Patent ID: 11901198
Assignee: AXCELIS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A workpiece processing system, comprising:
a cooling chamber generally enclosing a chamber volume;
a workpiece having one or more materials residing thereon, wherein each of the one or more materials has a respective outgassing temperature associated therewith, above which, the one or more materials outgas a respective outgas material at a respective outgassing rate that is toxic to personnel;
a cooling apparatus comprising a chilled workpiece support positioned within the cooling chamber and configured to selectively support the workpiece, wherein the chilled workpiece support has a support surface configured to selectively contact a backside of the workpiece, wherein the cooling apparatus is configured to selectively cool the workpiece to a predetermined temperature via thermal conduction between the support surface and the workpiece;
a vacuum source configured to selectively evacuate the chamber volume;
a purge gas source configured to selectively provide a purge gas to the chamber volume; and
a controller configured to cool the workpiece to the predetermined temperature via a control of the cooling apparatus, thereby cooling the one or more materials to below the respective outgassing temperature, and wherein the controller is further configured to control the vacuum source and purge gas source to provide a predetermined pressure associated with a predetermined heat transfer rate within the chamber volume concurrent with cooling of the workpiece, while further removing the respective outgas material from the chamber volume.