Vapor phase growth apparatus and vapor phase growth method

• US 10,385,474 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2016
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc. (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc. (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Sato, Yuusuke, Takahashi, Hideshi, Ito, Hideki, Hayano, Takanori
• Primary Examiner(s): Bergner, Erin F
• Application Number:
  US15/244,235
• Publication Number:
  US 20170062212A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4412 Details relating to the exhausts, e.g. pumps, filters, scrubbers, particle traps
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45561 Gas plumbing upstream of the reaction chamber
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45565 Shower nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45574 Nozzles for more than one gas
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/52 Controlling or regulating the coating process C23C16/45557, C23C16/279 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 25/10 Heating of the reaction chamber or the substrate
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 25/165 the flow of the reactive gases
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 29/403 AIII-nitrides
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 29/406 Gallium nitride
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0254 Nitrides
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0262 Reduction or decomposition of gaseous compounds, e.g. CVD

Abstract

A vapor phase growth apparatus according to an embodiment includes, n reactors performing a deposition process for a plurality of substrates at the same time, a first main gas supply path distributing a predetermined amount of first process gas including a group-III element to the n reactors at the same time, a second main gas supply path distributing a predetermined amount of second process gas including a group-V element to the n reactors at the same time, a controller controlling a flow rate of the first and second process gas, on the basis of control values of the flow rates of the first and second process gas supplied to the n reactors, and independently controlling predetermined process parameter independently set for each of the n reactors on the basis of control values, rotary drivers, and a heater.

Claims

1. A vapor phase growth apparatus comprising:

n (n is an integer equal to or greater than

     2) reactors performing a deposition process for a plurality of substrates at the same time;

a first main gas supply path distributing an amount of first process gas including a group-III element and supplying the first process gas to the n reactors at the same time;

a second main gas supply path distributing an amount of second process gas including a group-V element and supplying the second process gas to the n reactors at the same time;

a controller controlling a flow rate of the first process gas and a flow rate of the second process gas, on the basis of control values of flow rates of the first process gas and the second process gas supplied to the n reactors, the controller independently controlling at least one process parameter in the n reactors, on the basis of control values of the at least one process parameter independently set for each of the n reactors;

a rotary driver provided in each of the n reactors and rotating each of the plurality of substrates; and

a heater provided in each of the n reactors and heating each of the plurality of substrates, wherein

the controller includes a calculator that obtains information about a correlation between characteristics of a film including film thickness and film composition obtained in each of the n reactors and the at least one process parameter in advance, and the calculator calculates the control values of the at least one process parameter from the obtained information for each of the n reactors.

2. The vapor phase growth apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one process parameter is selected from concentration of the group-III element and the group-V element in process gas supplied to the n reactors, rotation speed of the substrates, temperature of the substrates, output of the heater, and internal pressure of the reactors.

3. The vapor phase growth apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the controller performs control such that an operation of starting the first process gas supply, an operation of shutting off the first process gas supply, an operation of starting second process gas supply, and an operation of shutting off of the second process gas supply are performed in the n reactors at the same time.

4. The vapor phase growth apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

n diluent gas supply lines supplying a diluent gas to the n reactors,

wherein the controller controls amount of diluent gas supplied, on the basis of control values of the concentration of the group-Ill element and the group-V element, which are independently set for the n reactors.

5. The vapor phase growth apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein each of the n reactors includes a film thickness measure capable of measuring a thickness of a film being grown, and

the controller changes and adjusts the at least one of the control values of the at least one process parameter independently for the n reactors, on the basis of a measurement result of film thickness by the film thickness measure during growth of the film.

6. The vapor phase growth apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

n sub-gas exhaust paths connected to the n reactors and discharging gas from the n reactors;

n pressure adjusters connected to the n sub-gas exhaust path;

a main gas exhaust path connected to the sub-gas exhaust paths; and

a vacuum pump connected to the main gas exhaust path.

7. The vapor phase growth apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the controller independently sets pressure control values of the n pressure adjuster.

8. The vapor phase growth apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calculator calculates the control values of the temperature or the rotation speed of the substrate from the obtained information.