CN114086153A

CN114086153A - CVD vacuum equipment and vertical-horizontal switching implementation method

Info

Publication number: CN114086153A
Application number: CN202111398275.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 宋德鹏; 陈占领
Original assignee: Shandong Liguan Microelectronics Equipment Co ltd
Current assignee: Shandong Liguan Microelectronics Equipment Co ltd
Priority date: 2021-11-24
Filing date: 2021-11-24
Publication date: 2022-02-25

Abstract

The invention discloses CVD vacuum equipment and a vertical-horizontal switching implementation method, wherein a furnace body is configured into the furnace body which can swing along with a support frame, and the swinging range of the furnace body is 90 degrees, so that the CVD vacuum equipment is just suitable for the angle required by the conversion between a vertical state and a horizontal state. The furnace body is provided with an upper furnace door and a lower furnace door, wherein the lower furnace door is in an open state in a horizontal state, and the lower furnace door is combined with the furnace body based on the swinging of the furnace body in a vertical state. In the horizontal state, the material taking and placing can be completed in the horizontal direction, and in the vertical state, the material taking and placing can be performed from the furnace door, so that the operation is relatively simple and convenient, and the material taking and placing are relatively simple and convenient besides good adaptability for different CVD processes.

Description

CVD vacuum equipment and vertical-horizontal switching implementation method

Technical Field

The invention relates to CVD vacuum equipment and also relates to a method for realizing state switching between a vertical type and a horizontal type by using the CVD vacuum equipment. CVD is an abbreviation of Chemical Vapor Deposition.

Background

Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) is a process of forming a thin film by introducing two or more gaseous raw materials into a reaction chamber by means of Chemical reaction by means of heating, plasma enhancement, light irradiation or other auxiliary means, and then depositing the raw materials on the surface of a substrate by Chemical reaction. Currently, CVD has become a deposition technique for large area applications in the semiconductor industry. Meanwhile, the types of films deposited by adopting the CVD mode are continuously expanded, and higher requirements are provided for the use requirement and the adaptability of CVD equipment. For example, fluidized bed CVD is a device specially used for depositing a thin film on powder particles, and the device is generally of a vertical structure, and material taking and placing are all arranged at the upper end of a tube cavity and are influenced by the height of CVD vacuum equipment, so that the difficulty in the material taking and placing process is relatively high, the threshold is increased for industrial application, and the device cost is increased.

As a CVD vacuum apparatus, which is a horizontal CVD vacuum apparatus, as opposed to a vertical CVD vacuum apparatus, for example, an MOCVD apparatus corresponding to a feeding apparatus for the MOCVD apparatus disclosed in chinese patent document CN202954087U has a horizontal furnace body. Currently, both vertical CVD vacuum equipment and horizontal CVD equipment take into account the problem of good sealing of the furnace body, and therefore both vertical CVD vacuum equipment and horizontal CVD equipment employ static furnace body configurations to achieve relatively good sealing by means of static sealing.

However, with the development of technology, the variety of CVD is increasing, and in some applications, the furnace body of the CVD vacuum apparatus does not need to be kept in a vacuum state, such as LPCVD apparatus, PECVD apparatus, etc., so that the application scenario of the CVD vacuum apparatus is not strictly adapted to the purely considered sealing effect. Meanwhile, the inventor believes that the method also provides a technical basis for the CVD vacuum equipment to be capable of switching between a vertical state and a horizontal state.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide CVD vacuum equipment with relatively good adaptability, and further provides a method for realizing vertical and horizontal switching of the cover CVD vacuum equipment.

In an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a CVD vacuum apparatus including:

a frame;

the support frame is arranged on the rack through a rotating shaft with a horizontal axis, so that the support frame has the freedom degree of swinging around the axis of the rotating shaft;

the furnace body is fixedly arranged on the support frame and follows the support frame to have a vertical state that the axis of the furnace body is vertical and a horizontal state that the axis of the furnace body is horizontal;

the upper furnace door mechanism is positioned at the upper end of the furnace body in a vertical state;

the lower furnace door assembly is arranged on the rack and is butted with a lower furnace door in the lower furnace door assembly when the furnace body rotates to a vertical state; and

and the driving device is arranged on the rack, outputs and drives the supporting frame and is used for switching the vertical and horizontal states of the furnace body.

