Chemical vapor deposition plasma process using plural ion shower grids
First Claim
1. A chemical vapor deposition process, comprising:
- providing a reactor chamber and a set of plural parallel ion shower grids stacked together that divide said chamber into an upper ion generation region and a lower process region, each of said ion shower grids having plural orifices comprising cylindrical holes in mutual registration from grid to grid, each orifice being oriented in a non-parallel direction relative to a surface plane of the respective ion shower grid;
placing a workpiece in said process region, so that a workpiece surface of said workpiece is generally facing a surface plane of the nearest one of said ion shower grids;
furnishing a gas mixture comprising a deposition precursor species into said ion generation region;
maintaining a pressure drop across said plural ion shower grids whereby the pressure in said ion generation region is several times the pressure in said process region;
applying plasma source power to generate a plasma of said deposition precursor species in said ion generation region;
applying successive grid potentials to successive ones of said grids;
wherein said successive grid potentials comprise time-varying voltages; and
limiting an angular trajectory distribution of ions in said process region by a desired amount by;
(a) providing said orifices with a corresponding length-to-diameter aspect ratio, and (b) maintaining said pressure drop at a sufficient level to establish an ion-neutral mean collision distance in excess of a gap between said set of ion shower grids and said workpiece.
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Abstract
A chemical vapor deposition process is carried out in a reactor chamber having a set of plural parallel ion shower grids that divide the chamber into an upper ion generation region and a lower process region, each of the ion shower grids having plural orifices in mutual registration from grid to grid, each orifice being oriented in a non-parallel direction relative to a surface plane of the respective ion shower grid. A workpiece is placed in the process region, so that a workpiece surface of the workpiece is generally facing a surface plane of the nearest one of the ion shower grids, and a gas mixture comprising a deposition precursor species is furnished into the ion generation region. The process region is evacuated at an evacuation rate sufficient to create a pressure drop across the plural ion shower grids between the ion generation and process regions whereby the pressure in the ion generation region is several times the pressure in the process region. The process further includes applying plasma source power to generate a plasma of the deposition precursor species in the ion generation region and applying successive grid potentials to successive ones of the grids.
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Citations
62 Claims
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1. A chemical vapor deposition process, comprising:
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providing a reactor chamber and a set of plural parallel ion shower grids stacked together that divide said chamber into an upper ion generation region and a lower process region, each of said ion shower grids having plural orifices comprising cylindrical holes in mutual registration from grid to grid, each orifice being oriented in a non-parallel direction relative to a surface plane of the respective ion shower grid; placing a workpiece in said process region, so that a workpiece surface of said workpiece is generally facing a surface plane of the nearest one of said ion shower grids; furnishing a gas mixture comprising a deposition precursor species into said ion generation region; maintaining a pressure drop across said plural ion shower grids whereby the pressure in said ion generation region is several times the pressure in said process region; applying plasma source power to generate a plasma of said deposition precursor species in said ion generation region; applying successive grid potentials to successive ones of said grids; wherein said successive grid potentials comprise time-varying voltages; and limiting an angular trajectory distribution of ions in said process region by a desired amount by;
(a) providing said orifices with a corresponding length-to-diameter aspect ratio, and (b) maintaining said pressure drop at a sufficient level to establish an ion-neutral mean collision distance in excess of a gap between said set of ion shower grids and said workpiece. - 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)
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40. A chemical vapor deposition process, comprising:
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providing a reactor chamber and a set of plural parallel ion shower grids stacked together that divide said chamber into an upper ion generation region and a lower process region, each of said ion shower grids having plural orifices comprising cylindrical holes in mutual registration from grid to grid, each orifice being oriented in a nonparallel direction relative to a surface plane of the respective ion shower grid; placing a workpiece in said process region, so that a workpiece surface of said workpiece is generally facing a surface plane of the nearest one of said ion shower grids; furnishing a gas mixture comprising a deposition precursor species into said ion generation region; maintaining a pressure drop across said plural ion shower grids whereby the pressure in said ion generation region is several times the pressure in said process region; applying plasma source power to generate a plasma of said deposition precursor species in said ion generation region; applying successive grid potentials to successive ones of said grids; and controlling the temperature of said ion shower grid by pumping a thermal control fluid through fluid flow passages thermally coupled to said ion shower grid and controlling the temperature of said thermal control fluid.
