CN115955754A - Plasma generator and coating equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a plasma generator and a coating device, wherein the plasma generator comprises: the first electrode part is provided with at least one first electrode plate, the middle part of the first electrode plate is connected with the radio-frequency electrode in a overlooking view, and the first electrode plate is provided with a plurality of air outlets; a second electrode plate grounded and spaced apart from and facing the first electrode plate; and an air inlet part which is used for introducing air towards the first electrode part, wherein the air inlet part is provided with a plurality of insulating plates, the insulating plates are laminated along the opposite direction of the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate, a plurality of air inlets are respectively formed on the insulating plates, the air inlets of the insulating plates are communicated with each other in the state that the insulating plates are laminated, and the air inlets on two adjacent insulating plates are staggered from each other in a overlooking view angle. The plasma generator of the invention can improve the uniformity of the inlet gas at least to a certain extent, and thus improve the uniformity of the generated plasma.

Description

Plasma generator and coating equipment

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of thin film deposition, in particular to a plasma generator and coating equipment.

Background

The coating method based on the plasma method can generate chemical reaction at low temperature and obtain a corresponding film, thereby reducing the requirement on the deposition temperature of the substrate and realizing the deposition at low temperature even normal temperature. In addition, the radio frequency plasma chemical vapor deposition method is one of the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition methods, and is characterized in that plasma is generated by ionizing gas under the action of a radio frequency alternating electric field under high vacuum degree.

In the prior art, in order to make the distribution of plasma uniform, the central rf feed may be selected to make the rf signal more uniform on the upper electrode plate. In order to improve the uniformity of the gas diffusion, a gas flow equalizer is arranged in front of the upper electrode plate to improve the uniformity of the gas sprayed from the upper electrode plate, and thus the uniformity of the generated plasma is improved.

Disclosure of Invention

However, although the uniformity of the plasma can be improved by improving the uniformity at the time of gas diffusion, there is still a case where the distribution of the generated plasma is not uniform due to the non-uniformity of the gas intake or the like.

The invention aims to provide a plasma generator which can improve the uniformity of the inlet gas at least to a certain extent and thus improve the uniformity of the generated plasma. In addition, the invention also provides coating equipment with the plasma generator.

A plasma generator according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises: the radio-frequency electrode comprises a first electrode part and a second electrode part, wherein the first electrode part is provided with at least one first electrode plate, the middle part of the first electrode plate is connected with the radio-frequency electrode in a top view, and the first electrode plate is provided with a plurality of air outlets; a second electrode plate that is grounded, is provided on one side of the first electrode portion, and is spaced apart from and opposed to the first electrode plate; and an air inlet portion provided at the other side of the first electrode portion and introducing air toward the first electrode portion, the air inlet portion including a plurality of insulating plates stacked in an opposing direction of the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate, each of the insulating plates having a plurality of air inlets, the air inlets of the insulating plates being communicated with each other in a state where the insulating plates are stacked on each other, and the air inlets of two adjacent insulating plates being displaced from each other in a plan view.

The plasma generator according to the first aspect of the present invention has the following advantageous effects: the uniformity of the inlet gas, and thus the uniformity of the generated plasma, can be improved at least to some extent.

In some embodiments, in the stacked state, a first communication gap is formed between the opposite surfaces of the two adjacent insulating plates, and the air inlets of the two adjacent insulating plates communicate with each other through the first communication gap.

In some embodiments, the first communication gap has a depth of 0.25mm or more and 10mm or less.

In some embodiments, a first distribution area and a second distribution area are formed in the air intake holes on each of the insulating plates, the first distribution area is closer to the radio frequency electrode than the second distribution area, and the distribution of the air intake holes among the first distribution area is denser than the distribution of the air intake holes in the second distribution area.

In some embodiments, the diameter of each of the air intake holes is 0.25mm or more and 10mm or less.

In some embodiments, the air inlet portion and the first electrode portion are laminated, a second communication gap is formed between the air inlet portion and the first electrode portion, and the air inlet hole in the insulating plate adjacent to the first electrode portion in the air inlet portion communicates with the air outlet hole in the first electrode plate through the second communication gap.

In some embodiments, the depth of the second communication gap is 0.25mm or more and 10mm or less.

In some embodiments, the first electrode part has a plurality of the first electrode plates, and the plurality of the first electrode plates are arranged at intervals along an opposing direction of the first electrode plates and the second electrode plates to form a flow equalizing chamber.

In some embodiments, the air inlet holes and the air outlet holes are offset from each other between the insulating plate and the first electrode plate which are adjacent to each other in a top view.

In some embodiments, the air outlet holes of the adjacent first electrode plates are offset from each other in a top view.

In some embodiments, the diameters of the air outlet holes of one of the first electrode plates are respectively larger than the diameters of the air outlet holes of the other first electrode plate on the opposite side of the second electrode plate compared with the first electrode plate.

In some embodiments, the gas outlet holes of each first electrode plate have a third distribution area and a fourth distribution area formed therein, the third distribution area is closer to the rf electrodes than the fourth distribution area, and the distribution of the gas outlet holes among the third distribution area is denser than the distribution of the gas outlet holes in the fourth distribution area.

In some embodiments, a plurality of the first electrode plates are connected to each other, and the first electrode plate adjacent to the insulating plate is connected to the rf electrode; the gas outlet holes in the third distribution area of the first electrode plate connected with the radio frequency electrode are inclined toward the radio frequency electrode.

The coating equipment according to the second aspect of the invention comprises a coating chamber, wherein the plasma generator of any one of the above is arranged in the coating chamber.

The coating device according to the second aspect of the present invention has the following advantageous effects: since the uniformity of the generated plasma can be improved, the uniformity of the film layer can be improved.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a coating apparatus having a plasma generator of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of a front view direction of the plasma generator of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of a top view of the plasma generator of the present invention.

