Method of pulsing vapor precursors in an ALD reactor
First Claim
1. A method of growing a thin film on a substrate by pulsing vapor-phase precursors material into a reaction chamber according to the ALD method, comprising:
- vaporizing at least one precursor from a source material container maintained at a vaporising temperature;
repeatedly feeding pulses of said vaporized precursor via a feed line into said reaction chamber at a first pressure and subsequently purging said reaction chamber with pulses of inactive gas fed via said feed line at a second pressure; and
maintaining said second pressure higher than or equal to said first pressure for separating successive pulses of said vaporized precursor from each other.
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Abstract
A method of growing a thin film on a substrate by pulsing vapor-phase precursors material into a reaction chamber according to the ALD method. The method comprises vaporizing at least one precursor from a source material container maintained at a vaporising temperature, repeatedly feeding pulses of the vaporized precursor via a feed line into the reaction chamber at a first pressure, and subsequently purging the reaction chamber with pulses of inactive gas fed via the feed line at a second pressure. The second pressure is maintained at the same as or a higher level than the first pressure for separating successive pulses of said vaporized precursor from each other.
405 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method of growing a thin film on a substrate by pulsing vapor-phase precursors material into a reaction chamber according to the ALD method, comprising:
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vaporizing at least one precursor from a source material container maintained at a vaporising temperature;
repeatedly feeding pulses of said vaporized precursor via a feed line into said reaction chamber at a first pressure and subsequently purging said reaction chamber with pulses of inactive gas fed via said feed line at a second pressure; and
maintaining said second pressure higher than or equal to said first pressure for separating successive pulses of said vaporized precursor from each other. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method of growing a thin film on a substrate by pulsing vapor-phase precursors material into a reaction chamber according to the ALD method, comprising:
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repeatedly feeding pulses of a vaporized precursor via a feed line into said reaction chamber at a first pressure and subsequently purging said reaction chamber with pulses of inactive gas fed via said feed line at a second pressure; and
maintaining said second pressure higher than or equal to said first pressure for separating successive pulses of said vaporized precursor from each other.
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27. An apparatus for growing thin films onto a substrate according to the ALD method, comprising:
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a reaction chamber into whose reaction space said substrate can be transferred;
an inactive gas source;
a precursor source;
a feed line connected to said reaction chamber;
a first conduit for connecting the precursor source to the feed line;
a second conduit for connecting the inactive gas source to the feed line;
a pressure sensor configured to sense the pressure within the feed line;
a flow control device configured to control the flow of inactive gas in the second conduit; and
a controller operatively connected to the pressure sensor and configured to adjust the flow control device, at least in part, in response to the pressure sensed by the pressure sensor.
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Specification