Apparatus and method for growth of a thin film
DCFirst Claim
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1. A method for depositing a layer on a substrate comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a reaction chamber for receiving said substrate;
(b) evacuating said reaction chamber through a vacuum pump;
(c) providing a continuous flow of carrier gas to said reaction chamber;
(d) providing alternating and sequential concentration pulses of at least two reactants to the carrier gas flow, at least one of the reactants containing excited species.
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Abstract
An improved apparatus and method for substrate layer deposition in which substrate layers are grown by carrier gas delivery of sequential pulses of reactants to the substrate surface. At least one of the reactants comprises excited species, e.g., radicals. In a specific embodiment, the apparatus of this invention provides sequential repeated pulses of reactants in a flow of carrier gas for reaction at a substrate surface. The reactant pulses are delivered with sufficient intervening delay times to minimize undesirable reaction between reactants in adjacent pulses in the gas phase or undesired uncontrolled reactions on the substrate surface.
1088 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method for depositing a layer on a substrate comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a reaction chamber for receiving said substrate;
(b) evacuating said reaction chamber through a vacuum pump;
(c) providing a continuous flow of carrier gas to said reaction chamber;
(d) providing alternating and sequential concentration pulses of at least two reactants to the carrier gas flow, at least one of the reactants containing excited species. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for depositing a layer on a substrate comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a reaction chamber for receiving said substrate;
(b) evacuating said reaction chamber through a vacuum pump;
(c) providing a continuous flow of carrier gas to said reaction chamber to establish a gas flow parallel to said substrate surface while said reaction chamber is evacuated;
(d) supplying alternating and sequential concentration pulses of at least two reactants to the carrier gas flow, at least one of the reactants containing excited species;
(e) maintaining the pressure of said reaction chamber during the supply of the alternating and sequential pulses at a level between 1 and 20 torr. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
(a) supplying concentration pulses of a first reactant to the first continuous flow of carrier gas;
(b) supplying concentration pulses of a second reactant containing excited species to the second continuous flow of carrier gas.
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23. The method according to claim 21 wherein at least one of said reactants is mixed with the respective flow of carrier gas prior to entering the reaction chamber.
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24. The method of claim 19 wherein the excited species are excited neutrals or radicals formed in a plasma.
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25. The method according to claim 24 wherein the reactant to be excited comprises nitrogen, hydrogen, ammonia or oxygen.
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26. The method according to claim 19 wherein the concentration pulses of a reactant containing excited species are generated by pulsing on and off an energy source coupled to a continuous flow of a reactant to be excited.
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27. The method according claim 26 wherein the energy source provides thermal energy.
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28. The method according claim 26 wherein the energy source provides visible, UV or IR radiation.
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29. The method according to claim 19 wherein the concentration pulses of the reactants are supplied to the carrier gas flow through the reaction chamber with an intermediate delay time sufficiently large to achieve a spatial separation between the pulses in the reaction chamber such that the distance between the leading and trailing edges of the pulses is larger than the characteristic diffusion length (LD) of the reactants or excited species in the gas.
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30. The method according to claim 19 wherein the concentration pulses of the reactants are supplied to the carrier gas flow through the reaction chamber with an intermediate delay time sufficiently large to achieve a spatial separation between the pulses in the reaction chamber such that the distance between the leading and trailing edges of the pulses is 5 to 10 times larger than the characteristic diffusion length (LD) of the reactants or excited species in the gas.
Specification