PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15885311
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-01
Publication Date: 2019-08
Patent Classification: ["438", "004000"]

Abstract:
Methods are provided for recycling a dummy wafer so that the dummy wafer may be repeatedly used in a deposition process. The dummy wafer includes a substrate and an oxide layer on the substrate that is formed by the deposition process. A thickness of the oxide layer on the dummy wafer may be measured, and the dummy wafer may be subjected to recycling depending on whether the measured thickness of the oxide layer exceeds a threshold thickness. The dummy wafer is recycled by removing the oxide layer, which may be accomplished by performing an etching process. A mechanical polishing process may be performed to smooth the surface of the substrate. The dummy wafer may then be reused in a subsequent deposition process.

Claim (Index 17):
A method, comprising:\n depositing hafnium oxide (HfO 2 ) on a first batch of semiconductor wafers, the first batch of semiconductor wafers including a first plurality of production wafers, a first particle control wafer, and a dummy wafer; measuring a thickness of a first hafnium oxide layer on the dummy wafer; determining whether the measured thickness of the first hafnium oxide layer exceeds a threshold thickness; in response to determining that the measured thickness of the first hafnium oxide layer is less than the threshold thickness, reusing the dummy wafer by depositing hafnium oxide on a second batch of semiconductor wafers, the second batch of semiconductor wafers including a second plurality of production wafers, a second particle control wafer, and the dummy wafer; measuring a thickness of a second hafnium oxide layer on the dummy wafer, the thickness of the second hafnium oxide layer including the thickness of the first hafnium oxide layer; determining whether the measured thickness of the second hafnium oxide layer exceeds the threshold thickness; in response to determining that the measured thickness of the second hafnium oxide layer exceeds the threshold thickness, removing the second hafnium oxide layer from the dummy wafer by etching the dummy wafer with a hydrofluoric acid solution; and polishing the dummy wafer by chemical-mechanical planarization.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 9.0
- Percentile: 86.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.36364
- Patent Class: 438.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['13923943', '11376384', '11160919', '13022517', '10851549']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.8473907127096841
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.4931578722110804
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.8119674286598239
- Mean Citation Score: 175.49158000000003
- Max Citation Score: 181.27875
- Similarity Product: 114.63258420869708

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test