Exemplary support assemblies may include an electrostatic chuck body defining a substrate support surface. The assemblies may include a support stem coupled with the electrostatic chuck body. The assemblies may include a heater embedded within the electrostatic chuck body. The assemblies may also include an electrode embedded within the electrostatic chuck body between the heater and the substrate support surface. The substrate support assemblies may be characterized by a leakage current through the electrostatic chuck body of less than or about 4 mA at a temperature of greater than or about 500° C. and a voltage of greater than or about 600 V.

Support plates for localized heating in thermal processing systems to uniformly heat workpieces are provided. In one example implementation, localized heating is achieved by modifying a heat transmittance of a support plate such that one or more portions of the support plate proximate the areas that cause cold spots transmit more heat than the rest of the support plate. For example, the one or more portions (e.g., arears proximate to one or more support pins) of the support plate have a higher heat transmittance (e.g., a higher optical transmission) than the rest of the support plate. In another example implementation, localized heating is achieved by heating a workpiece via a coherent light source through a transmissive support structure (e.g., one or more support pins, or a ring support) in addition to heating the workpiece globally by light from heat sources.

A method of manufacturing a support pedestal for use in semiconductor processing includes applying a protective layer on a conductive member of the support pedestal with an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. The support pedestal has a support plate bonded to a tubular shaft. The support plate has a substrate, an electric element embedded in the substrate, and a conductive member connected to the electric element, and the tubular shaft defines an internal chamber. The ALD process introducing first precursors into the chamber of the tubular shaft to form a first monolayer on the conductive member, and introducing second precursors into the chamber of the tubular shaft to form a second monolayer on the first monolayer.

A ceramic heater includes a ceramic substrate including, on an upper surface, a wafer mount surface that receives a wafer, and a heater electrode embedded in an inside of the ceramic substrate. The ceramic substrate includes a core portion and a surface layer portion disposed on a surface of the core portion. The surface layer portion has volume resistivity higher than volume resistivity of the core portion. The core portion has thermal conductivity higher than thermal conductivity of the surface layer portion. The surface layer portion is disposed over an area of at least one of a side surface of the core portion and an upper surface of the core portion, the area being not covered with the wafer.

An electrostatic chuck device is provided in which the occurrence of cracking in a ceramic layer, the cracking being caused by a difference in thermal expansion between a substrate and a sleeve due to heat generated during formation of the ceramic layer, is suppressed. The electrostatic chuck device includes a substrate, a laminated body that is laminated on the substrate and that includes at least an internal electrode, and a ceramic layer that is laminated on the upper surface of the laminated body in the thickness direction. The electrostatic chuck device is such that the substrate has a through-hole provided so as to pass through in the thickness direction, a sleeve formed from an insulating material is inserted into the through-hole, and the sleeve is joined to the through-hole via a joining means at an upper portion of the substrate in the thickness direction.

The present disclosure provides an electrostatic chuck device capable of uniformly cooling or heating a fixedly adsorbed substrate. The electrostatic chuck device includes an electrostatic chuck plate, a bonding layer, and a base. The bonding layer has a bonding agent bonded to a rear surface of the electrostatic chuck plate. The base has a bonding surface bonded to the bonding layer and a plurality of protrusions radially extending from a central part toward an outer circumferential surface of the bonding surface. The ends of the respective protrusions on the central part may be arranged at intervals.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided for manufacturing a wafer clamp having hard burls. The method can include providing a first layer that includes a first surface. The method can further include forming a plurality of burls over the first surface of the first layer. The forming of the plurality of burls can include forming a subset of the plurality of burls to a hardness of greater than about 6.0 gigapascals (GPa).

A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes a process chamber. A chuck is disposed in the process chamber. The chuck is configured to hold a substrate thereon. A transfer unit is adjacent to the process chamber. The transfer unit includes a transfer hand configured to transfer the substrate. A slow discharge layer is disposed on a first surface of the transfer hand. The slow discharge layer is configured to discharge static electricity charged in the substrate.

Methods for etching a semiconductor structure and for conditioning a processing reactor in which a single semiconductor structure is treated are disclosed. An engineered polycrystalline silicon surface layer is deposited on a susceptor which supports the semiconductor structure. The polycrystalline silicon surface layer may be engineered by controlling the temperature at which the layer is deposited, by grooving the polycrystalline silicon surface layer or by controlling the thickness of the polycrystalline silicon surface layer.

Described are electrostatic chucks that are useful to support a workpiece during a step of processing the workpiece, the electrostatic chuck including embossments that are made of multiple deposited layers, the layers including diamond-like carbon layers and layers that contain silicon-based materials such as silicon carbide layers.