Method and apparatus for forming thin film

• US 7,897,025 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2004
• Issued: 03/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Klaus Schmidt
• Original Assignee: Klaus Schmidt
• Inventors: Kugimiya, Toshihiro, Inoue, Kenichi, Hayashi, Kazushi, Takamatsu, Hiroyuki, Kobori, Takashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Nam X
• Assistant Examiner(s): BRAYTON, JOHN JOSEPH
• Application Number:
  US10/973,249
• Publication Number:
  US 20050136694A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,316 Days
• Field of Search: 204/208.11, 204/298.06, 204/298.21, 204/298.23, 204/298.28
• US Class Current: 204/298.21
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/228 Gas flow assisted PVD deposition
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/26 by resistance or inductive heating of the source
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/35 by application of a magnetic field, e.g. magnetron sputtering C23C14/3457 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32009 Arrangements for generation of plasma specially adapted for examination or treatment of objects, e.g. plasma sources plasma generation in general H05H1/24

Abstract

A rotor having a cylindrical peripheral surface is disposed in a treatment vessel into which a carrier gas is introduced, and the rotor peripheral surface is opposed to the surface of a substrate with a predetermine gap therebetween. Film-forming particulates including atomic molecules of the film-forming material and cluster particulates thereof are scattered from the surface of the film-forming material supplying member by sputtering, and the rotor is rotated to form a carrier gas flow near the rotor peripheral surface. The film-forming particulates are transported to the vicinity of the surface of the substrate by the carrier gas flow and adhered to the surface of the substrate. As a result, the adverse effect of high-energy particles and the like is suppressed to efficiently form a satisfactory thin film by an evaporation or sputtering process, which has less restriction to a source material gas, without the need for large equipment.

Claims

1. An apparatus for forming a thin film on a substrate, the apparatus comprising:

a treatment vessel into which a carrier gas is introduced;

a rotor disposed in the treatment vessel and having a cylindrical peripheral surface which faces a surface of a substrate, said rotor having a cylindrical peripheral surface;

said substrate having a portion proximate to said cylindrical peripheral surface and configured such that a first gap is present between said cylindrical peripheral surface and said substrate;

a stagnation point P adjacent to a portion of the substrate and adjacent to a portion of the cylindrical peripheral surface;

a rotor driving means for rotating the rotor around a central axis of said rotor;

a film-forming material supplying member disposed in the treatment vessel and having a portion proximate to said cylindrical peripheral surface of said rotor and configured such that a second gap is present between said film-forming material supplying member and said cylindrical peripheral surface,

said film-forming material supplying member facing said cylindrical peripheral surface of said rotor at a position circumferentially apart from the position where the substrate faces said cylindrical peripheral surface,

said film-forming material supplying member adapted to supply a film-forming material to the second gap which is present between said film-forming material supplying member and said cylindrical peripheral surface; and

a film-forming material supplying means adapted for evaporating, vaporizing, or scattering the film-forming material of the film-forming material supplying member to supply the film-forming material to the cylindrical peripheral surface of the rotor;

wherein the atomic molecules of the film-forming material and the cluster particulates thereof, which are supplied to the cylindrical peripheral surface of the rotor at the second gap between the rotor and the film-forming material supplying member, are transported by a flow of the carrier gas including plasma created by the rotor to said stagnation point P located near a position with a minimum dimension of the first gap,

said first gap having said stagnation point P adapted to adhere said atomic molecules of the film-forming material and the cluster particulates thereof to the surface of the substrate to form a thin film composed of the film-forming material on the surface of the substrate, and

wherein a high-frequency power supply is disposed and electrically connected between the rotor and the film-forming material supplying member, and the high-frequency power supply alternates both the rotor and the film-forming material supplying member as an cathode and a corresponding anode which form an electric field in the second gap between the rotor and the film-forming material supplying member to generate the plasma of the carrier gas.

2. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 1, wherein the film-forming material supplying means comprises heating means for heating the surface of the film-forming material supplying member to evaporate or vaporize the film-forming material in the surface.

3. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 2, wherein the heating means is incorporated into the film-forming material supplying member at a position directly inside of the surface composed of the film-forming material.

4. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 1, wherein a plasma generating means generates the plasma of the carrier gas in the reactor by forming a DC electric field, a high-frequency electric field, or an AC electric field other than a high-frequency electric field between the film-forming material supplying member and the rotor, so that the film-forming material in the surface of the film-forming material supplying member is sputtered by ions contained in the plasma.

5. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 4, further comprising a sputtering gas supplying part for introducing a rare gas element having a larger element number than that of the constituent element of the carrier gas into the gap between the film-forming material supplying member and the cylindrical peripheral surface of the rotor, wherein ions of the rare gas element supplied from the sputtering gas supplying part are produced in the plasma to sputter the surface material of the film-forming material supplying member with the ions.

6. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 4, further comprising magnetic flux forming means for producing magnetic flux lines in the gap between the film-forming material supplying member and the rotor, and enclosing the plasma produced in the gap.

7. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 6, further comprising a support member for supporting the film-forming material supplying member, and a magnet incorporated into the support member, for generating the magnetic flux lines.

8. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 2, wherein the film-forming material supplying member has a cylindrical peripheral surface having a central axis parallel to the rotation central axis of the rotor, and supplying member driving means is provided for rotating the film-forming material supplying member in the direction opposite to the rotational direction of the rotor.

9. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 2, wherein the gap between the substrate surface and the peripheral surface of the rotor is smaller than the gap between the peripheral surface of the rotor and the film-forming material supplying member.

10. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 2, further comprising a carrier gas circulating path for circulating the carrier gas in the reactor so that the carrier gas on the upstream side in the rotational direction of the rotor from the film-forming material supplying member is supplied from a downstream side in the rotational direction of the rotor from the position where the rotor faces the substrate.

11. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 10, further comprising adsorption means provided at an intermediate position of the carrier gas circulating path, for removing, by adsorption, at least one gas contained in the carrier gas flowing through the carrier gas circulating path.

12. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 1, wherein a reactor comprises an exhaust part for exhausting, to the outside of the reactor, the atomic molecules of the film-forming material and the cluster particulates thereof which remain unadhered to the surface of the substrate on an upstream side in the rotational direction of the rotor from the position where the rotor faces the substrate.

13. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 2, wherein the cylindrical peripheral surface of the film-forming material supplying member has a diameter smaller than a diameter of the cylindrical peripheral surface of the rotor.

14. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 1, wherein the carrier gas flowing out of the second gap flows along the circumference of the rotor, turns in front of the stagnation point P, and then flows along the surface of the substrate.

15. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 14, wherein a half of the carrier gas flowing along the surface of the substrate forms an eddy, and the remaining half of the carrier gas is exhausted outside of the treatment vessel.

16. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 10, further comprising adsorption means provided at an intermediate position of the carrier gas circulating path, for removing, by adsorption, at least an impurity gas discharged from the inner wall of the reactor contained in the carrier gas flowing through the carrier gas circulating path.

17. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 10, further comprising adsorption means provided at an intermediate position of the carrier gas circulating path, for removing, by adsorption, at least a sputtering gas remaining in the reactor contained in the carrier gas flowing through the carrier gas circulating path.

18. The apparatus for forming a thin film according to claim 10, further comprising adsorption means provided at an intermediate position of the carrier gas circulating path, for removing, by adsorption, at least a secondary unnecessary organic gas vaporized from the film-forming material contained in the carrier gas flowing through the carrier gas circulating path.