System and apparatus for efficient deposition of transparent conductive oxide

• US 9,460,925 B2
• Filed: 11/05/2015
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tesla Inc.
• Original Assignee: SolarCity Corporation (Tesla Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Wei, Fu, Jianming, Xu, Zheng, Reynolds, Kenneth Reese, Lefevre, Ollivier Jacky
• Primary Examiner(s): Nhu, David
• Application Number:
  US14/933,957
• Publication Number:
  US 20160126098A1
• Time in Patent Office: 334 Days
• Field of Search: 438/729, 438/513, 438/514, 257/347, 257/427, 257/359, 257/428, 257/659, 257/660, 257/678, 257/E21.006, 257/E21.134, 257/E21.135, 257/E21.143, 257/E21.147, 257/E21.218, 257/E21.311, 257/E21.32, 257/E21.347, 257/E21.498
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/08 Oxides C23C14/10 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/086 of zinc, germanium, cadmium, indium, tin, thallium or bismuth
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/24 Vacuum evaporation
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/28 by wave energy or particle radiation C23C14/32 - C23C14/48 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/32 by explosion; by evaporation and subsequent ionisation of the vapours , e.g. ion-platingC23C14/34 - C23C14/48 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/50 Substrate holders
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/56 Apparatus specially adapted for continuous coating; Arrangements for maintaining the vacuum, e.g. vacuum locks
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/562 for coating elongated substrates
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/564 Means for minimising impurities in the coating chamber such as dust, moisture, residual gases
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/458 characterised by the method used for supporting substrates in the reaction chamber
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/513 using plasma jets
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 9/14 of non-emitting electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/2253 by ion implantation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/022466 made of transparent conductive layers, e.g. TCO, ITO layers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/1884 Manufacture of transparent electrodes, e.g. TCO, ITO

Abstract

A substrate processing system that includes a substrate processing chamber having one or more sidewalls that at least partially define a substrate processing region and extend away from a bottom wall of the substrate processing chamber at an obtuse angle; a source material holder configured to hold a source material within the substrate processing region; a plasma gun operatively coupled to introduce a plasma beam into the substrate processing region; one or more magnets operatively arranged to generate a magnetic field that guides the plasma beam to the source material holder; and a substrate carrier configured to hold one or more substrates within the substrate processing region.

Claims

1. A substrate processing system comprising:

a substrate processing chamber having one or more sidewalls that at least partially define a substrate processing region and extend away from a bottom wall of the substrate processing chamber at an obtuse angle;

a source material holder configured to hold a source material within the substrate processing region;

a plasma gun operatively coupled to introduce a plasma beam into the substrate processing region;

one or more magnets operatively arranged to generate a magnetic field that guides the plasma beam to the source material holder;

a substrate carrier configured to hold one or more substrates within the substrate processing region; and

a substrate transport mechanism configured to move the substrate carrier through the substrate processing region during a substrate deposition process.

2. The substrate processing system of claim 1 wherein the one or more angled sidewalls include first and second opposing sidewalls spaced apart on opposite sides of the source material holder and wherein the plasma gun is positioned adjacent to the first opposing sidewall with the gun pointing in a direction perpendicular to the first opposing sidewall.

3. The substrate processing system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the one or more chamber sidewalls includes a first section that extends substantially vertically from a bottom of the chamber and a second section that extends from the first section towards a top of the chamber at the obtuse angle.

4. The substrate processing system of claim 1 wherein the one or more angled sidewalls include first and second opposing sidewalls spaced apart on opposite sides of the source material holder, each of the first and second opposing sidewalls including a first section that extends substantially vertically from a bottom of the chamber and a second section that extends from the first section towards a top of the chamber at the obtuse angle.

5. The substrate processing system of claim 1 wherein the substrate carrier holds a plurality of substrates and has first and second opposing ends that define a length of the substrate carrier and a width that is greater than the length.

6. The substrate processing system of claim 5 further comprising a substrate transport mechanism configured to move the substrate carrier through the substrate processing region during a substrate deposition process along a linear path at a constant speed such that the substrate carrier enters the substrate processing region with its first end and exits the substrate processing region with its second end.

7. The substrate processing system of claim 1 wherein the substrate carrier comprises a plurality of panels connected to each other by hinges, wherein each panel extends along a length of the substrate carrier and is configured to hold a plurality of substrates.

8. The substrate processing system of claim 7 wherein the substrate transport mechanism configured to move the substrate carrier through the substrate processing region during a substrate deposition process such that the panels of the substrate carrier are in a domed-shape as the substrate carrier passes through the substrate processing region.

9. The substrate processing system of claim 1 wherein the substrate transport carrier is configured to hold a plurality of substantially flat substrates in the substrate processing region in a dome-shaped arrangement such that a difference in distance between substrates at outer edges of the substrate carrier and the source material and between substrates in a center of the carrier and the source material is reduced.

10. The substrate processing system of claim 1 wherein the substrate transport mechanism configured to transport the plurality of substrates such that the plurality of substrates enter and exit the substrate processing chamber in a substantially flat arrangement and proceed through the substrate processing region in a dome-shaped arrangement.

