CN110923668A

CN110923668A - Thin film deposition apparatus

Info

Publication number: CN110923668A
Application number: CN201811249125.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 申雄澈; 崔圭政; 白敏�; 楊澈勳
Original assignee: NCD CO Ltd
Current assignee: NCD CO Ltd
Priority date: 2018-09-20
Filing date: 2018-10-25
Publication date: 2020-03-27
Also published as: KR20200033529A; KR102205200B1

Abstract

The present invention provides a thin film deposition apparatus having a plurality of process chambers capable of performing an atomic layer deposition process by loading a plurality of cassettes into one external chamber, and uniformly performing the atomic layer deposition process on a plurality of substrates at the same time.

Description

Thin film deposition apparatus

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a thin film deposition apparatus, and more particularly, to a thin film deposition apparatus which loads a plurality of cassettes having a plurality of process chambers capable of performing an atomic layer deposition process in one external chamber, and uniformly performs the atomic layer deposition process on a plurality of substrates at the same time.

Background

In general, in the manufacture of semiconductor elements, flat panel display elements, and the like, various manufacturing processes are performed, in which a process of depositing a predetermined thin film on a wafer or glass (hereinafter, referred to as a "substrate") is required. The thin film deposition process mainly uses sputtering, Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), and the like.

First, a sputtering method, for example, injects an inert gas such as argon into a process chamber in a state where a high voltage is applied to a target for generating argon ions in a plasma state. At this time, the argon ions are sputtered onto the surface of the target, and the atoms of the target slip off the surface of the target and are deposited on the substrate.

A high-purity thin film excellent in adhesion to a substrate is formed by this sputtering method, but in the case of depositing an integrated thin film having a process difference by the sputtering method, it is extremely difficult to ensure uniformity for the entire thin film. Therefore, there is a limitation in the applicability of the sputtering method to the fine pattern forming process.

Furthermore, the chemical vapor deposition method is the most widely used deposition technique, and is a method of depositing a thin film having a desired thickness on a substrate using a reaction gas and a decomposition gas. For example, the chemical vapor deposition method first injects various gases into a reaction chamber, and chemically reacts the gases guided by high energy such as heat, light, or plasma, thereby depositing a thin film having a desired thickness on a substrate.

Also, in the chemical vapor deposition method, the deposition rate is increased by controlling the reaction conditions according to the ratio (ratio) and amount (amount) of plasma or gases applied as a reaction energy source.

However, the chemical vapor deposition method has problems that since the reaction is fast, it is very difficult to control the thermodynamic stability of atoms, and the physical and chemical electrical characteristics of the thin film are deteriorated.

Finally, the Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is a method of depositing a thin film in units of Atomic layers by introducing two or more reactants one by one into a reaction chamber (chamber) for forming a thin film and decomposing and adsorbing the reactants. That is, the first reaction gas is supplied by a pulse (pulsing) method, and after the first reaction gas is chemically deposited to the lower film inside the chamber, the remaining first reaction gas physically combined is removed by a purge (purge). Thus, the second reactive gas is also chemically combined with the first reactive gas (first reactant) in part through the pulse and purge processes, and a desired thin film is deposited on the substrate. In the ald process, a pulse (pulsing) and purge (purge) time for each reaction gas is referred to as a cycle (cycle). Typical examples of the thin film that can be formed by the atomic layer deposition method include Al2O3, HfO2, ZrO2, TiO2, and ZnO.

The ald is capable of forming a thin film having excellent step coverage even at a low temperature of 60 ℃ or less, and thus is predicted to be a process technology used in large quantities in a process of manufacturing a new generation of semiconductor devices, display panels, and solar cells.

In order to expand the use of the atomic layer deposition technique in the semiconductor field, the display screen field, the solar cell field, and the like, a uniform thin film is obtained on a large-area substrate, and a sufficient productivity must be secured by performing a process on a plurality of large-area substrates at one time.

However, when the atomic layer deposition process is performed in a state where a plurality of cassettes each containing a plurality of substrates are loaded in a long row in order to process the plurality of substrates by one process, there are problems in that a process time is increased by increasing a section through which the process gas passes, and it is very difficult to form a uniform thin film on the plurality of substrates.

Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop an atomic layer deposition apparatus capable of performing a uniform process on all substrates in a short process time even in a state where a plurality of cassettes are loaded.

Disclosure of the invention

Technical problem to be solved by the invention

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a thin film deposition apparatus, in which a plurality of cassettes are loaded in one external chamber, and which has a plurality of process chambers capable of performing an atomic layer deposition process, so that the atomic layer deposition process can be uniformly performed on a plurality of substrates at the same time.

