Patent ID: 11860528
Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H  B  C | IPC B  C  G  H

Claim 0:
1. An EUV mask blank substrate processing platform comprising:
a plurality of EUV mask blank substrate processing chambers including a single central transfer chamber including a central robot hub having five substrate processing chambers surrounding the single central transfer chamber, the central transfer chamber and the five substrate processing chambers being under vacuum conditions, the five substrate processing chambers comprising at least two multi-cathode physical vapor deposition (PVD) chambers and at least one substrate annealing chamber, and at least a first single cathode PVD chamber;
a central robot including a central hub and a robot blade having a distal end disposed in the single central transfer chamber, the central robot configured to load and unload the EUV mask blank substrate from the five substrate processing chambers and configured to support a load of 1 kg with a downward deflection of less than 0.1975 inches when the distal end is extended 39.5 inches from the central hub to reduce particle generation;
a factory interface disposed between the plurality of EUV mask blank substrate processing chambers and an ambient factory environment;
a substrate flipping fixture disposed within the factory interface and configured to rotate the EUV mask blank substrate having a front side and a back side 180 degrees such that material can be deposited on both the front side and the back side of the EUV mask blank substrate in one of the five substrate processing chambers;
a factory interface robot configured to load substrates from the ambient factory environment into the factory interface and onto the EUV mask blank substrate flipping fixture; and
a build module fixture mounted adjacent the EUV mask blank substrate flipping fixture, the build module fixture configured to support an EUV mask blank carrier assembly including a carrier base and a top shield having an opening therein sized and shaped to receive an EUV mask blank and lift pins configured to separate the top shield from the carrier base, the EUV substrate processing platform configured to perform all deposition and annealing steps to process the EUV mask blank without transferring the EUV mask blank substrate outside the EUV mask blank substrate processing platform.