11. The substrate processing system of claim 10 wherein the dome-shaped arrangement comprises four rows of substantially flat substrates with the substrates in each row being angled with respect to the substrates in an adjacent row.

12. A substrate processing system comprising:

a substrate processing chamber having one or more sidewalls that at least partially define a substrate processing region and extend away from a bottom wall of the substrate processing chamber at an obtuse angle;

a source material holder configured to hold a source material within the substrate processing region;

a plasma gun operatively coupled to introduce a plasma beam into the substrate processing region;

one or more magnets operatively arranged to generate a magnetic field that guides the plasma beam to the source material holder; and

a substrate carrier configured to hold one or more substrates within the substrate processing region;

wherein the substrate processing region of the chamber is at least 100% wider than it is long and the one or more angled walls include first and second opposing walls that define a length of the substrate processing chamber within the substrate processing region.

13. A substrate processing system comprising:

a substrate processing chamber having one or more sidewalls that at least partially define a substrate processing region;

a plurality of source material holders positioned within the substrate processing region, each configured to hold source material;

a plurality of plasma guns corresponding to the plurality of source material holders, each plasma gun in the plurality of plasma guns being operatively coupled to introduce a plasma beam into the substrate processing region;

a plurality of magnets operatively arranged to generate magnetic fields that, for each plasma beam generated by a plasma gun in the plurality of plasma guns, directs the plasma beam to its corresponding source material holder;

a substrate carrier configured to hold a plurality of substrates; and

a substrate transport mechanism configured to move the substrate carrier through the substrate processing chamber such that the plurality of substrates are moved through the substrate processing region.

14. The substrate processing system of claim 13 wherein the one or more angled sidewalls include first and second opposing sidewalls spaced apart on opposite sides of the plurality of source material holders, each extending away from a bottom wall of the substrate processing chamber at an obtuse angle, and wherein a first set of the plasma guns is positioned adjacent to the first opposing sidewall with the gun pointing in a direction perpendicular to the first opposing sidewall and a second set of the plasma guns is positioned adjacent to the second opposing sidewall with the gun pointing in a direction perpendicular to the second opposing sidewall.

15. The substrate processing system of claim 13 wherein the plurality of source material holders are positioned in an evenly-spaced staggered relationship such that a distribution of source material from each adjacent source material holder overlaps.

16. The substrate processing system of claim 13 wherein the substrate carrier holds a plurality of substrates and has first and second opposing ends that define a length of the substrate carrier and a width that is greater than the length and wherein the substrate processing system further comprises a substrate transport mechanism configured to move the substrate carrier through the substrate processing region during a substrate deposition process along a linear path at a constant speed such that the substrate carrier enters the substrate processing region with its first end and exits the substrate processing region with its second end.

17. The substrate processing system of claim 13 wherein the substrate carrier comprises a plurality of panels connected to each other by hinges, wherein each panel extends along a length of the substrate carrier and is configured to hold a plurality of substrates.

18. The substrate processing system of claim 17 further comprising a substrate transport mechanism configured to move the substrate carrier through the substrate processing region during a substrate deposition process such that the panels of the substrate carrier are in a domed-shape as the substrate carrier passes through the substrate processing region.

19. The substrate processing system of claim 18 wherein the substrate transport mechanism is further configured to move the substrate carrier into and out of the substrate processing chamber in a substantially flat shape.

20. The substrate processing system of claim 17 wherein the substrate carrier comprises a plurality of panels that extend along a length of the substrate carrier including first and second opposing inner panels spaced apart from each other in a mirrored relationship and third and fourth opposing outer panels spaced apart from each other in a mirrored relationship, wherein each of the plurality of panels is a substantially flat rectangular panel configured to hold a plurality of substrates and wherein the plurality of panels are connected together to form a dome-shape along a length of the substrate carrier.

21. The substrate processing system of claim 20 wherein the substrate carrier further comprises a central panel positioned between the first and second inner panels.

22. A method of depositing a layer over a plurality of substrates with a reactive plasma deposition process, the method comprising:

holding source material for the reactive plasma deposition process in a source material holder positioned within a substrate processing chamber;

generating a plasma beam from a plasma gun;

ionizing the source material by directing the plasma with a plurality of magnets to bombard the source material and generate ionized source material within a substrate processing region of the substrate processing chamber;

transporting the plurality of substrates through the substrate processing region of a substrate processing chamber in a substrate carrier to deposit the source material over the plurality of substrates, wherein the substrate carrier comprises a plurality of interconnected panels that enter the substrate processing chamber in a substantially flat arrangement and the plurality of interconnected panels are formed into a dome-shaped arrangement prior to passing through the substrate processing region.

23. The method of depositing a layer over a plurality of substrates set forth in claim 22 wherein the deposited layer is a transparent conductive oxide layer.

24. The method of depositing a layer over a plurality of substrates set forth in claim 23 wherein the source material comprises tungsten-doped indium oxide.

25. The method of depositing a layer over a plurality of substrates set forth in claim 22 wherein each panel in the plurality of interconnected panels is substantially flat and the dome-shaped arrangement is formed by changing an angle between each adjacent panel.