US 12,257,612 B2
Particle removing assembly and method of servicing assembly
Meng-Hsueh Wu, Hsinchu (TW); Fang Yu Kuo, Hsinchu (TW); Kai Yu Liu, Hsinchu (TW); Yu-Chun Wu, Hsinchu (TW); Jau-Sheng Huang, Hsinchu (TW); and Wei-Yi Chen, Hsinchu (TW)
Assigned to TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD., Hsinchu (TW)
Filed by TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD., Hsinchu (TW)
Filed on Jul. 20, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/224,520.
Application 18/224,520 is a division of application No. 17/132,940, filed on Dec. 23, 2020, granted, now 11,779,967.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/982,723, filed on Feb. 27, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2024/0001414 A1, Jan. 4, 2024
Int. Cl. B08B 9/08 (2006.01); H01L 21/67 (2006.01)
CPC B08B 9/0813 (2013.01) [H01L 21/67051 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for cleaning a cup, comprising:
the cup adjacent to a wafer chuck to guard contaminant material against spreading into a chamber, wherein the cup includes a first vertical wall and a second vertical wall, and a curvature of the cup connects the first and second vertical walls;
a particle removing assembly configured to remove contaminant material from the cup, wherein the particle removing assembly comprises:
a dispensing nozzle configured to eject pressurized cleaning material towards an incident point at an incident angle between the pressurized cleaning material and a dummy wafer, so that the pressurized cleaning material is reflected off the dummy wafer towards a surface of the second vertical wall and reflected again off the surface of the second vertical wall to reach an unreachable area of the curvature of the cup, and
a drying nozzle; and
a programmed computer communicating with the particle removing assembly, wherein the programmed computer is configured to:
determine, by a monitoring device, whether a variation in an amount of contaminant material in the unreachable area of the cup is within an acceptable range, and
control the particle removing assembly such that the variation in an amount of contaminant material in the unreachable area of the cup is within the acceptable range during a cup cleaning operation.