Patent 7806983 was granted and assigned to Novellus Systems on October, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A deposition system includes a process chamber for conducting an ALD process to deposit layers on a substrate. An electrostatic chuck (ESC) retains the substrate. A backside gas increases thermal coupling between the substrate and the ESC. The ESC is cooled via a coolant flowing through a coolant plate and heated via a resistive heater. Various arrangements are disclosed.