Some implementations described herein provide techniques and apparatuses for polishing a perimeter region of a semiconductor substrate so that a roll-off profile at or near the perimeter region of the semiconductor substrate satisfies a threshold. The described implementations include depositing a first layer of a first oxide material across the semiconductor substrate followed by depositing a second layer of a second oxide material over the first layer of the first oxide material and around a perimeter region of the semiconductor substrate. The described implementations further include polishing the second layer of the second oxide material over the perimeter region using a chemical mechanical planarization tool including one or more ring-shaped polishing pads oriented vertically over the perimeter region.

Methods and apparatus for depositing a metal containing-layer in a semiconductor processing chamber. One example method generally includes delivering a processing gas into the semiconductor processing chamber during a time period, where the processing gas comprises a first precursor delivered at a first rate and etchants delivered at a second rate, sustaining a plasma formed from the first precursor present in the semiconductor processing chamber during at least a first portion of the time period, and depositing the metal containing-layer on at least a portion of a semiconductor structure during the time period until an endpoint thickness is reached. Delivering the processing gas into the semiconductor processing chamber generally includes delivering the first precursor and the etchants during the time period or delivering the first precursor during a first part of the time period and delivering the etchants during a second part of the time period.

A method of polishing a layer on the substrate at a polishing station includes the actions of monitoring the layer during polishing at the polishing station with an in-situ monitoring system to generate a plurality of measured signals for a plurality of different locations on the layer; generating, for each location of the plurality of different locations, an estimated measure of thickness of the location, the generating including processing the plurality of measured signals through a neural network; and at least one of detecting a polishing endpoint or modifying a polishing parameter based on each estimated measure of thickness.

A microfluidic transfer substrate includes a plurality of pixel groups. Each pixel group includes at least three first pixel units, and the at least three first pixel units of each pixel group are arranged around a center point. One first pixel unit of each pixel group serves as a first microfluidic pixel and a surface of the first microfluidic pixel defines an assembly groove, and the other first pixel units of each pixel group serve as second microfluidic pixels and a surface of each second microfluidic pixel is free of the assembly groove. Each first pixel unit includes a thin film transistor, a microfluidic electrode layer, and a hydrophobic layer. A microfluidic transfer device and a microfluidic transfer apparatus are further provided.

A method for processing substrates includes subjecting each respective first substrate of a first plurality of substrates to a process that modifies a thickness of an outer layer of the respective first substrate, generating a plurality of groups of process parameter values; generating a plurality of removal profiles, training an artificial neural network by backpropagation using the plurality of groups of process parameter and plurality of removal profiles as training data where the artificial neural network has a plurality of input nodes to receive respective removal values from the removal profile and a plurality of output nodes to output control parameter values, for each respective second substrate of a second plurality of substrates determining a target removal profile, determining respective control parameter values to apply by applying the target removal profile to the input nodes, and subjecting each respective second substrate to the process using the respective control parameter values.

An apparatus for chemical mechanical polishing of a wafer includes a process chamber and a rotatable platen disposed inside the process chamber. A polishing pad is disposed on the platen and a wafer carrier is disposed on the platen. A slurry supply port is configured to supply slurry on the platen. A process controller is configured to control operation of the apparatus. A set of microphones is disposed inside the process chamber. The set of microphones is arranged to detect sound in the process chamber during operation of the apparatus and transmit an electrical signal corresponding to the detected sound. A signal processor is configured to receive the electrical signal from the set of microphones, process the electrical signal to enable detection of an event during operation of the apparatus, and in response to detecting the event, transmit a feedback signal to the process controller. The process controller is further configured to receive the feedback signal and initiate an action based on the received feedback signal.

The inventive concept provides a substrate treating apparatus. The substrate treating apparatus includes a support unit horizontally maintaining a substrate; a laser irradiation unit for irradiating the substrate with a laser; a photo-detector for detecting an energy of a reflective light reflected from the substrate among a laser irradiated on the substrate; and a processor, and wherein the processor irradiates a first laser of a first output to the substrate, and sets a second output of a second laser for irradiating the substrate to heat the substrate, based on an energy of a first reflective light reflected from the substrate by the first laser detected from the photo-detector.

A system is provided. The system includes a polishing apparatus and a polishing apparatus monitoring system. The polishing apparatus includes a platen. The polishing apparatus includes a polishing pad coupled to the platen and configured to be rotated by the platen. The polishing apparatus includes a pad conditioner configured to condition a polishing surface of the polishing pad. The polishing apparatus monitoring system includes a first image sensor configured to capture a first image of the polishing pad. The polishing apparatus monitoring system includes a second image sensor configured to capture a second image of the pad conditioner. The polishing apparatus monitoring system includes a computer configured to determine, based upon at least one of the first image or the second image, whether the polishing apparatus is associated with a potential defect.

The disclosure provides an optical signal detection system with improved spectral resolution and signal-to-noise that can be used for improved monitoring of semiconductor processes. The improved spectral resolution may be associated with improved spectral discrimination where narrow portions of spectral bandwidth are individually monitored. In one example, an optical signal detection system is provided that includes: (1) an optical interface configured to receive an optical signal, (2) a narrow bandpass filter configured to transmit a portion of the received optical signal, (3) an optical etalon in series with the narrow bandpass filter, configured to further filter the received optical signal, wherein the combination of a passband of the bandpass filter and a passband of the optical etalon is configured to provide an optical bandwidth of less than 1.0 nm for the optical signal, and (4) a multipixel optical sensor configured to essentially simultaneously collect the filtered optical signal.

An assembly for monitoring a semiconductor device under test comprising a mill configured to mill the device, a sensor configured to measure an electrical characteristic of the device, and a computer configured to determine the amount of strain in the device from the electrical characteristic when the mill is milling the device and detect an endpoint of milling at a circuit within the device. In use the endpoints of the milling process of the semiconductor device are detected measuring an electrical characteristic of the device with a sensor during milling determining the amount of strain in the device from the electrical characteristic and detecting an endpoint of the milling process within the device based on the amount of strain.