VAPOR BASED COMBINATORIAL PROCESSING

• US 20090061644A1
• Filed: 01/14/2008
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Chi I. Lang, Sunil Shanker, Tony P. Chiang
• Original Assignee: Chi I. Lang, Sunil Shanker, Tony P. Chiang
• Inventors: Lang, Chi I., Chiang, Tony P., Shanker, Sunil
• Granted Patent: US 8,334,015 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/763
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45544 characterized by the apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45548 having arrangements for gas injection at different locations of the reactor for each ALD half-reaction
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45574 Nozzles for more than one gas

Abstract

A combinatorial processing chamber and method are provided. In the method a fluid volume flows over a surface of a substrate with differing portions of the fluid volume having different constituent components to concurrently expose segregated regions of the substrate to a mixture of the constituent components that differ from constituent components to which adjacent regions are exposed. Differently processed segregated regions are generated through the multiple flowings.

Claims

1. A combinatorial deposition method of forming material upon a substrate, the method comprising:

concurrently providing a plurality of flows of differing fluids to corresponding portions of a showerhead;

flowing a fluid volume from the plurality of flows of differing fluids, over the substrate to form a flow pattern, wherein isolated regions of the substrate are concurrently exposed to portions of the fluid volume having different constituent parts;

maintaining process conditions suitable for depositing material from one of the plurality of flows during the flowing;

providing a plurality of flows of equivalent fluids to corresponding portions of the showerhead; and

maintaining process conditions suitable for depositing a material layer from flows of the equivalent fluids over multiple isolated regions of the substrate.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

modifying a spatial relationship between the flow pattern of the fluid volume and the isolated regions to change an exposure of at least one of the isolated regions while maintaining the showerhead stationary.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the modifying further includes one of rotating the substrate or manipulating valves supplying the plurality of flows of differing fluids.

4. The method as recited in claim 2 farther including sequentially modifying the spatial relationship thereby creating stacked layers of deposited material over the substrate.

5. The method as recited in claim 2 further including, after the modifying, exposing multiple isolated regions to differing constituent components while purging one of the isolated regions.

6. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein within a segment of the stacked layers corresponding to one of the isolated regions, the segment is composed of different material layers due to modification of the spatial relationship.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein after the maintaining process conditions suitable for depositing material from one of the plurality of flows during the flowing, the method includes combinatorially depositing a feature over multiple segments of the stacked layers, wherein the segments spatially correspond to the isolated regions.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a number of isolated regions is greater than a number of flows of differing fluids.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a lateral diffusion region between adjacent isolated regions is maintained proximate to a border between the adjacent isolated regions.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein each method operation is performed in a common chamber without breaking vacuum between depositing material and depositing the material layer.

11. A combinatorial deposition system, comprising:

means for concurrently providing a plurality of flows of differing fluids to a processing chamber;

means for flowing a fluid volume from the plurality of flows of differing fluids, over a substrate to form a flow pattern, the means for flowing concurrently exposing isolated regions of the substrate to portions of the fluid volume having different constituent parts;

means for maintaining process conditions suitable for depositing material from one of the plurality of flows during the flowing; and

means for depositing a substantially uniform layer of material over multiple isolated regions of the substrate.

12. The combinatorial deposition system of claim 11, further comprising:

means for modifying a spatial relationship between the flow pattern of the fluid volume and the isolated regions to change an exposure of at least one of the isolated regions while maintaining the showerhead stationary; and

means for rotating the substrate.

13. The combinatorial deposition system of claim 11, further comprising:

means for modifying delivery of the plurality of flows to the processing chamber.

14. The combinatorial deposition system of claim 11, wherein the means for flowing is a segmented showerhead, wherein a number of segments is equal to a number of the plurality of flows of differing fluids.

15. The combinatorial deposition system of claim 11, further comprising:

means for evacuating the processing chamber, wherein the means for evacuating the process chamber includes an inlet having a first conductance, the first conductance being greater than a conductance of a channel enabling access into a processing region of the processing chamber.

