Patent ID: 11959175
Assignee: LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION
Field: Surface technology, coating (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C | IPC C

Claim 12:
13. A precursor refill system comprising:
an ampoule configured to be fluidically connected to a precursor delivery system and a precursor source and configured to contain liquid precursor; and
one or more controllers configured to:
(a) start a counter of a number of deposition cycles during which a precursor is delivered to a reaction chamber of a substrate processing apparatus, wherein the precursor is stored in liquid form in the ampoule;
(b) determine that an ampoule fill start condition is met;
(c) read a sensor level in the ampoule indicating that the ampoule is sufficiently full that the precursor should not be provided to the ampoule;
(d) determine that a number of deposition cycles counted by the counter exceeds a threshold; and
(e) in response to determining that the number of deposition cycles counted by the counter exceeds the threshold, cease the deposition cycles,
wherein a ‘no dose’ cycle is not counted toward the number of cycles against the threshold,
wherein the one or more controllers are further configured to initiate a soft shutdown when ceasing the deposition cycles in operation (e).