Contaminant cleaning systems and related methods are provided. Exemplary embodiments include a reactive substance generator to produce or transfer reactive substance(s) that react with contaminant(s) on an item into a cleaning chamber. An analysis section can be attached to the cleaning chamber to perform gas analysis on gas samples brought into the analysis chamber that measure reaction byproducts from the reactive substance(s) interaction with the contaminants. An exemplary valve system can selectively couple the reactive substance generator, the analysis section, and the cleaning chamber. An exemplary pumping system, in combination with the valve system, can selectively generate differential pressure/vacuum levels between the reactive substance generator vs cleaning chamber as well as between the cleaning chamber and analysis section. For example, the analysis chamber can be configured to have a higher vacuum than the cleaning chamber to facilitate passage of gas test samples into the analysis chamber.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method and an apparatus for monitoring plasma behavior inside a plasma processing chamber. In one example, a method for monitoring plasma behavior includes acquiring at least one image of a plasma, and determining a plasma parameter based on the at least one image.

In a substrate processing method for performing predetermined processing on a substrate, which has a processing target film, accommodated in a processing chamber, as a luminous intensity of a predetermined wavelength in an emission spectrum of a plasma generated from a processing gas in the chamber, a luminous intensity of the predetermined wavelength which starts to change when actual processing of the processing target film is started is measured. Then, a processing time of the predetermined processing performed after a moment when the measured luminous intensity of the predetermined wavelength is changed, is set.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a cleaning method including: cleaning a component in which a deposit adhering to the component constituting an apparatus is removed by supplying and discharging a cleaning gas, wherein the act of cleaning includes controlling the apparatus so that a signal, which indicates a concentration of a predetermined gas generated by a reaction of the deposit and the cleaning gas, reaches a predetermined upper limit value or less and then stays within a range between the predetermined upper limit value and a predetermined lower limit value for a predetermined time period.

A measuring device includes a switch that switches a connection of an electrode to which a direct current voltage is applied, wherein the electrode is within an electrostatic chuck disposed in a plasma processing device; a component provided with electrostatic capacitance, wherein the component is connected to the switch; and a measuring unit that measures a value corresponding to an electric charge amount accumulated in the component provided with the electrostatic capacitance.

Embodiments described herein generally related to a substrate processing apparatus, and more specifically to an improved showerhead assembly for a substrate processing apparatus. The showerhead assembly includes a chill plate, a gas plate, and a gas distribution plate having a top surface and a bottom surface. A plurality of protruded features contacts the top surface of the gas distribution plate. A fastener and an energy storage structure is provided on the protruded features. The energy storage structure is compressed by the fastener and axially loads at least one of the protruded features to compress the chill plate, the gas plate and the gas distribution plate.

A substrate processing module includes a process chamber configured to perform a treatment process on a substrate; a transfer chamber provided on a first side of the process chamber, the substrate being transferred between the process chamber and the transfer chamber; an optical emission spectroscopy (OES) system provided on a second side of the process chamber and configured to monitor the process chamber; and a reference light source disposed in the transfer chamber and configured to emit a reference light to calibrate the OES system.

Generally, embodiments described herein relate to methods for manufacturing an interconnect structure for semiconductor devices, such as in a dual subtractive etch process. An embodiment is a method for semiconductor processing. A titanium nitride layer is formed over a substrate. A hardmask layer is formed over the titanium nitride layer. The hardmask layer is patterned into a pattern. The pattern is transferred to the titanium nitride layer, where the transferring comprises etching the titanium nitride layer. After transferring the pattern to the titanium nitride layer, the hardmask layer is removed, where the removal comprises performing an oxygen-containing ash process.

Methods for in-situ and real-time chamber condition monitoring is provided. For example, in one embodiment, for each wafer in a chamber, a frequency and wavelength of the free radicals in the chamber is monitored in-situ. The frequency and wavelength of the free radicals are associated with at least one selected chemical. The associated free radicals are compared to an index. The index includes a target range for each chemical in the at least one selected chemical.

A method and a system for monitoring a plasma chamber are provided. The method includes receiving process chamber characteristics from the plasma chamber; determining whether one or more variables associated with the process chamber characteristics are within predetermined specification. The method further includes updating a status of the plasma chamber to failure when the chamber characteristics are not within the predetermined specification. The method generates a warning notification when the chamber characteristics are within predetermined specification and when an operation status of the plasma chamber received from a fault detection system indicates a failure.