Optionally, the lower furnace door comprises a furnace door flange, and the furnace door flange has a working stroke in the up-down direction;

correspondingly, an up-and-down movement mechanism is adapted to drive the furnace door flange.

Optionally, the output member of the up-and-down movement mechanism carrying the oven door flange has a damping device in the carrying direction.

Optionally, the oven door flange is mounted on the output member by a guide pair;

the upper part of an output component for constructing a guide auxiliary static component is a rod body, and a spring forming the buffer device is sleeved on the rod body and supported on the lower surface of the furnace door flange;

accordingly, the furnace door flange is guided in a gas-tight manner on the rod body.

Optionally, the furnace door flange is a water-cooled flange.

Optionally, the lower oven door further comprises a material taking oven door flange, and the material taking oven door flange is in air-tight fit with the water cooling flange.

Optionally, the up-and-down movement mechanism is:

the first up-down movement mechanism is a nut screw mechanism;

the second up-and-down movement mechanism is a fluid cylinder and an electric cylinder; or

And the third motion mechanism is a gear-rack pair.

Optionally, the driving device, the frame, and the supporting frame form a triangular mechanism;

the driving device is correspondingly a part with a telescopic rod, and a static part of the driving device is hinged on the rack.

Optionally, the support frame is a rigid frame;

correspondingly, the furnace body is rigidly arranged on the support frame in the radial direction, and axial freedom degree is reserved;

and providing a locking device which is used for locking the furnace body on the support frame in the axial direction of the furnace body.

In the embodiment of the invention, the vertical and horizontal switching implementation method of the CVD vacuum equipment is also provided, the furnace body is arranged on a support frame, and the support frame is arranged on a rack through a rotating shaft with a horizontal axis, so that the support frame has the degree of freedom of swinging;

providing a driving device arranged on the rack, wherein a triangular mechanism is formed among the driving device, the rack and the supporting frame so as to drive the supporting frame to swing;

the rotating angle range of the swinging is 90 degrees, and correspondingly, the supporting frame has a horizontal state which enables the axis of the furnace body to be horizontal and a vertical state which enables the axis of the furnace body to be vertical;

one end of the furnace body is sealed by an upper furnace door mechanism, and the other end of the furnace body is sealed by a lower furnace door assembly and the furnace body in butt joint when the furnace body is in a vertical state.

As the inventor considers that part of the current CVD process can be implemented under normal pressure, and part of the current CVD process can be implemented under vacuum condition, in the embodiment of the invention, the furnace body is configured into the furnace body which can swing along with the support frame, and the swing range of the furnace body is 90 degrees, so that the furnace body is just suitable for the angle required by the conversion between the vertical state and the horizontal state. The furnace body is provided with an upper furnace door and a lower furnace door, wherein the lower furnace door is in an open state in a horizontal state, and the lower furnace door is combined with the furnace body based on the swinging of the furnace body in a vertical state. In the horizontal state, the material taking and placing can be completed in the horizontal direction, and in the vertical state, the material taking and placing can be performed from the furnace door, so that the operation is relatively simple and convenient, and the material taking and placing are relatively simple and convenient besides good adaptability for different CVD processes.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a horizontal state of a CVD vacuum apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a lower seal assembly according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a state where the CVD vacuum apparatus is upright in one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the CVD vacuum apparatus in a vertical state according to an embodiment.

In the figure: 1. the furnace comprises a spiral supporting leg, 2 parts of a bottom frame, 3 parts of a guide assembly, 4 parts of a water-cooled flange, 5 parts of a motor, 6 parts of a driving support, 7 parts of a screw rod, 8 parts of a middle frame, 9 parts of a rotating shaft, 10 parts of a supporting frame, 11 parts of an expansion rod, 12 parts of a top frame, 13 parts of a furnace body, 14 parts of an upper furnace door mechanism, 15 parts of a linear bearing, 16 parts of a guide frame, 17 parts of a spring, 18 parts of a threaded guide sleeve, 19 parts of a rotating shaft seat, 20 parts of an electric cylinder, 21 parts of a heating device, 22 parts of powder particles, 23 parts of a pocket type quartz bucket, 24 parts of a quartz cavity, 25 parts of a valve, 26 parts of a vacuum pump, 27 parts of a crucible, 28 parts of a ceramic tray, 29 parts of a lower furnace door assembly, 30 parts of a flow meter and 31 parts of a process gas pipe.

