US 12,266,588 B2
Thermoelectric cooling pedestal for substrate processing systems
Mrinal Kumar, Bangalore (IN); Harisprasad Hegde, Bangalore (IN); Vishwajith Nirebailur, Bannanje (IN); and Harish Neelam Reddy, Bangalore (IN)
Assigned to LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION, Fremont, CA (US)
Appl. No. 17/627,241
Filed by LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION, Fremont, CA (US)
PCT Filed Jul. 9, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/041353
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jan. 14, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/011288, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 21, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/874,649, filed on Jul. 16, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0238415 A1, Jul. 28, 2022
Int. Cl. H01L 23/38 (2006.01); H01L 21/67 (2006.01); H10N 10/13 (2023.01); H10N 10/17 (2023.01)
CPC H01L 23/38 (2013.01) [H01L 21/67248 (2013.01); H10N 10/13 (2023.02); H10N 10/17 (2023.02)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for cooling a substrate, comprising:
a pedestal configured to process the substrate, the pedestal comprising:
N zones, where N is an integer greater than one;
a temperature sensor to sense N temperatures in the N zones, respectively;
N temperature control devices arranged in the N zones, respectively;
a voltage source to selectively supply power to the N temperature control devices; and
a controller configured to cool the substrate after the substrate is processed, and to cause the voltage source to control a temperature in the N zones by:
a) determining a hottest one of the N zones based on the N temperatures;
b) if the hottest one of the N zones is not already cooling, increasing cooling to the hottest one of the N zones using one of the N temperature control devices;
c) decreasing cooling to the N zones when a temperature of the N zones is less than a first temperature setpoint; and
d) repeating a) to c) until all of the N zones have a temperature less than or equal to the first temperature setpoint.