DEVELOPMENTS IN EQUIPMENT SUPPORT TECHNOLOGY

This article will review the achievements, on-going development activi ties and needs in ''equipment support technology,'' i.e., the critical or key components which surround the process chamber and without whic h an effective process cannot be reliably and repeatably executed. The challenges of the SIA (Semiconductor Industry Association) Roadmap ha ve been the focus for the dramatic developments in many areas, such as the following: delivery of process material vapors into the reactor, control of the exhaust effluent from the reactor, on-process pressure measurement and control sensors and actuators, implementation of a wel l supported digital sensor bus introduced on 300 mm tool sets, tool an d process diagnostics through residual gas analysis, and the incorpora tion of fault detection schemes and the eventual implementation of mod el based process control techniques. With the escalating cost of wafer s-in-process, and the desire to increase overall equipment effectivene ss and reduce cost-of-ownership, it becomes increasingly important to separate, control, diagnose and predict the behavior of critical proce ss variables in real time. In-situ measurement, control, and metrology result in dramatically improved meantime between failures, shorter me antime to repair, and a significantly reduced cost per measurement fun ction. (C) 1998 American Vacuum Society.