LIQUID MATERIAL VAPORIZATION APPARATUS FOR SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESSING APPARATUS

• US 20080173240A1
• Filed: 01/24/2007
• Published: 07/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ASM Japan K.K. (ASM International NV)
• Original Assignee: ASM Japan K.K. (ASM International NV)
• Inventors: FUKUDA, Hideaki, FURUKAWAHARA, Kazunori
• Granted Patent: US 7,833,353 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 118/726
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4485 by evaporation without using carrier gas in contact with the source material C23C16/4486 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/54 Apparatus specially adapted for continuous coating

Abstract

A liquid material vaporization apparatus for a semiconductor processing apparatus includes: a vaporization tank; an inner partition wall disposed in the tank for dividing the interior of the tank into a charging compartment and a vaporization compartment which are liquid-communicatable with each other over an upper edge of the inner partition wall. A liquid material charged in the charging compartment overflows over the upper edge of the inner partition wall toward the vaporization compartment to store and vaporize the liquid material in the vaporization compartment.

Claims

1. A liquid material vaporization apparatus for a semiconductor processing apparatus, comprising:

a vaporization tank having an interior for containing both a liquid material and a vaporized material of the liquid material;

an inner partition wall disposed in the tank and having an upper edge for dividing the interior of the tank into a charging compartment and a vaporization compartment which are liquid-communicatable with each other over the upper edge of the inner partition wall, wherein a liquid material charged in the charging compartment overflows over the upper edge of the inner partition wall toward the vaporization compartment to store and vaporize the liquid material in the vaporization compartment;

a liquid material inlet disposed near a bottom of the charging compartment, for supplying the liquid material into the charging compartment of the tank;

a vaporized material outlet disposed in an upper portion of the vaporization compartment of the tank, for discharging a vaporized material of the liquid material from the vaporization compartment of the tank; and

a heater for heating and vaporizing the liquid material in the tank.

2. The liquid material vaporization apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inner partition wall extends upward from a bottom of the tank and has an upper end forming the upper edge.

3. The liquid material vaporization apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising another partition wall which is disposed downstream of and in the vicinity of the partition wall and which extends from a ceiling of the tank, wherein a lower end of the other partition wall is disposed near the bottom of the tank to flow the liquid material under the lower end to the vaporization compartment after the liquid material overflows over the upper edge of the partition wall.

4. The liquid material vaporization apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the vaporized material outlet is connected to branched flow lines for supplying the vaporized material to multiple reactors.

5. The liquid material vaporization apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inner partition wall extends downwards from a ceiling and has a U-shaped cross sectional portion having an end forming the upper edge, wherein a bottom of the U-shaped cross sectional portion is disposed near a bottom of the tank.

6. The liquid material vaporization apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the upper edge of the U-shaped cross sectional portion is disposed near a side wall of the tank to flow the liquid material between the U-shaped cross sectional portion and the side wall and under the bottom of the U-shaped cross sectional portion to the vaporization compartment after the liquid material overflows over the upper edge of the U-shaped cross sectional portion.

7. The liquid material vaporization apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the partition wall is disposed nearly in a middle of the tank to divide the vaporization compartment into first and second vaporization compartments, and the vaporized material outlet comprises first and second vaporized material outlets provided in the first and second vaporization compartments, respectively, said vaporization apparatus further comprising another partition wall which is disposed downstream of and in the vicinity of the U-shaped cross sectional portion and which extends from a ceiling of the tank, wherein a lower end of the other partition wall is disposed near the bottom of the tank to flow the liquid material under the lower end to both the first and second vaporization compartments after the liquid material overflows over the upper edge of the U-shaped cross sectional portion.

8. The liquid material vaporization apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vaporized material outlet is connected to a flow line provided with a valve and a mass flow controller.

9. The liquid material vaporization apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the charging compartment has a volume which is 2% to 20% of the volume of the interior of the tank, said volume of the charging compartment being a volume of the liquid material which can be stored until the liquid material overflows over the upper edge.

