MODULAR INJECTOR AND DEVICE FOR SPATIAL ATOMIC LAYER DEPOSITION

• US 20200131637A1
• Filed: 01/24/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2017
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Huazhong University of Science & Technology
• Original Assignee: Huazhong University of Science & Technology
• Inventors: CHEN, Rong, WANG, Xiaolei, SHAN, Bin, LI, Yun, LIN, Jilong, MA, Yuchun, DAN, Wei
• Application Number:
  US16/493,208
• Publication Number:
  US 20200131637A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45551 for relative movement of the substrate and the gas injectors or half-reaction reactor compartments
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45563 Gas nozzles

Abstract

A modular injector includes a precursor channel assembly and a seal assembly; the precursor channel assembly includes a plate-shaped base, a precursor channel and a gas pipeline; the precursor channel is disposed on a front surface of the plate-shaped base and extends from top to bottom, and a top end of the precursor channel is communicated with the gas pipeline; the seal assembly is disposed on the front surface of the plate-shaped base. The modular injector includes a plurality of components to form an integral module, and shunts and buffers the introduced gas through the precursor channel to achieve uniform deposition. A device includes multiple modular injectors arranged at an interval, into which the oxidant precursor source and the organo-metallic source are respectively introduced, so that multiple stages of film are deposited on the substrate after the substrate moves for a round trip.

Claims

1. A modular injector for spatial atomic layer deposition for precursor deposition on a reaction substrate, comprising:

a precursor channel assembly and a seal assembly;

the precursor channel assembly includes a plate-shaped base, a precursor channel and a gas pipeline;

the precursor channel is disposed on a front surface of the plate-shaped base and extends from top to bottom, and a top end of the precursor channel is communicated with the gas pipeline;

the seal assembly is disposed on the front surface of the plate-shaped base to seal the precursor channel so as to prevent the leakage of a precursor.

2. The modular injector for spatial atomic layer deposition according to claim 1, wherein the precursor channel includes multiple stages of shunt channels and one stage of precursor diffusion region;

the multiple stages of shunt channels are disposed from top to bottom, and the number of the shunt channels is increased stage by stage to uniformly shunt a precursor supplied from the gas pipeline into multiple parts;

the precursor diffusion region is disposed under the shunt channels in the lowest stage to communicate the shunt channels in the lowest stage with each other, so that the precursor fully diffuses before reaching the reaction substrate.

3. The modular injector for spatial atomic layer deposition according to claim 2, wherein there are 2ⁿ shunt channels in a n-th stage, each of the shunt channels is shunted into two in the next stage, and the shunt channels in the last stage are communicated with each other through the precursor diffusion region.

4. The modular injector for spatial atomic layer deposition according to claim 3, wherein the precursor channel includes four stages of shunt channels and one stage of precursor diffusion region;

first to fourth stage shunt channels are disposed from top to bottom, wherein gas inlets of the first-stage shunt channels divides the precursor into two parts through symmetrical ramps;

the second-stage shunt channels and the third-stage shunt channels have a minimum height which enables the consistency in direction and velocity of the precursor when flowing out of respective outlets of the third-stage shunt channels;

the fourth-stage shunt channels each has an inlet and an outlet with cone-shaped cross-sections to generate a change in fluid pressure drop, which is conducive to the diffusion of the precursor;

the precursor diffusion region is disposed under the fourth-stage shunt channels to communicate respective outlets of the fourth-stage shunt channels with each other, so that the precursor fully diffuses before reaching the reaction substrate.

5. The modular injector for spatial atomic layer deposition according to claim 1, wherein the seal assembly includes a seal plate, a seal ring groove, a seal assembly heating region and a seal ring;

the seal plate is mounted on the plate-shaped base in a manner that a front surface of the seal plate faces the front surface of the plate-shaped base;

the seal ring groove disposed on the front surface of the seal plate, and the seal ring is mounted in the seal ring groove to seal the seal plate and the plate-shaped base so as to prevent the leakage of the precursor;

the seal assembly heating region is disposed on a back surface of the seal plate corresponding to the precursor channel;

the precursor channel assembly includes a precursor channel heating region disposed on a back surface of the plate-shaped base corresponding to the precursor channel;

the seal assembly heating region and the precursor channel heating region are both used for heating the precursor channel.

6. A device for spatial atomic layer deposition for precursor deposition on a reaction substrate, comprising the modular injector according to claim 1.

7. A device for spatial atomic layer deposition for precursor deposition on a reaction substrate, comprising a case, distance measurement sensors, an exhaust assembly and a plurality of modular injectors according to claim 1;

a cavity penetrating upper and lower surfaces is disposed in a middle portion of the case;

the modular injectors are arranged along an movement direction of the reaction substrate, and mounted in the cavity with the precursor diffusion regions facing down;

the distance measurement sensors are mounted on the case to measure a distance between the case and the reaction substrate; and

the exhaust assembly is sealingly mounted on an upper portion of the case, and has a gas cavity that opens downwards and is placed over the modular injectors to fill in an inert gas during the deposition reaction so as to provide an inert environment.

8. The device for spatial atomic layer deposition according to claim 7, wherein the cavity has two side walls on two sides of the movement direction of the reaction substrate, and the two side walls are each provided with a distance adjusting groove;

the distance adjusting grooves are disposed along the movement direction of the reaction substrate, and penetrate the side walls;

each of the modular injectors is provided an adjustment rod on each side, and the adjustment rods are disposed in the corresponding distance adjustment grooves on both sides.

9. The device for spatial atomic layer deposition according to claim 7, wherein the exhaust assembly includes a case cover, a first inert gas interface, an oxidant precursor interface, an organo-metallic precursor interface, a negative pressure interface and a second inert gas interface;

the gas cavity is disposed in the case cover;

the first inert gas interface, the oxidant precursor interface, the organo-metallic precursor interface, the second inert gas interface and the negative pressure interface are all disposed on the case cover and communicated with the gas cavity;

the first inert gas interface, the oxidant precursor interface and the organo-metallic precursor interface are respectively connected to the corresponding modular injectors to supply an inert gas, an oxidant precursor and an organo-metallic precursor to the respective modular injectors;

the second inert gas interface is configured to introduce an inert gas into the gas cavity to form an inert environment; and

the negative pressure interface is configured to extract residual gases and excess by-products from the reaction.

10. The device for spatial atomic layer deposition according to claim 7, wherein the modular injectors include seven modular injectors, into which the inert gas, the oxidant precursor, the inert gas, the organo-metallic precursor, the inert gas, the oxidant precursor and the inert gas are respectively introduced in the advancing direction of the reaction substrate.