Method and apparatus for forming thin film

• US 20050136694A1
• Filed: 10/27/2004
• Published: 06/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Klaus Schmidt
• Original Assignee: Klaus Schmidt
• Inventors: Kugimiya, Toshihiro, Inoue, Kenichi, Hayashi, Kazushi, Takamatsu, Hiroyuki, Kobori, Takashi
• Granted Patent: US 7,897,025 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/795
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/228 Gas flow assisted PVD deposition
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/26 by resistance or inductive heating of the source
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/35 by application of a magnetic field, e.g. magnetron sputtering C23C14/3457 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32009 Arrangements for generation of plasma specially adapted for examination or treatment of objects, e.g. plasma sources plasma generation in general H05H1/24

Abstract

A rotor having a cylindrical peripheral surface is disposed in a treatment vessel into which a carrier gas is introduced, and the rotor peripheral surface is opposed to the surface of a substrate with a predetermine gap therebetween. The rotor peripheral surface is also opposed to a film-forming material supplying member having a film-forming material on its surface at a position apart from the position where the rotor faces the substrate. Film-forming particulates including atomic molecules of the film-forming material and cluster particulates thereof are scattered from the surface of the film-forming material supplying member by sputtering, and the rotor is rotated to form a carrier gas flow near the rotor peripheral surface. The film-forming particulates are transported to the vicinity of the surface of the substrate by the carrier gas flow and adhered to the surface of the substrate. As a result, the adverse effect of high-energy particles and the like can be suppressed to efficiently form a satisfactory thin film by an evaporation or sputtering process, which has less restriction to a source material gas, without the need for large equipment.

Claims

1. A method for forming a thin film on a surface of a substrate, the method comprising the steps of:

rotating a rotor, which has a cylindrical peripheral surface, around the central axis of the cylindrical peripheral surface, the rotor being disposed in a treatment vessel, and the cylindrical peripheral surface facing the surface of the substrate with a gap therebetween;

evaporating, vaporizing, or scattering a film-forming material in a surface of a film-forming material supplying member at a position circumferentially apart from the position where the cylindrical peripheral surface of the rotor faces the substrate surface in the treatment vessel, to supply atomic molecules of the film-forming material and cluster particulates thereof to the cylindrical peripheral surface of the rotor, the surface of the film-forming material supplying member being composed of the film-forming material and facing the cylindrical peripheral surface of the rotor with a gap therebetween;

transferring the substrate in substantially parallel with the circumferential rotational direction of the rotor at the position where the substrate faces the rotor; and

transporting the atomic molecules and the cluster particulates thereof, which are supplied to the cylindrical peripheral surface of the rotor, by a flow of the carrier gas created by the rotor near the peripheral surface thereof, and adhering the atomic molecules and the cluster particulates thereof to the substrate surface to form a thin film composed of the film-forming material on the substrate surface.

2. The method for forming a thin film according to claim 1, wherein the step of evaporating, vaporizing, or scattering the film-forming material in the surface of the film-forming material supplying member comprises a step of heating the surface of the film-forming material supplying member to evaporate or vaporize the film-forming material in the surface.

3. The method for forming a thin film according to claim 1, wherein the step of evaporating, vaporizing, or scattering the film-forming material in the surface of the film-forming material supplying member comprises a step of forming an electric field between the film-forming material supplying member and the rotor to generate a plasma of the carrier gas in the reactor, and sputtering the film-forming material in the surface of the film-forming material supplying member with ions contained in the plasma.

4. The method for forming a thin film according to claim 3, wherein the step of sputtering the film-forming material in the surface of the film-forming material supplying member comprises introducing a sputtering gas, which contains a rare gas element having a larger element number than that of the element of the carrier gas, into the gap between the film-forming material supplying member and the cylindrical peripheral surface of the rotor to produce ions of the rare gas element in the plasma produced in the gap, and sputtering the surface material of the film-forming material supplying member with the ions.

5. The method for forming a thin film according to claim 3, wherein the step of sputtering the film-forming material in the surface of the film-forming material supplying member comprises generating magnetic flux lines in the gap between the film-forming material supplying member and the rotor to enclose the plasma produced in the gap.

6. The method for forming a thin film according to claim 1, wherein the film-forming material supplying member has a cylindrical peripheral surface having a central axis parallel to the rotation central axis of the rotor, and is rotated around the central axis in the direction opposite to the rotational direction of the rotor.

