Deposition reactor having vaporizing, mixing and cleaning capabilities

• US 6,454,860 B2
• Filed: 10/27/1998
• Issued: 09/24/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Liu, Patricia M., Metzner, Craig R., Narwankar, Pravin K., Sahin, Turgut, Redinbo, Gregory F.
• Primary Examiner(s): BUEKER, RICHARD R
• Application Number:
  US09/179,921
• Publication Number:
  US 20010035127A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,428 Days
• Field of Search: 239/1, 239/548, 239/597, 239/601, 118/715, 156/345
• US Class Current: 118/715
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/407 of zinc, germanium, cadmium, indium, tin, thallium or bismuth
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/44 characterised by the method of coating C23C16/04 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4405 Cleaning of reactor or parts inside the reactor by using reactive gases
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4411 Cooling of the reaction chamber walls C23C16/45572 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4412 Details relating to the exhausts, e.g. pumps, filters, scrubbers, particle traps
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/448 characterised by the method used for generating reactive gas streams, e.g. by evaporation or sublimation of precursor materials
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4481 by evaporation using carrier gas in contact with the source material C23C16/4486 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/452 by activating reactive gas streams before their introduction into the reaction chamber, e.g. by ionisation or addition of reactive species
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45561 Gas plumbing upstream of the reaction chamber
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45565 Shower nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4557 Heated nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/54 Apparatus specially adapted for continuous coating

Abstract

An integrated deposition system is provided which is capable of vaporizing low vapor pressure liquid precursors and delivering this vapor into a processing region for use in the fabrication of advanced integrated circuits. The integrated deposition system is made up of a heated exhaust system, a remote plasma generator, a processing chamber and a liquid delivery system which together provide a commercially viable and production worthy system for depositing high capacity dielectric materials from low vapor pressure precursors, anneal those films while also providing commercially viable in-situ cleaning capability.

Claims

1. An apparatus for dispersing gases within a processing chamber, said apparatus comprising a gas distribution plate having a plurality of apertures, said apertures comprising:

(a) an inlet surface having a circular opening coupled to a cylindrically shaped first conduit;

(b) an outlet surface having a circular opening coupled to a cylindrically shaped second conduit with a first length; and

(c) a conically shaped conduit in communication with said cylindrically shaped first and second conduits, said conically shaped conduit having walls of a second length, wherein said walls diverge toward the outlet surface and said first length is about 5.5 times larger than said second length.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said conically shaped conduit and said cylindrically shaped second conduit are axially symmetric to a common centerline.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said cylindrically shaped first conduit has a first diameter and said cylindrically shaped second conduit has a second diameter, and wherein said second diameter is about 3 times larger than said first diameter.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said cylindrically shaped second conduit has a second diameter, and wherein said first length is about 2.5 times larger than said second diameter.

5. An apparatus for distributing gases within a processing chamber, said apparatus comprising a gas distribution plate having a plurality of apertures, said apertures comprising:

(a) a first cylindrical region having a first diameter coupled to an inlet surface of the gas distribution plate;

(b) a second cylindrical region directly coupled to an outlet surface of the gas distribution plate, said second cylindrical region having a second diameter and walls having a first length; and

(c) a conical region in communication with said first and second cylindrical regions, said conical region further comprising walls having a second length, wherein said walls diverge toward the outlet surface and said first length is at least 1.5 times as long as said second length.

6. An apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said second diameter is greater than said first diameter.

7. An apparatus according to claim 5 wherein the walls of said conical region form an angle between about 20 degrees and 90 degrees.

8. An apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said first length is about 5.5 times larger than said second length.

9. An apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said first length is less than said second diameter.

10. A method of flowing gas through a gas distribution plate, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) first flowing a gas through a first cylindrical region having a first diameter;

followed by

(b) flowing said gas through a conical region fluidly connected to said first cylindrical region, said conical region having diverging walls with a first length, wherein said walls diverge away from said first cylindrical region;

followed by

(c) flowing said gas through a second cylindrical region fluidly connected to said conical region, said second cylindrical region having a second diameter and walls of a second length, wherein said second length is at least twice as long as the length of said first length.