Means for solving the problems

In order to solve the above problem, a thin film deposition apparatus of the present invention includes: an outer chamber having a first opening formed at one side; a pair of rectangular parallelepiped process chambers having one side surface closely attached to the inside of the external chamber, and having a second opening formed at one side thereof, for performing an atomic layer deposition process; a plurality of cassettes for loading a plurality of substrates in a predetermined manner such that the distance between the substrates is a laminar flow distance, moving the inside and outside of the process chamber in a state where the substrates are loaded, and performing an atomic layer deposition process; a gas supply device configured to supply a gas to a front end portion of the substrates loaded in the cassette in a direction parallel to an arrangement direction of the substrates on one surface in the process chamber so that a space between the substrates flows in a laminar manner; an exhaust unit disposed opposite to the second opening in the process chamber, for sucking and exhausting gas inside the process chamber from a rear end of the substrate; the heater is arranged inside the external chamber and used for heating the process chamber; a pair of first doors for opening and closing the second openings of the pair of process chambers, respectively; a second door that opens and closes a first opening of the external chamber; and a connecting device connecting the pair of first doors with the one second door.

Also, in the thin film deposition apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable that the first door further has a heating device between the second door or inside the first door to heat the front.

Further, in the present invention, the gas supply device preferably includes: a gas diffusion supply groove formed in a sidewall adjacent to the second opening portion among sidewalls of the process chamber, uniformly diffusing a supply gas for an entire width of the second opening portion; and a gas supply port formed at one end of the gas diffusion supply groove and supplying gas from the outside to the gas diffusion supply groove.

Further, in the present invention, the gas supply device preferably includes: a gas diffusion block formed in a separated double-layer structure, diffusing gases supplied from mutually different layers; an upper layer supply port which is communicated with one side of the upper layer of the gas diffusion block and supplies a first process gas to the upper layer; and a lower layer supply port which is communicated with one side of the lower layer of the gas diffusion block and supplies a second process gas to the lower layer.

Further, the thin film deposition apparatus of the present invention preferably includes: and an additional gas supply device provided at a fulcrum contacting a specific cassette among a plurality of cassettes loaded into the interior of the process chamber in the sidewall of the process chamber, and supplying a gas to the cassette contact space.

Also, the thin film deposition apparatus of the present invention preferably includes: a cassette mounting part connected to an inner sidewall of the first door, and loading at least one cassette; and a moving device for reciprocating the first door and the box mounting part together with the second door in a horizontal direction.

Further, it is preferable that the connection device of the present invention further includes: and the elastic pressurizing device elastically pressurizes the first door towards the direction of the process chamber.

Also, preferably, in the thin film deposition apparatus of the present invention, the second door has a cooling device.

Also, preferably, in the thin film deposition apparatus of the present invention, two or more process chambers are provided in an up-down direction or a left-right direction inside the outer chamber.

In addition, it is preferable that, in the thin film deposition apparatus of the present invention, a cooling device is further provided in the outer chamber.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

The thin film deposition apparatus of the present invention achieves the remarkable effects that a plurality of cassettes are loaded in one external chamber, and a plurality of process chambers capable of performing an atomic layer deposition process are provided, thereby uniformly performing the atomic layer deposition process on a plurality of substrates at the same time, and also, the process takt time is greatly reduced.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing the structure of a thin film deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the structure of a thin film deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a drawing showing the construction of first and second doors according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the structure of a process chamber and a gas supply apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a drawing showing the structure of a heater of one embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a drawing showing the structure of a cooling device of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a drawing showing the internal structure of a thin film deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

description of the reference numerals

100 thin film deposition apparatus of one embodiment of the present invention

110 outer chamber 120 Process chamber

130: box 140: gas supply device

150 exhaust device 160 heater

170 first door 180 second door

190 connecting device

Detailed Description

Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the thin film deposition apparatus 100 of the present embodiment includes: an external chamber 110, a process chamber 120, a cassette 130, a gas supply 140, an exhaust 150, a heater 160, a first door 170, a second door 180, and a connection 190.

First, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the outer chamber 110 is a component having a first opening 112 formed at one side thereof, and two or more process chambers 120 are provided therein. Therefore, the first opening 112 is opened toward the first door 170, and the remaining surface of the process chamber 110 has a cut structure.

In addition, preferably, in the thin film deposition apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, two outer chambers 110 are disposed side by side.