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41. A chemical vapor deposition process, comprising:
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providing a reactor chamber and a set of plural parallel ion shower grids stacked together that divide said chamber into an upper ion generation region and a lower process region, each of said ion shower grids having plural orifices comprising cylindrical holes in mutual registration from grid to grid, each orifice being oriented in a non-parallel direction relative to a surface plane of the respective ion shower grid; placing a workpiece in said process region, so that a workpiece surface of said workpiece is generally facing a surface plane of the nearest one of said ion shower grids; furnishing a gas mixture comprising a deposition precursor species into said ion generation region; maintaining a pressure drop across said plural ion shower grids whereby the pressure in said ion generation region is several times the pressure in said process region; applying plasma source power to generate a plasma of said deposition precursor species in said ion generation region; applying successive grid potentials to successive ones of said grids; and providing neutralization electrons in the vicinity of said workpiece by providing a plasma from an external plasma source into said process region. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A chemical vapor deposition process, comprising:
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providing a reactor chamber and a set of plural parallel ion shower grids stacked together that divide said chamber into an upper ion generation region and a lower process region, each of said ion shower grids having plural orifices comprising cylindrical holes in mutual registration from grid to grid, each orifice being oriented in a non-parallel direction relative to a surface plane of the respective ion shower grid; placing a workpiece in said process region, so that a workpiece surface of said workpiece is generally facing a surface plane of the nearest one of said ion shower grids; furnishing a gas mixture comprising a deposition precursor species into said ion generation region; maintaining a pressure drop across said plural ion shower grids whereby the pressure in said ion generation region is several times the pressure in said process region; applying plasma source power to generate a plasma of said deposition precursor species in said ion generation region; applying successive grid potentials to successive ones of said grids; and wherein said applying plasma source power comprises generating a toroidal plasma current in said ion generation region through an external reentrant conduit coupled across said ion generation region and coupling the RF plasma source power into the external reentrant conduit. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. A chemical vapor deposition process, comprising:
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providing a reactor chamber and a set of plural parallel ion shower grids stacked together that divide said chamber into an upper ion generation region and a lower process region, each of said ion shower grids having plural orifices comprising cylindrical holes in mutual registration from grid to grid, each orifice being oriented in a nonparallel direction relative to a surface plane of the respective ion shower grid; placing a workpiece in said process region, so that a workpiece surface of said workpiece is generally facing a surface plane of the nearest one of said ion shower grids; furnishing a gas mixture comprising a deposition precursor species into said ion generation region; maintaining a pressure drop across said plural ion shower grids whereby the pressure in said ion generation region is several times the pressure in said process region; applying plasma source power to generate a plasma of said deposition precursor species in said ion generation region; applying successive grid potentials to successive ones of said grids; prior to the step of placing a workpiece in said process region, depositing a layer of a process-compatible material on reactor chamber interior surfaces; and wherein said depositing a layer of a process-compatible material comprises furnishing into at least one of said ion generation and process regions ions or radicals of said process-compatible material from a plasma source external of said chamber. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. A chemical vapor deposition process, comprising:
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providing a reactor chamber and a set of plural parallel ion shower grids stacked together that divide said chamber into an upper ion generation region and a lower process region, each of said ion shower grids having plural orifices comprising cylindrical holes in mutual registration from grid to grid, each orifice being oriented in a nonparallel direction relative to a surface plane of the respective ion shower grid; placing a workpiece in said process region, so that a workpiece surface of said workpiece is generally facing a surface plane of the nearest one of said ion shower grids; furnishing a gas mixture comprising a deposition precursor species into said ion generation region; maintaining a pressure drop across said plural ion shower grids whereby the pressure in said ion generation region is several times the pressure in said process region; applying plasma source power to generate a plasma of said deposition precursor species in said ion generation region; applying successive grid potentials to successive ones of said grids; and traversing said workpiece and said grids relative to one another so as to scan an ion beam from said grids across said workpiece. - View Dependent Claims (61)
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62. A chemical vapor deposition process, comprising:
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providing a reactor chamber and a set of plural parallel ion shower grids stacked together that divide said chamber into an upper ion generation region and a lower process region, each of said ion shower grids having plural orifices comprising cylindrical holes in mutual registration from grid to grid, each orifice being oriented in a non-parallel direction relative to a surface plane of the respective ion shower grid; placing a workpiece in said process region, so that a workpiece surface of said workpiece is generally facing a surface plane of the nearest one of said ion shower grids; furnishing a gas mixture comprising a deposition precursor species into said ion generation region; maintaining a pressure drop across said plural ion shower grids whereby the pressure in said ion generation region is several times the pressure in said process region; applying plasma source power to generate a plasma of said deposition precursor species in said ion generation region; applying successive grid potentials to successive ones of said grids; and tilting said workpiece relative to said grids.
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Specification