10. The liquid material vaporization apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the volume of the interior of the tank is 1,000 to 2,000 cc.

11. The liquid material vaporization apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the charging compartment has a volume of 40 to 200 cc which is defined as a volume of the liquid material which can be stored until the liquid material overflows over the upper edge.

12. The liquid material vaporization apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tank and the partition wall are made of stainless steel.

13. The liquid material vaporization apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tank and the partition wall are welded together.

14. The liquid material vaporization apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the liquid material inlet is connected to a flow line provided with a valve which allows intermittent supply of the liquid material to the charging compartment.

15. A semiconductor processing apparatus comprising:

a reactor for processing a substrate by thermal chemical vapor deposition (thermal CVD), plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), or atomic layer chemical vapor deposition (ALCVD); and

the liquid material vaporization apparatus of claim 1 coupled to the reactor for supplying a vaporized material to the reactor for the processing.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, which is provided with no preheating device for heating the liquid material upstream of the liquid material vaporization apparatus.

17. A method of vaporizing a liquid material for a semiconductor processing apparatus, comprising:

intermittently supplying through a liquid material inlet a liquid material into a charging compartment of a vaporization tank having an interior for containing both a liquid material and a vaporized material of the liquid material, said tank being heated, said liquid material inlet being disposed near a bottom of the charging compartment, wherein an inner partition wall having an upper edge divides an interior of the tank into the charging compartment and a vaporization compartment which are liquid-communicatable with each other over the upper edge of the inner partition wall;

overflowing the liquid material charged in the charging compartment over the upper edge of the inner partition wall toward the vaporization compartment, said overflowing liquid material having a higher temperature than the liquid material supplied to the charging compartment;

storing and vaporizing the liquid material in the vaporization compartment; and

discharging a vaporized material out of the vaporization compartment through a vaporized material outlet.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the inner partition wall extends upward from a bottom of the tank and has an upper end forming the upper edge.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein another partition wall is further disposed downstream of and in the vicinity of the partition wall and extends from a ceiling of the tank, and a lower end of the other partition wall is disposed near the bottom of the tank, wherein the liquid material flows under the lower end to the vaporization compartment after the liquid material overflows over the upper edge of the partition wall.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein the vaporized material outlet is connected to branched flow lines, and the vaporized material is discharged to multiple reactors.

21. The method according to claim 17, wherein the inner partition wall extends downwards from a ceiling and has a U-shaped cross sectional portion having an end forming the upper edge, a bottom of the U-shaped cross sectional portion is disposed near a bottom of the tank, and the upper edge of the U-shaped cross sectional portion is disposed near a side wall of the tank, wherein the liquid material flows between the U-shaped cross sectional portion and the side wall and under the bottom of the U-shaped cross sectional portion to the vaporization compartment after the liquid material overflows over the upper edge of the U-shaped cross sectional portion.

22. The method according to claim 17, wherein the inner partition wall extends downwards from a ceiling and has a U-shaped cross sectional portion having an end forming the upper edge, a bottom of the U-shaped cross sectional portion is disposed near a bottom of the tank, the partition wall is disposed nearly in a middle of the tank to divide the vaporization compartment into first and second vaporization compartments, and the vaporized material outlet comprises first and second vaporized material outlets provided in the first and second vaporization compartments, respectively, wherein another partition wall is further disposed downstream of and in the vicinity of the U-shaped cross sectional portion and extends from a ceiling of the tank, and a lower end of the other partition wall is disposed near the bottom of the tank, wherein the liquid material flows under the lower end to both the first and second vaporization compartments after the liquid material overflows over the upper edge of the U-shaped cross sectional portion.

23. The method according to claim 17, wherein the liquid material is charged in the charging compartment at a time in an amount which is less than 50% of a volume of the charging compartment being a volume of the liquid material which can be stored until the liquid material overflows over the upper edge.

24. The method according to claim 17, wherein the amount of the liquid material charged in the charging compartment at a time is 5-20 cc.

25. The method according to claim 17, wherein the liquid material supplied to the charging compartment of the tank is at room temperature.