Next, as shown in fig. 2, the process chambers 120 are arranged in a pair with one side thereof closely contacting the inside of the outer chamber 110, and a second opening 124 is formed at one side thereof to perform an atomic layer deposition process. That is, the process chamber 120 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole, and performs the atomic layer deposition process inside. At this time, a process is performed in a state where a plurality of cassettes 130 are loaded in the process chamber 120.

Therefore, in a state where the plurality of cassettes 130 are linearly loaded into the inner space of the process chamber 120, the interval between the substrates into which the cassettes are inserted and the interval between the cassettes and the chamber wall are set to a specification for maintaining the laminar flow interval.

Further, although two process chambers 120 are described as being provided in the outer chamber 110, two or more process chambers may be provided in a stacked or juxtaposed manner, or two or more layers may be provided in the outer chamber 120 itself.

Next, the plurality of cassettes 130 are shown in FIG. 1 as being mounted in an array in the cassette mount 122 disposed between the first door 170 and the process chamber 120. At this time, a plurality of substrates are predetermined loaded in the cassette 130 such that the pitch between the substrates is a laminar flow pitch, and the atomic layer deposition process is performed while moving the inside and the outside of the process chamber 120 in a state where the substrates are loaded.

Then, the gas supply device 140 supplies gas to the front end portions of the substrates from one surface of the process chamber 120 facing all the substrates loaded in the cassette 130 in a direction parallel to the arrangement direction of the substrates so that the space between the substrates forms a laminar flow.

The gas supply means, as shown in fig. 4, is formed at a sidewall adjacent to the second opening portion in the sidewall of the process chamber, and includes a gas diffusion supply groove 142 and a gas supply port 144. The gas diffusion supply groove 142 is a sidewall formed adjacent to the second opening in the sidewall of the process chamber 120, and supplies a uniform diffusion gas to the entire width of the second opening.

The gas supply port 144 is provided at one end of the gas diffusion supply groove 142, and supplies gas from the outside to the gas diffusion supply groove 142.

In addition, it is preferable that the thin film deposition apparatus 100 of the present embodiment further has an additional supply device 146. The additional supply means 146, as shown in fig. 4, is provided at a fulcrum to which a specific cassette among a plurality of cassettes loaded into the side wall of the process chamber 120 into the interior of the process chamber 120 is contacted, and supplies gas to the cassette contact space.

As shown in fig. 1 and 4, the exhaust unit 150 is disposed opposite to the second opening 124 in the process chamber 120, and sucks and exhausts gas from the process chamber 120 through a rear end of the substrate. Accordingly, the exhaust device 150 moves process gases and outgassing together with the gas supply device 140 in a state of maintaining laminar flow for performing an atomic layer deposition process inside the process chamber 120.

Thereafter, the heater 160 is installed inside the outer chamber 110, and heats the components of the process chamber 120. Thus, the heater 160 is disposed inside the outer chamber 110, thereby having an advantage of uniformly controlling the temperature throughout the outside of the process chamber 120.

Of course, the outer chamber 110 also has a cooling device 162 that can reduce the temperature of the process chamber 120.

Next, the first door 170 is a component for opening and closing the second opening portions 124 of the pair of process chambers 120, respectively, as shown in fig. 1. That is, the pair of first doors 170 are coupled to each other in parallel so as to be moved simultaneously to open and close the second openings 124 of the pair of process chambers 120 disposed inside the one external chamber 110.

As described above, the first door 170 is connected to the cassette mounting part 122 through the process chamber 120, and the cassette mounting part 122 is configured to move back and forth by a guide rail (not shown) provided inside the process chamber 120. The first door 170 is coupled to an end of the cassette mounting part 122 to be constructed in this manner.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the second door 180 is coupled to an outer side of the first door 170, and opens and closes the first opening 112 of the external chamber 110. Therefore, the second door 180 is configured to cover the entire area of the first opening 112, and is coupled to the pair of first doors 170 to move forward and backward together, thereby performing an opening and closing function of the opening.

Therefore, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the connecting device 190 is preferably a component for connecting the pair of first doors 170 and the one second door 180, and the connecting device 190 has an elastic pressing device 192.

The resilient pressurization device 192 has the advantage of variably establishing the spacing between the first door 170 and the second door 180 while controlling so as to avoid excessive force applied to the process chamber 120 by the first door 170.