11. The method according to claim 10 wherein said second diameter is greater than said first diameter.

12. A method for absorbing radiation within a gas distribution plate, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) placing a substrate in a processing apparatus having a gas distribution plate wherein said gas distribution plate includes a plurality of apertures comprising an inlet with a first cylindrical region, an outlet with a second cylindrical region having a first wall length, and a conical region located between said first and second cylindrical regions, said conical region having walls of a second wall length and opening towards said second cylindrical region, wherein said first wall length is at least twice as long as said second wall length;

(b) generating radiation from said substrate wherein said radiation is incident to said gas distribution plate; and

(c) absorbing a portion of said incident radiation in said apertures.

13. A method according to claim 12 wherein a portion of said incident radiation is reflected off said conical region and absorbed in said first cylindrical region.

14. A method according to claim 12 wherein a portion of said incident radiation is reflected off said conical region and absorbed in said second cylindrical region.

15. A gas distribution plate for distributing gases within a process chamber, the gas distribution plate comprising an inlet surface, an outlet surface, and a plurality of apertures formed between the inlet and outlet surfaces, each aperture comprising:

(a) a first cylindrical region having a first diameter and a first length;

(b) a second cylindrical region having a second diameter and a second length, wherein the second cylindrical region is positioned between the first cylindrical region and the outlet surface; and

(c) a conical region positioned between the first and second cylindrical regions, the conical region having walls of a third length, wherein the walls diverge toward the outlet surface and the second length is at least twice as long as the third length.

16. A gas distribution plate for distributing gases within a process chamber, the gas distribution plate comprising an inlet surface, an outlet surface, and a plurality of apertures formed between the inlet and outlet surfaces, each aperture comprising:

(a) a first cylindrical region directly coupled to the inlet surface, the first cylindrical region having a first diameter and a first length;

(b) a second cylindrical region directly coupled to the outlet surface, the second cylindrical region having a second diameter and a second length; and

(c) a conical region positioned between the first and second cylindrical regions, the conical region having walls of a third length, wherein the walls diverge toward the outlet surface and the second length is at least 1.5 times as long as the third length.

17. A gas distribution plate for distributing gases within a process chamber, the gas distribution plate comprising an inlet surface, an outlet surface, and a plurality of apertures formed between the inlet and outlet surfaces, each aperture comprising:

(a) a first cylindrical region having a first diameter and a first length;

(b) a second cylindrical region directly coupled to the outlet surface, the second cylindrical region having a second diameter and a second length; and

(c) a conical region in communication with the first and second cylindrical regions, the conical region having walls of a third length, and wherein the walls of the conical region diverge toward the outlet surface and the second length is at least 1.5 times as long as the third length.

18. A gas distribution plate for distributing gases within a process chamber, the gas distribution plate comprising an inlet surface, an outlet surface, and a plurality of apertures formed between the inlet and outlet surfaces, each aperture comprising:

(a) a first cylindrical region directly coupled to the inlet surface, the first cylindrical region having a first diameter and a first length;

(b) a second cylindrical region directly coupled to the outlet surface, the second cylindrical region having a second diameter and a second length;

(c) a first conical region directly coupled to the first cylindrical region; and

(d) a second conical region directly coupled to the second cylindrical region, the second conical region having walls of a third length, and wherein the second length is at least 1.5 times as long as the third length.

19. The gas distribution plate of claim 18, wherein the walls of the first conical region form an angle between about 25 degrees and 45 degrees.

20. The gas distribution plate of claim 18, further comprising a third cylindrical region positioned between the first conical region and the second conical region.

21. The gas distribution plate of claim 20, wherein the third cylindrical region is directly coupled to the first conical region and the second conical region.

22. The gas distribution plate of claim 20, wherein the third cylindrical region has a third diameter, and wherein the third diameter is less than each of the first diameter and the second diameter.