16. The combinatorial deposition system of claim 11, wherein the flow pattern is an axi-symmetrical flow pattern.

17. The combinatorial deposition system of claim 11, wherein the means for flowing provides linear surface flow across the substrate from an edge of the substrate.

18. The combinatorial deposition system of claim 11 further comprising:

pressure control means in fluid communication with the processing chamber and the means for concurrently providing a plurality of flows, the pressure control means configured to generate a flow of the fluid volume in a unidirectional movement toward and radially across the surface of the substrate.

19. The combinatorial deposition system as recited in claim 17 wherein the means for concurrently providing a plurality of flows introduces a carrier fluid and a precursor fluid into the processing chamber and provide, from the carrier and precursor fluids, the fluid volume passing over the surface of the substrate with portions of the fluid volume having the different constituent components so that differing regions of the substrate are exposed to a mixture of constituent components that differ from the mixture of constituent components to which an adjacent region of the substrate is exposed.

20. The combinatorial deposition system as recited in claim 18 wherein the means for concurrently providing a plurality of flows is configured to produce a first flow of the carrier fluid and a second flow of the precursor fluid, impinging upon a central portion of the means for flowing, with relative flow rates of the first and second flows being established to equilibrate a pressure of the portions of the fluid volume.

21. The combinatorial deposition system as recited in claim 11 wherein the means for flowing includes means for maintaining fluid separation of the plurality of flows, the means for maintaining fluid separation disposed between adjacent sectors of the means for flowing, the means for maintaining fluid separation arranged along a line extending radially from a central portion the means for flowing to a periphery thereof.

22. The combinatorial deposition system as recited in claim 11 wherein the means for maintaining fluid separation includes a body extending from the means for flowing to maintain separation of fluids propagating through adjacent sectors of the means for flowing.

23. The combinatorial deposition system as recited in claim 16 wherein a central portion of the substrate is radially symmetrically disposed about an axis and wherein the flow pattern is radially symmetrically disposed about the axis.

24. The combinatorial deposition system as recited in claim 11 wherein the substantially uniform layer is deposited without breaking vacuum after depositing material from one of the plurality of flows.

25. A deposition system, comprising;

a fluid delivery system configured to concurrently provide a plurality of flows of fluids to a processing chamber;

a showerhead in flow communication with the fluid delivery system, the showerhead configured to distribute one of a fluid volume from the plurality of flows of differing fluids to form a flow pattern that concurrently exposes a surface of the system to segregated portions of the fluid volume having different constituent parts or a fluid volume from the plurality of flows of equivalent fluids, and

a controller for alternating between process conditions in the processing chamber suitable for one of depositing material from a segregated portion of the fluid volume to a mixture of the constituent components that differ from constituent components to which adjacent regions are exposed or depositing material from multiple flows of equivalent fluids.

26. The deposition system of claim 25, farther comprising:

a vacuum pump having an inlet into the processing chamber, the inlet having a conductance greater than a conductance of a channel providing access into a processing region of the processing chamber.

27. The deposition system of claim 25, further comprising:

a rotatable substrate support enabling modification of a spatial relationship between the flow pattern and a surface below the flow pattern through partial rotation of the substrate support.

28. The deposition system of claim 25, wherein the showerhead is segmented into a number of segments that is equal to a number of the plurality of flows.

29. The deposition system of claim 27, wherein modification of the spatial relationship enables multiple stacked layers to be deposited onto a surface of a substrate disposed on the rotatable substrate support, wherein two of the multiple stacked layers have corresponding isolated regions partially offset from each other due to the modification of the spatial relationship between the two of the multiple stacked layers.

30. The deposition system of claim 25, wherein the fluid delivery system includes a reagent subsystem and a precursor subsystem, the fluid delivery system further including a manifolding system enabling spatial modification of the fluid volume relative to a surface over which the fluid volume flows.