Systems and methods of placing substrates in semiconductor manufacturing equipment

Abstract

The disclosed technology generally relates to semiconductor processing and more particularly to placing a substrate in a semiconductor manufacturing equipment for processing, and to apparatuses for placing the substrate in the semiconductor manufacturing equipment. In one aspect, a method of calibrating a process position of a semiconductor substrate in a process chamber comprises securing a calibration substrate on a susceptor in a processing chamber under an open chamber condition using a securing device, wherein securing comprises preventing the substrate from sliding laterally on the susceptor by more than a predefined tolerance from a centered position relative to a susceptor center. The method additionally comprises subjecting the calibration substrate under a process condition different from the open chamber condition. The method additionally comprises transferring the calibration substrate from the susceptor using a robot arm. The method further comprises detecting a position of the calibration substrate and recording coordinates of the robot arm corresponding to the detected position of the calibration substrate. Detection can be conducted on the fly. The securing device can be removed prior to processing substrates.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for calibrating a process position of a semiconductor substrate in a semiconductor process chamber, comprising:
 a securing device configured to prevent a calibration substrate from sliding laterally on a support by more than 2 mm from a centered process position relative to a support center;   a sensor assembly configured to detect a position of the calibration substrate while the calibration substrate is transferred from the support using a robot arm; and   a memory device configured to record coordinates of the robot arm corresponding to the detected position of the calibration substrate.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor assembly comprises an optical sensor assembly comprising a pair of light sources configured to emit a pair of light beams in a substrate transfer path between the semiconductor process chamber and a transfer chamber connected to the semiconductor process chamber. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the securing device comprises a ring structure configured to fixedly surround the calibration substrate on the support. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a robot controller, wherein the robot controller is configured to, prior to placing a production semiconductor substrate at the centered process position, detect a position of the production semiconductor substrate using the sensor assembly and adjust the robot arm based on the detected position of the calibration substrate such that the semiconductor substrate is placed on the support at the centered process position. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the robot controller is further configured to adjust the robot arm based on the detected position of the calibration substrate when the detected position of the semiconductor substrate and the detected position of the calibration substrate are offset from each other by more than about 0.1 mm. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising the calibration substrate formed of a material different from the semiconductor substrate.