CVD APPARATUS FOR IMPROVED FILM THICKNESS NON-UNIFORMITY AND PARTICLE PERFORMANCE

• US 20100294199A1
• Filed: 04/20/2010
• Published: 11/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: NGUYEN, ANH N., HWANG, BERNARD L., TRAN, BINH, SEUTTER, SEAN M., TAO, XIANZHI, NGUYEN, SON T., CUI, ANQING
• Granted Patent: US 9,312,154 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 118/723.00R
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4401 Means for minimising impurities, e.g. dust, moisture or residual gas, in the reaction chamber
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4409 characterised by sealing means
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45512 Premixing before introduction in the reaction chamber
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45561 Gas plumbing upstream of the reaction chamber
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/6719 characterized by the construction of the processing chambers, e.g. modular processing chambers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/68742 characterised by a lifting arrangement, e.g. lift pins
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/68785 characterised by the mechanical construction of the susceptor, stage or support

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide improved apparatus for depositing layers on substrates, such as by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The inventive apparatus disclosed herein may advantageously facilitate one or more of depositing films having reduced film thickness non-uniformity within a given process chamber, improved particle performance (e.g., reduced particles on films formed in the process chamber), chamber-to-chamber performance matching amongst a plurality of process chambers, and improved process chamber serviceability.

Claims

1. An apparatus for processing substrates, comprising:

a process chamber having a lower assembly and an upper assembly movable coupled to the upper assembly via a hinge, wherein the lower assembly includes a chamber body having a substrate support assembly disposed in the chamber body, and wherein the upper assembly includes a lid; and

a gas feedthrough coupled to the chamber body and the lid to facilitate flow of a gas from a gas panel to an interior of the process chamber, wherein the gas feedthrough comprises an upper body coupled to the lid and a lower body coupled to the chamber body, wherein the upper body includes one or more upper ports and the lower body includes a corresponding one or more lower ports, and wherein the one or more upper ports mate with the corresponding one or more lower ports when the lid is in the closed position.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the upper and lower bodies in each corresponding pair are adjustable to facilitate fine-tuning the coupling between the upper and lower bodies when the lid is in the closed position.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an arm extending along an upper surface of the lid from the gas feedthrough to a lid manifold disposed above an inlet port in the lid; and

a single conduit disposed in the arm to facilitate flow of the gas from the one or more upper ports of the gas feedthrough to an opening of the lid manifold centrally disposed through the lid manifold and above the inlet port of the lid.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the single conduit terminates non-perpendicularly at the lid manifold such that gases entering the lid manifold tend to form a vortex.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising:

a mixer disposed between the one or more upper ports of the upper body of the gas feedthrough and the single conduit to mix gases prior to entering the single conduit.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising:

a remote plasma source having an outlet disposed above the opening in the lid manifold and contacting an upper surface of the lid manifold; and

a clamp disposed about the outlet of the remote plasma source and the lid manifold to provide a clamping force to a gasket disposed between the outlet of the remote plasma source and the upper surface of the lid manifold.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

one or more support brackets disposed about the outlet of the remote plasma source to secure the remote plasma source to the lid.

8. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising:

a heater disposed in or on the arm to provide heat to gases flowing through the single conduit.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

a sensor to provide data corresponding to a temperature of gases flowing through the conduit.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the arm is spaced apart from the upper surface of the lid.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lid further comprises:

a faceplate extension circumscribing an inlet port of the lid and extending from a lower surface of the lid towards the substrate support assembly; and

a faceplate coupled to the faceplate extension opposite the lower surface of the lid to define a mixing region between the lower surface of the lid, the faceplate extension, and the faceplate.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein a surface of the faceplate opposing the lower surface of the lid comprises:

a non-anodized outer portion at the interface between the faceplate and the faceplate extension; and

an anodized inner portion of the faceplate.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the upper assembly further comprises:

a lid support assembly to couple the lid to the chamber body, the lid support assembly comprising a pair of lower arms coupled to the chamber body and a pair of upper arms coupled to the lid, wherein the pair of lower arms and the pair of upper arms are coupled together to form a hinge.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the lid support assembly supports the lid such that the lid floats with respect to the hinge to facilitate better alignment of the lid with the chamber body.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the lid support assembly further comprises:

a pair of lid support plates, one support plate each disposed on each of the upper arms of the lid support assembly, to secure the lid to the lid support assembly; and

a plurality of lid support pins coupled to and extending perpendicularly from each of the lid support plates, wherein the plurality of lid support pins extend through the lid and facilitate linear motion of the lid along the plurality of lid support pins.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the hinge is disposed on a side of the chamber body containing a slit valve opening to transfer a substrate into and out of the chamber body.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate support assembly further comprises:

a substrate support; and

a rotating lift assembly disposed beneath a base of the chamber body and coupled to the substrate support to raise, lower, and rotate the substrate support.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the rotating lift assembly is suspended beneath the base of the chamber body, and wherein the rotating lift assembly comprises:

a frame to support the substrate support via a shaft coupled to the substrate support within the chamber body via a shaft extending through a hole disposed through the base of the chamber body, wherein rotation of the shaft provides rotation to the substrate support; and

a lift mechanism coupled to the frame off-axis from the shaft to move the frame and the substrate support assembly to raise and lower the substrate support assembly.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the rotating lift assembly further comprises:

a leveling plate coupling the frame to the base of the chamber body;

a ball and socket joint disposed proximate one end of the leveling plate to suspend the leveling plate from the base of the chamber body; and

a level adjusting stud disposed on an opposing side of the leveling plate to level the leveling plate, and rotating lift assembly, with respect to the base of the chamber body.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the rotating lift assembly further comprises:

an x-y adjustment mechanism disposed beneath the base of the processing chamber to move the substrate support assembly in a plane parallel to a surface of a substrate disposed thereon.