In addition, in the thin film deposition apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, a heating device 172 heating the front is further provided between the first door 170 and the second door 180 or inside the first door 170 as shown in fig. 3. As described above, the process chamber 120 is entirely heated by the heater 160 disposed inside the outer chamber 110, but the heating in the direction of the second opening 112, which is an open portion of the outer chamber 110, is insufficient compared to other portions.

Therefore, the heating device 172 can apply heat in the same manner in the direction of the second opening.

In the present embodiment, it is preferable that the second door 180 further includes a cooling device (not shown). The cooling device performs a function of cooling the second door 180 and components provided thereto to protect components such as a gasket provided to the second door 180.

Then, as described above, the first door 170 has the cassette mounting part 122 on the inner sidewall thereof, in which at least one cassette 130 is loaded. The cassette mounting part 122 has a structure, as shown in fig. 2, to be mounted in close contact with a plurality of cassettes 130, whereby the plurality of cassettes mounted on the cassette mounting part 122 perform an atomic layer deposition process in this state.

And, a moving means 194 is further provided to reciprocate the first door 170 and the cassette mounting part 122 in a horizontal direction together with the second door 180. That is, as shown in fig. 2, the moving device 194 is coupled to an outer sidewall of the second door 180 to move the cassette mounting part 122 and the first and

second doors

170 and 180 coupled thereto forward and backward.

Claims

1. A thin film deposition apparatus, characterized in that,

the method comprises the following steps:

an outer chamber having a first opening formed at one side;

a pair of rectangular parallelepiped process chambers arranged side by side with one side surface thereof closely attached to the inside of the external chamber, and having a second opening formed at one side thereof, for performing an atomic layer deposition process;

a plurality of cassettes for performing an atomic layer deposition process by loading a plurality of substrates in a predetermined manner such that the distance between the substrates is a laminar flow distance, and moving the inside and the outside of the process chamber in a state where the substrates are loaded;

a gas supply device configured to supply a gas to a front end portion of the substrates loaded in the cassette in a direction parallel to an arrangement direction of the substrates on one surface in the process chamber so that a space between the substrates flows in a laminar manner;

an exhaust unit disposed opposite to the second opening in the process chamber, for sucking and exhausting gas inside the process chamber from a rear end of the substrate;

the heater is arranged inside the external chamber and used for heating the process chamber;

a pair of first doors for opening and closing the second openings of the pair of process chambers, respectively;

a second door that opens and closes a first opening of the external chamber;

and a connecting device connecting the pair of first doors with the one second door.

2. The thin film deposition apparatus according to claim 1,

and a heating device for heating the front is arranged between the first door and the second door or inside the first door.

3. The thin film deposition apparatus according to claim 1,

the gas supply device includes:

a gas diffusion supply groove formed in a side wall adjacent to the second opening portion among the side walls of the process chamber, and uniformly diffusing and supplying a gas to the second opening portion over the entire width thereof;

and a gas supply port formed at one end of the gas diffusion supply groove, for supplying gas from the outside to the gas diffusion supply groove.

4. The thin film deposition apparatus according to claim 1,

the gas supply device includes:

a gas diffusion block formed in a separated double structure, diffusing gases supplied from mutually different layers;

an upper layer supply port which is communicated with one side of the upper layer of the gas diffusion block and supplies a first process gas to the upper layer;

and a lower layer supply port which is communicated with one side of the lower layer of the gas diffusion block and supplies a second process gas to the lower layer.

5. The thin film deposition apparatus according to any one of claims 3 or 4,

the method comprises the following steps:

and an additional gas supply device provided at a fulcrum of a specific cassette contact among a plurality of cassettes loaded into the interior of the process chamber in a sidewall of the process chamber, and supplying air to the cassette contact space.

6. The thin film deposition apparatus according to claim 1,

the method comprises the following steps:

a cassette mounting part connected to an inner sidewall of the first door, and loading at least one cassette;

and a moving device for reciprocating the first door and the box mounting part along with the second door in the horizontal direction.

7. The thin film deposition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thin film deposition apparatus is a vacuum deposition apparatus

The connecting device is also provided with an elastic pressurizing device which elastically pressurizes the first door towards the direction of the process chamber.

8. The thin film deposition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thin film deposition apparatus is a vacuum deposition apparatus

The second door has a cooling device.

9. The thin film deposition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thin film deposition apparatus is a vacuum deposition apparatus

The process chamber is provided with more than two process chambers in the up-down direction or the left-right direction in the outer chamber.

10. The thin film deposition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thin film deposition apparatus is a vacuum deposition apparatus

There is also a cooling means in the outer chamber.