Plasma uniformity control by gas diffuser hole design

• US 10,312,058 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2017
• Issued: 06/04/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Choi, Soo Young, White, John M., Wang, Qunhua, Hou, Li, Kim, Ki Woon, Kurita, Shinichi, Won, Tae Kyung, Anwar, Suhail, Park, Beom Soo, Tiner, Robin L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lund, Jeffrie R
• Application Number:
  US15/719,465
• Publication Number:
  US 20180025890A1
• Time in Patent Office: 614 Days
• Field of Search: 118715, 118723 R, 118723 E, 15634533, 15634534, 15634543, 15634547
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/345 Silicon nitride
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/455 characterised by the method used for introducing gases into reaction chamber or for modifying gas flows in reaction chamber
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45565 Shower nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/5096 Flat-bed apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/327 Arrangements for generating the plasma
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/3321 CVD [Chemical Vapor Deposition]
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/3323 uniformity
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/3325 large area
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32082 Radio frequency generated discharge H01J37/32357, H01J37/32366, H01J37/32394 and H01J37/32403 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32091 the radio frequency energy being capacitively coupled to the plasma
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/3244 Gas supply means
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32541 Shape
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32596 Hollow cathodes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49885 with coating before or during assembling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49996 Successive distinct removal operations

Abstract

Embodiments of a method of depositing a thin film on a substrate is provided that includes placing a substrate on a substrate support that is mounted in a processing region of a processing chamber, flowing a process fluid through a plurality of gas passages in a diffuser plate toward the substrate supported on the substrate support, wherein the diffuser plate has an upstream side and a downstream side and the downstream side has a substantially concave curvature, and each of the gas passages are formed between the upstream side and the downstream side, and creating a plasma between the downstream side of the diffuser plate and the substrate support.

Claims

1. A method of depositing a thin film on a substrate, comprising:

placing a substrate on a substrate support that is mounted in a processing region of a processing chamber;

flowing a process fluid through a plurality of gas passages in a diffuser plate toward the substrate supported on the substrate support, wherein the diffuser plate has an upstream side and a downstream side and the downstream side has a substantially concave curvature, and each of the gas passages are formed between the upstream side and the downstream side, and wherein a portion of the plurality of gas passages include a cone shaped hole having a depth that varies from a center to an edge of the diffuser plate; and

creating a plasma between the downstream side of the diffuser plate and the substrate support.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a portion of the gas passages comprise a hollow cathode cavity in fluid communication with the downstream side.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a volume, a surface area, or a density of each of the gas passages varies across the diffuser plate to obtain a desired thin film thickness and property uniformity.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the diffuser plate is rectangular.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the diffuser plate size is at least 1,200,000 mm².

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the gas passages comprise:

an orifice hole having a first diameter; and

a hollow cathode cavity that is downstream of and in fluid communication with the orifice hole and open at the downstream side.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the gas passages further comprise a bore at the upstream side fluidly coupled to the orifice hole having a second diameter greater than the first diameter.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each of the hollow cathode cavities have a third diameter at the downstream side that is greater than the second diameter.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein each of the third diameters of the hollow cathode cavities increases from the center to the edge of the diffuser plate.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the first diameters are substantially uniform from the center to the edge of the diffuser plate.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the hollow cathode cavities have a volume, a surface area, or a density of each of the gas passages that varies across the diffuser plate to obtain a desired thin film thickness and property uniformity.

12. A method of depositing a thin film on a substrate, comprising:

placing a substrate between a substrate support and a diffuser plate that is mounted in a processing region of a processing chamber;

flowing a process fluid through a plurality of gas passages such including a hollow cathode cavity formed in a downstream side of the diffuser plate toward the substrate supported on the substrate support, wherein the diffuser plate has an upstream side and the downstream side has a substantially concave curvature, and each of the hollow cathode cavities are fluidly coupled to a bore formed from the upstream side and wherein a portion of the plurality of hollow cathode cavities include a cone shaped hole having a depth that varies from a center to an edge of the diffuser plate; and

creating a plasma between the downstream side of the diffuser plate and the substrate support.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein each of the gas passages further comprise an orifice hole positioned between the bore and the hollow cathode cavity.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the orifice holes are configured uniformly among the gas passages.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the orifice holes are configured non-uniformly among the gas passages.

16. A method of depositing a thin film on a substrate, comprising:

placing a substrate between a substrate support and a diffuser plate that is mounted in a processing region of a processing chamber;

flowing a process fluid through a plurality of gas passages formed between an upstream side and a downstream side of the diffuser plate toward the substrate supported on the substrate support, wherein each of the gas passages include;

an orifice hole having a first diameter; and

a hollow cathode cavity that is downstream of the orifice hole and is at the downstream side, the hollow cathode cavity having a cone or cylinder shape and a second diameter at the downstream side that is greater than the first diameter, the second diameters or the depths or a combination of both of the cones or cylinders increases from the center to the edge of the diffuser plate, and the first diameters are substantially uniform from the center to the edge of the diffuser plate; and

creating a plasma between the downstream side of the diffuser plate and the substrate support.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the downstream side of the diffuser plate is concave.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the diffuser plate has a first thickness at the edge and a second thickness at the center.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the orifice holes are configured uniformly among the gas passages.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the orifice holes are configured non-uniformly among the gas passages.