Patent ID: 7632542

Claim:
A method for improving uniformity of thin films formed in a thin film processing system, comprising the steps of: providing a thin film processing system including at least one substrate operated in a stalled substrate mode and in a rotating substrate mode, said film processing system having process parameters and reactor design parameters; providing a computer processing system operationally coupled to said film processing system; identifying, in said computer processing system, at least one first distribution profile of at least one parameter of a thin film formed on said at least one substrate in said stalled substrate mode, said at least one first distribution profile producing a uniform second distribution profile of said thin film upon said at least one substrate rotation in said rotating substrate mode; computing, in said computer processing system, a subspace of basis functions β n corresponding to said at least one first distribution profile in said stalled substrate mode generating said uniform second distribution profile in said rotating substrate mode; formulating, in said computer processing system, a uniformity optimization criterion defined as a deviation of a deposition profile of said at least one parameter of the thin film formed on said at least one substrate in said stalled substrate mode thereof from said subspace of said basis functions β n ; and optimizing said film processing system to minimize said uniformity optimization criterion; wherein the step of computing is followed by the step of: forming, in said computer processing system, a Nearest Uniformity Producing Profile (NUPP) N u (r,θ) based on said subspace of basis function β n , wherein N u ⁡ ( r , θ ) = ∑ n = 0 N ⁢ β n ⁢ ( r , θ ) ⁢ ∫ 0 2 ⁢ π ⁢ ∫ 0 r ω ⁢ δ ⁢ ( r , θ ) ⁢ β n ⁡ ( r , θ ) ⁢ r ⁢ ⅆ r ⁢ ⅆ θ wherein β n (r,θ) is said basis function corresponding to said at least one first distribution profile, δ(r,θ) is said deposition profile of said at least one parameter of the thin film formed on said at least one substrate in said stalled substrate mode, and r and θ are parameters of said at least one substrate physical domain ω(r,θ); and calculating said uniformity optimization criterion S(r,θ)=δ(r,θ)−N u (r,θ) at a predetermined region of said thin film formed on said at least one substrate.