7. The method for forming a thin film according to claim 1, wherein the carrier gas is a rare gas with a metastable state level.

8. The method for forming a thin film according to claim 1, wherein helium gas is used as the carrier gas, and an operation is performed so that the pressure P [Pa] of the helium gas, the distance g [m] between the film-forming material supplying member and the rotor, and the circumferential speed u [m/s] of the rotor satisfy the conditional relation 10⁻

5<

<

P·

g<

10⁴/u.

9. An apparatus for forming a thin film on a substrate, the apparatus comprising:

a treatment vessel into which a carrier gas is introduced;

a rotor disposed in the treatment vessel and having a cylindrical peripheral surface which faces a surface of the substrate with a gap therebetween, the substrate being introduced into the treatment vessel;

rotor driving means for rotating the rotor around the central axis of the cylindrical peripheral surface;

a film-forming material supplying member disposed in the treatment vessel to face the cylindrical peripheral surface of the rotor at a position circumferentially apart from the position where the cylindrical peripheral surface of the rotor faces the substrate surface, at least the surface facing the cylindrical peripheral surface being composed of a film-forming material; and

film-forming material supplying means for supplying atomic molecules of the film-forming material and cluster particulates thereof to the cylindrical peripheral surface of the rotor by evaporating, vaporizing, or scattering the film-forming material of the film-forming material supplying member;

wherein the atomic molecules of the film-forming material and the cluster particulates thereof supplied to the cylindrical peripheral surface of the rotor are transported to the vicinity of the surface of the substrate by a flow of the carrier gas created by the rotor near the peripheral surface thereof, and are adhered to the surface of the substrate to form a thin film composed of the film-forming material on the surface of the substrate.

10. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 9, wherein the film-forming material supplying means comprises heating means for heating the surface of the film-forming material supplying member to evaporate or vaporize the film-forming material in the surface.

11. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 10, wherein the heating means is incorporated into the film-forming material supplying member at a position directly inside of the surface composed of the film-forming material.

12. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 9, wherein the film-forming material supplying means comprises plasma generating means for generating a plasma of the carrier gas in the reactor by forming a DC electric field, a high-frequency electric field, or an AC electric field other than the high-frequency electric field between the film-forming material supplying member and the rotor, so that the film-forming material in the surface of the film-forming material supplying member is sputtered by ions contained in the plasma.

13. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 12, further comprising a sputtering gas supplying part for introducing the rare gas element having a larger element number than that of the constituent element of the carrier gas into the gap between the film-forming material supplying member and the cylindrical peripheral surface of the rotor, wherein ions of the rare gas element supplied from the sputtering gas supplying part are produced in the plasma to sputter the surface material of the film-forming material supplying member with the ions.

14. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 12, further comprising magnetic flux forming means for producing magnetic flux lines in the gap between the film-forming material supplying member and the rotor, and enclosing the plasma produced in the gap.

15. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 14, further comprising a support member for supporting the film-forming material supplying member, and a magnet incorporated into the support member, for generating the magnetic flux lines.

16. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 10, wherein the film-forming material supplying member has a cylindrical peripheral surface having a central axis parallel to the rotation central axis of the rotor, and supplying member driving means is provided for rotating the film-forming material supplying member in the direction opposite to the rotational direction of the rotor.

17. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 10, wherein the gap between the substrate surface and the peripheral surface of the rotor is smaller than the gap between the peripheral surface of the rotor and the film-forming material supplying member.

18. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 10, further comprising a carrier gas circulating path for circulating the carrier gas in the reactor so that the carrier gas on the upstream side in the rotational direction of the rotor from the film-forming material supplying member is supplied from the downstream side in the rotational direction of the rotor from the position where the rotor faces the substrate.

19. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 18, further comprising adsorption means provided at an intermediate position of the carrier gas circulating path, for removing, by adsorption, at least one of the gases contained in the carrier gas flowing through the carrier gas circulating path, i.e., the impurity gas discharged from the inner wall of the reactor, the sputtering gas remaining in the reactor, and the secondary unnecessary organic gas vaporized from the film-forming material.

20. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 9, wherein a reactor comprises an exhaust part for exhausting, to the outside of the reactor, the atomic molecules of the film-forming material and the cluster particulates thereof which remain unadhered to the surface of the substrate on the upstream side in the rotational direction of the rotor from the position where the rotor faces the substrate.