Detailed Description

Based on the foregoing description, it is understood that a part of the CVD process may be performed under normal pressure, and a part of the CVD process may be performed under vacuum, both of which are known processes, and the process parameters and the like are not described in detail, and should be clearly understood by those skilled in the art.

Although the furnace body 13 does not have an upper end and a lower end in the horizontal state, it has a certain upper end and lower end in the vertical state, affected by the state transition, and the same applies to the horizontal state based on the upper end and lower end determined in the vertical state. Therefore, the components expressed as the upper furnace door mechanism 14 in the upright state are equally applicable in the lying state, and in the embodiment of the present invention, unless otherwise specified, for example, the upper furnace door mechanism 14 is used in both the upright and lying states based on the concept of the specific positional relationship.

In the structure illustrated in fig. 1 and 3, the CVD vacuum apparatus includes a frame, which is a rack bar system, which is illustrated in fig. 1 as three components, i.e., a bottom frame 2, a middle frame 8, and a top frame 12, which are connected by a column.

Wherein the base frame 2 or the upright posts are provided with screw legs 1 for e.g. leveling of the middle frame 8, so that the furnace body 13 is in a better working condition.

The middle frame 8 is in the structure illustrated in fig. 1, the left end of the middle frame is used for mounting the support frame 10 on the frame through the rotating shaft 9, the middle part of the middle frame is offset to the left by adopting a hinged shaft for hinging the driving bracket 6, the driving bracket 6 is used for mounting a driving device for driving the support frame 10 to swing, and the driving device can adopt a fluid cylinder, an electric cylinder or other mechanisms or components capable of outputting linear motion.

The frame may be a welded frame body as a whole, or may be an assembly body assembled by using bolts, or an assembly structure implemented by composite connection, for example, the bottom frame 2 is welded to the upright posts, and the middle frame 8 and the top frame 12 are fixedly connected to the upright posts by using bolts.

Regarding the supporting frame 10, it is used as a carrier of the furnace body 13, and as mentioned above, one end of the supporting frame 10 in the axial direction of the furnace body 13 is rotatably mounted on the frame through the rotating shaft 9, so that the supporting frame 10 has a degree of freedom of swinging around the axis of the rotating shaft 9.

The swing pair is a specific application of a swing pair, and is used to indicate that, for example, the maximum rotation angle of the supporting frame 10 is not greater than 360 degrees, in the embodiment of the present invention, the maximum rotation angle of the supporting frame 10 is 90 degrees, and it is assumed that the horizontal state of the furnace body 13 is the initial state, and the vertical state is the final state, which exactly corresponds to the rotation angle range of 90 degrees.

In the embodiment of the invention, the support frame 10 is constrained by a dead-end mechanical structure, corresponding to the horizontal position shown in fig. 1, and the constraint can be provided directly by, for example, the driving frame 6. in other figures, the driving device mounted on the driving frame 6 provides a telescopic rod 11, and the telescopic rod 11 is assumed to be in a reset position, in which the support frame 10 is in the horizontal position, and the telescopic rod 11 is supported just under the furnace body 13.

In the structure illustrated in fig. 3, the telescopic rod 11 is in an operating state, assuming that an upper dead point of the telescopic rod 11 is exactly corresponding to another pivot of the support frame 10, and the dead point of the support frame 10 is restrained and controlled by the dead point of the telescopic rod 11

In addition to the constraint by means of the driving means itself, additional constraint may be provided for the supporting frame 10, for example, by providing a baffle plate on the upper part of the upper frame 12 in fig. 3 corresponding to the right side of the furnace body 13. In the structure illustrated in fig. 1, the support plate is provided on the intermediate frame 8 so as to support the furnace body 13 in a horizontal state.

