US 11,733,081 B2
Methods, systems, and apparatus for conducting a calibration operation for a plurality of mass flow controllers (MFCs) of a substrate processing system
Bindusagar Marath Sankarathodi, San Jose, CA (US); Zhiyuan Ye, San Jose, CA (US); Jyothi Rajeevan, Bangalore (IN); Ala Moradian, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Zuoming Zhu, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Errol Antonio C. Sanchez, Tracy, CA (US); and Patricia M. Liu, Saratoga, CA (US)
Assigned to Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed by Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed on Apr. 13, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/229,737.
Prior Publication US 2022/0326061 A1, Oct. 13, 2022
Int. Cl. G01F 15/00 (2006.01); G01F 25/17 (2022.01)
CPC G01F 15/002 (2013.01) [G01F 25/17 (2022.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of conducting a calibration operation for a plurality of mass flow controllers (MFCs) of a substrate processing system, the method comprising:
prioritizing the plurality of MFCs for the calibration operation, the prioritizing comprising:
determining an operation time for each MFC of the plurality of MFCs, and
ranking the plurality of MFCs in a rank list according to the operation time for each MFC;
conducting the calibration operation for the plurality of MFCs according to the rank list and during an idle time for the substrate processing system, the calibration operation comprising:
setting a first MFC to a flow mode to flow a gas through the first MFC at a target flow rate,
directing the gas to a mass flow verifier,
stepping the target flow rate of the gas through a plurality of flow rates corresponding to a plurality of setpoints, and
verifying a measured flow rate of the gas at each of the plurality of setpoints using the mass flow verifier.