Chemical vapor deposition plasma process using an ion shower grid
First Claim
1. A process for depositing a film on a surface of a workpiece, comprising the steps of:
- providing a reactor chamber and a workpiece support within the chamber;
providing within the chamber an electrically conductive ion shower grid facing said workpiece support and extending across the diameter of said chamber so as to divide said chamber into an upper ion generation region and a lower process region containing said workpiece support, and providing plural grid orifices through said grid that are dimensioned for creation of a pressure drop in which pressure in said process region is between about five to ten times less than that in said ion generation region;
placing a workpiece on said workpiece support in said process region;
furnishing a deposition precursor process gas into said ion generation region;
evacuating the process region to create a pressure drop through said ion shower grid, whereby the pressure in said process region is at least five to ten times less than the pressure in said ion generation region;
depositing a layer of material of a desired thickness on said workpiece by;
(a) applying plasma source power to generate a plasma of said deposition precursor species in said ion generation region, and (b) applying a grid potential to said ion shower grid to create a flux of ions from the plasma through said grid and into said process region.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A chemical vapor deposition process is carried out in a reactor chamber with an ion shower grid that divides the chamber into an upper ion generation region and a lower process region, the ion shower grid having plural orifices oriented in a non-parallel direction relative to a surface plane of the ion shower grid. A workpiece is placed in the process region facing the ion shower grid, the workpiece having a workpiece surface generally facing the surface plane of the ion shower grid. A gas mixture is furnished comprising deposition precursor species into the ion generation region and the process region is evacuated at an evacuation rate sufficient to create a pressure drop across the ion shower grid from the ion generation region to the process region whereby the pressure in the ion generation region is at least several times the pressure in the process region. A layer of material of a desired thickness is deposited on the workpiece by: (a) applying plasma source power to generate a plasma of the deposition precursor species in the ion generation region, and (b) applying a grid potential to the ion shower grid to create a flux of ions from the plasma through the grid and into the process region.
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Citations
70 Claims
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1. A process for depositing a film on a surface of a workpiece, comprising the steps of:
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providing a reactor chamber and a workpiece support within the chamber; providing within the chamber an electrically conductive ion shower grid facing said workpiece support and extending across the diameter of said chamber so as to divide said chamber into an upper ion generation region and a lower process region containing said workpiece support, and providing plural grid orifices through said grid that are dimensioned for creation of a pressure drop in which pressure in said process region is between about five to ten times less than that in said ion generation region; placing a workpiece on said workpiece support in said process region; furnishing a deposition precursor process gas into said ion generation region; evacuating the process region to create a pressure drop through said ion shower grid, whereby the pressure in said process region is at least five to ten times less than the pressure in said ion generation region; depositing a layer of material of a desired thickness on said workpiece by;
(a) applying plasma source power to generate a plasma of said deposition precursor species in said ion generation region, and (b) applying a grid potential to said ion shower grid to create a flux of ions from the plasma through said grid and into said process region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70)
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Specification