The support frame 10 is a rigid frame which is mounted on the frame by means of the axis-horizontal pivot 9 and needs to be matched with at least one other pivot point to form a reliable and statically stable support, and the additional stop point can be provided by, for example, the telescopic rod 11 as described above or by other rigid parts mounted on, for example, the frame.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the vertical state is a CVD vacuum application scene, and the horizontal state is a CVD normal pressure application scene, and in consideration of the convenience of charging and discharging, the upper furnace door mechanism 14 may be a conventional furnace door mechanism and is assembled at the upper end of the furnace body 13 in a conventional manner.

For the lower furnace door, another form of assembly is adopted, firstly, when the furnace body 13 is in a horizontal state, the lower furnace door is separated from the furnace body 13, so that the lower furnace door is in a state of CVD normal pressure application.

Because the furnace body 13 has the vertical and horizontal switching stroke in the process of rotating along with the support frame 10, the combination between the lower furnace door assembly and the lower end of the furnace body 13 can be completed based on the vertical and horizontal switching stroke of the furnace body 13. It is also possible to adapt the lower furnace door assembly separately to an independent working stroke in order to ensure a relatively tight seal. The vertical and horizontal switching stroke and the working stroke of the lower furnace door assembly can be mutually matched to realize reliable sealing between the lower furnace door and the furnace body 13.

Correspondingly, the upper furnace door mechanism 13 is located at the upper end of the furnace body 13 in the vertical state and is matched and assembled with the furnace body 13. And for the lower furnace door assembly, the lower furnace door assembly is arranged on the frame so as to be butted with the lower furnace door in the lower furnace door assembly when the furnace body 13 rotates to the vertical state.

Further, corresponding to the working stroke of the lower furnace door in the alternative embodiment, the lower furnace door comprises a furnace door flange, wherein the furnace door flange is specially referred to as the lower furnace door flange, and the furnace door flange has the working stroke in the up-and-down direction, so that after the furnace body 13 swings upwards along with the support frame 10 to a proper position, the furnace door flange moves upwards to be matched with the furnace opening of the furnace body 13.

Correspondingly, an up-and-down movement mechanism is adapted to drive the furnace door flange. The reason for this structure is that, in short, if the butt joint between the furnace door flange and the furnace body 13 is achieved by simply depending on the swing stroke of the furnace body 13, it is not easy to form reliable sealing in the direction of the furnace body 13. And the up-and-down movement stroke of the furnace door flange is adapted to the axial direction of the furnace body 13 in a vertical state, so that reliable sealing is easy to form.

In some embodiments, the sealing element is arranged on the interface of the furnace door flange and the furnace body 13, and the working stroke of the up-and-down movement mechanism is utilized to press the sealing element to form reliable sealing.

Such as high temperature rubber rings (operating temperature 350 c and above), teflon seal rings, or other seals that are compatible with CVD operating temperatures.

In some embodiments, for example, in which a cooling device is provided for the oven door, the sealing ring can be adapted to a sealing ring with a relatively low operating temperature, for example, a conventional rubber sealing ring.

In some embodiments, the output member of the up-and-down movement mechanism supporting the furnace door flange is provided with a buffer device in the supporting direction so as to overcome the problem of rigid combination imprecision or rigid impact when in alignment.

Wherein, in view of the higher sealing level, in the process of matching a pre-compression when a buffer device is present, the sealing level does not depend on the coincidence of the conditions of producing a strict working stroke, so that the accuracy requirements for the corresponding working formation are relatively low, and therefore, when a sealing element is present at the same time, a relatively reliable seal can be formed more effectively.

In some embodiments, the oven door flange is mounted on the output member by a guide pair; the formed guide pair can be represented as a guide rod and guide sleeve structure, and correspondingly, the upper part of an output member for constructing a static member of the guide pair is a rod body, a spring forming the buffer device is sleeved on the rod body and supported on the lower surface of a flange of the furnace door, for example, the flange of the furnace door is provided with a central hole, the central hole and the rod body form the guide pair, or the central hole is provided with the guide sleeve, and the guide sleeve and the rod body form the guide pair.

The rod body as a guiding or guided part is not necessarily a polished rod, and its surface may have, for example, threads, or grooves to form a labyrinth seal.

