IN SITU GETTER PUMP SYSTEM AND METHOD

摘要

A wafer processing system (12) including a processing chamber (18), a low pressure pump (22) coupled to the processing chamber (18) for pumping noble and non-noble gases, a valve mechanism (52) coupling a source of noble gas (54) to the processing chamber (18), an in situ getter pump (32) disposed within the processing chamber which pumps certain non-noble gases during the flow of the noble gas into the chamber (18), and a processing mechanism for processing a wafer (40) disposed within the processing chamber (18). Preferably, the in situ getter pump (32) can be operated at a number of different temperatures to preferentially pump different species of gas at those temperatures. A gas analyzer (36) is used to automatically control the temperature of the getter pump (32) to control the species of gasses that are pumped from the chamber. An alternate embodiment of the invention includes an in situ getter pump (178) additionally provided within the transfer chamber (42) of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment.