Patent ID: 9257314
Filing Date: 2016-02-09
CPC Classification: B01D,C01B,C23C,H01L,H05B,Y02C,Y02P

Claim Text:
1. A method of reclaiming at least a first annealing gas from an exhaust of a high pressure annealing processing system used to anneal a plurality of substrates in a semiconductor manufacturing process comprising: receiving a signal about the presence of at least the first annealing gas in the high pressure annealing processing system; purging a gas reclaiming system with a second gas; directing the at least first annealing gas to the gas reclaiming system, wherein the at least first annealing gas and the second gas are mixed together to form a mixture of a plurality of gases in the gas reclaiming system; after the directing, separating the plurality of gases in a gas separating unit of the gas reclaiming system, wherein the gas separating unit substantially separates the at least first annealing gas from the plurality of gasses to yield a separated annealing gas; conveying the separated annealing gas to a heat exchange unit of the gas reclaiming system; testing the separated annealing gas in a gas monitoring system of the gas reclaiming system to monitor the quality of the separated annealing gas, wherein if the separated annealing gas has a concentration of the at least first annealing gas below a predetermined threshold: conveying the separated annealing gas back to the gas separating unit to reprocess the separated annealing gas, and re-testing the quality of the separated annealing gas; conveying the separated annealing gas to a gas pressurizing unit of the gas reclaiming system, wherein the separated annealing gas is pressurized above atmospheric pressure to yield a pressurized first annealing gas; conveying the first pressurized annealing gas to a purification system; and storing the purified and pressurized first annealing gas for at least a period of time before re-using the pressurized first annealing gas in the high pressure annealing processing system.