If the rod body forms a screw, it is integrated with a screw 7 as shown in fig. 1, for example, and a thread seal is formed between the guide sleeve and the screw 7.

The guide sleeve and the lead screw 7 which determine the thread sealing all adopt pipe threads.

Further, the furnace door flange is a water-cooled flange 4, so as to ensure that when a sealing member with relatively low working temperature (lower than the CVD process temperature) is adopted, the sealing member can still be in a suitable state, and therefore, a larger scope is provided for the selection of the sealing member.

In some embodiments, the lower oven door further comprises a material taking oven door flange, which is in air-tight fit with the water cooling flange 4.

As for the up-down movement mechanism, there may be various options as described above, wherein the purpose of the selection is that the up-down movement mechanism can provide a linear movement in the up-down direction, so that in some embodiments, a first up-down movement mechanism represented by, for example, a nut screw mechanism may be employed, which is based on a screw pair, moves smoothly, and has high accuracy.

In some embodiments, a second up-and-down movement mechanism represented by a fluid cylinder and an electric cylinder (linear motor) is adopted, and the movement mechanism is characterized in that an upper dead point and a lower dead point can be directly set, so that the movement adaptability is relatively good.

A third motion mechanism, represented by a rack and pinion pair, may also be employed in some embodiments, which determines the amount of movement of the rack by facilitating the number of revolutions of the gear. Under such conditions, separate upper and lower guide structures need to be provided for the rack.

The main structure of fig. 4 is a basic configuration of a conventional CVD vacuum apparatus, whereby the principle of the present invention can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art, and will not be described herein.

The method for realizing vertical and horizontal switching of the CVD vacuum equipment is practically adapted to the structural configuration of the CVD vacuum equipment, specifically, the furnace body 13 is mounted on a support frame 10, and the support frame is mounted on a frame through a rotating shaft 9 with a horizontal axis, so that the support frame 10 has the freedom of swinging.

Furthermore, a driving device arranged on the frame is provided, and a triangular mechanism is formed between the driving device and the frame as well as between the driving device and the support frame 10 so as to drive the support frame 10 to swing;

the rotating angle range of the swinging is 90 degrees, and correspondingly, the supporting frame 10 has a horizontal state which enables the axis of the furnace body 13 to be horizontal and a vertical state which enables the axis of the furnace body 13 to be vertical;

one end of the furnace body 13 is sealed by an upper furnace door mechanism 14, and the other end is sealed by a lower furnace door assembly and the furnace body 13 in a butt joint mode when the furnace body 13 is in a vertical state.

Claims

1. A CVD vacuum apparatus, comprising:

a frame;

the furnace body is fixedly arranged on the support frame and follows the support frame to have a vertical state for enabling the axis of the furnace body to be vertical and a horizontal state for enabling the axis of the furnace body to be horizontal;

2. The CVD vacuum apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lower door includes a door flange having a working stroke in an up-down direction;

3. The CVD vacuum apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an output member of the up-and-down movement mechanism which holds the furnace door flange has a buffer device in a holding direction.

4. The CVD vacuum apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the furnace door flange is mounted on the output member by a guide sub;

the upper part of an output component for constructing a guide auxiliary static component is a rod body, and a spring forming the buffer device is sleeved on the rod body and supported on the lower surface of a flange of the furnace door;

5. The CVD vacuum apparatus of claim 4, wherein the furnace door flange is a water-cooled flange.

6. The CVD vacuum apparatus of claim 5, wherein the lower furnace door further comprises a take out furnace door flange that is in gas tight engagement with the water cooled flange.

7. A CVD vacuum apparatus according to any of claims 2 to 6, wherein the up-down moving mechanism is:

the first up-down movement mechanism is a nut screw mechanism;

And the third motion mechanism is a gear-rack pair.

8. The CVD vacuum apparatus of claim 1, wherein the drive device, the frame, and the support frame constitute a triangular mechanism;

9. The CVD vacuum apparatus of claim 1, wherein the support frame is a rigid frame;

10. A CVD vacuum equipment vertical and horizontal switching implementation method is characterized in that a furnace body is arranged on a support frame, the support frame is arranged on a rack through a rotating shaft with a horizontal axis, and the support frame has a degree of freedom of swinging and rotating;