242 (2013.01); H01L 21/67772 (2013.01); C23C 16/4408 (2013.01); C23C 16/458 (2013.01); C23C 16/45563 (2013.01); C23C 16/52 (2013.01); H01L 21/67775 (2013.01); Y10T 137/0402 (2015.04)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
coupling one or more nozzles of a gas purge apparatus to a substrate carrier;
performing, via the one or more nozzles coupled to the substrate carrier, a first gas purging session of an environment of the substrate carrier;
receiving, by a controller of the gas purge apparatus, a first signal, wherein the first signal is of a first signal type;
responsive to receiving the first signal, keeping the one or more nozzles coupled to the substrate carrier;
performing a second gas purging session of the environment of the substrate carrier via the one or more nozzles coupled to the substrate carrier;
receiving, by the controller of the gas purge apparatus, a second signal, wherein the second signal is of a second signal type; and
responsive to receiving the second signal, decoupling the one or more nozzles from the substrate carrier.