Patent ID: 11935728
Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 3:
4. A method, comprising:
disposing a workpiece over a support stage in a processing chamber;
determining a first radial offset of a shield with respect to the support stage and a second radial offset of a cover ring with respect to the support stage, wherein the shield is disposed over the support stage and the cover ring is disposed over the shield;
determining whether an absolute value of a difference between the first radial offset of the shield and the second radial offset of the cover ring is within a tolerance range of between 0 and 0.3 millimeters (mm);
adjusting a relative position of at least one of the shield and the cover ring when the offset the absolute value of the difference is not within the tolerance range; and
wherein the processing chamber further comprises a position sensor and a position adjustment mechanism for:
determining the first radial offset of the shield with respect to the support stage and the second radial offset of the cover ring with respect to the support stage using the position sensor;
comparing the absolute value of the difference to the tolerance range, wherein the tolerance range is stored in an electronic memory;
instructing the position adjustment mechanism to adjust the relative position of the at least one of the shield and the cover ring when the absolute value of the difference is determined greater than the tolerance range; and
performing a semiconductor device processing operation on the workpiece after confirming that the absolute value of the difference is within the tolerance range.