Fig. 4 isbase:Sub>A sectional view taken alongbase:Sub>A-base:Sub>A in fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along B-B in fig. 3.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar function throughout. The embodiments described below by referring to the drawings are exemplary only for explaining the present embodiment, and are not to be construed as limiting the present embodiment.

In the description of the present embodiment, it should be understood that the orientation or positional relationship indicated by referring to the orientation description, such as up, down, front, rear, left, right, etc., is based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and is only for convenience of description of the present embodiment and simplification of description, and does not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present embodiment.

In the description of the present embodiment, a plurality of the terms are one or more, a plurality of the terms are two or more, and the terms larger, smaller, larger, etc. are understood to include no essential numbers, and the terms larger, smaller, etc. are understood to include essential numbers. If the first and second are described for the purpose of distinguishing technical features, they are not to be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated or implicitly indicating the precedence of the technical features indicated.

In the description of the present embodiment, unless otherwise explicitly limited, terms such as arrangement, installation, connection and the like should be broadly construed, and those skilled in the art can reasonably determine the specific meanings of the above terms in the present embodiment in combination with the specific contents of the technical solutions.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a coating apparatus 200 having a plasma generator 100. Fig. 2 is a schematic view of a front view direction of the plasma generator 100. Fig. 3 is a schematic view of the plasma generator 100 in a plan view, and in fig. 3, the arrangement of the gas inlet holes 108 of the different insulators 107 is schematically indicated by thin solid lines and thin broken lines, and the arrangement of the gas outlet holes 106 of the different first electrode plates 104 is schematically indicated by thick solid lines and thick broken lines, respectively. Fig. 4 isbase:Sub>A sectional view taken alongbase:Sub>A-base:Sub>A in fig. 3, and fig. 5 isbase:Sub>A sectional view taken along B-B in fig. 3.

Referring to fig. 1 to 5, and primarily to fig. 2, 3, and 4, a plasma generator 100 according to a first embodiment includes: a first electrode part 101, a second electrode plate 102, and an intake part 103. The first electrode portion 101 has at least one first electrode plate 104, and in a top view, a middle portion of the first electrode plate 104 is connected to the rf electrode 105. The first electrode plate 104 has a plurality of air outlet holes 106 penetrating therethrough in the thickness direction. The second electrode plate 102 is grounded, and the second electrode plate 102 is provided on one side of the first electrode portion 101 and faces the first electrode plate 104 with a space therebetween. The gas inlet portion 103 is disposed on the other side of the first electrode portion 101 and introduces gas toward the first electrode portion 101. The gas inlet 103 has a plurality of insulating plates 107, and the plurality of insulating plates 107 are stacked in the facing direction of the first electrode plate 104 and the second electrode plate 102. Each of the insulating plates 107 has a plurality of air inlet holes 108 penetrating therethrough in the thickness direction. In a state where a plurality of insulating plates 107 are stacked on each other, the gas inlet holes 108 of the respective insulating plates 107 communicate with each other. In addition, the air inlet holes 108 of the two adjacent insulating plates 107 are offset from each other in a top view.

According to the plasma generator 100 of the first embodiment, the uniformity of the intake gas, and thus the uniformity of the generated plasma, can be improved at least to some extent. Specifically, the working principle of the plasma generator 100 is: two electrode plates which are parallel to each other and have a certain distance (arranged in a capacitance mode) are arranged in a vacuum chamber, wherein one electrode plate is connected with a Radio Frequency (Radio Frequency) power supply, and the other electrode plate is grounded. In addition, when coating process gas (such as silane and hydrogen) is introduced into the vacuum chamber and enters between the two electrode plates, glow discharge is generated when radio frequency signals are fed into the electrode plates connected with a radio frequency power supply, and the coating process gas excites plasma under the action of a radio frequency electric field.

The uniformity of the plasma generated is affected by the uniformity of the spraying of the coating process gas, which affects the quality of the deposited film. Therefore, in the known coating apparatus 200 (e.g., PECVD apparatus, PEALD apparatus) having the plasma generator 100, attention is paid to improving uniformity of gas sprayed from the electrode plate connected to the rf electrode 105.

In addition, in order to reduce the non-uniformity of the rf signal on the electrode plate, the known apparatus should select the central rf feeding mode as much as possible. However, the central rf feeding may affect the uniformity of the central region when the coating process gas is diffused, and unexpected discharge phenomena (sometimes also called "parasitic plasma") may occur on the gas inlet channel (e.g., the gas inlet hole 108), and before the coating process gas enters the flow straightener of the electrode plate connected to the rf electrode 105, plasma may be generated in advance due to the unexpected discharge phenomena to consume part of the process gas, in which case, the fluctuation of the gas entering the flow straightener of the electrode plate connected to the rf electrode may be caused, and the gas inlet may be uneven. In addition, the accidental discharge phenomenon at the gas inlet end can affect the plasma impedance stability and consistency of the main plasma area, and the repeatability and stability of the process fluctuate.

In the present embodiment, the air intake portion 103 is formed by: that is, the gas inlet 103 includes a plurality of insulating plates 107, and the plurality of insulating plates 107 are stacked in the facing direction of the first electrode plate 104 and the second electrode plate 102. Each of the insulating plates 107 has a plurality of air inlet holes 108 formed therein. In a state where a plurality of insulating plates 107 are stacked on top of each other, the gas inlet holes 108 of the respective insulating plates 107 communicate with each other. In addition, the air inlet holes 108 of the two adjacent insulating plates 107 are offset from each other in a top view. Specifically, in the present embodiment, by offsetting the gas inlet holes 108 on the different insulating plates 107 from each other, it is achieved that electric field lines generated by a radio frequency electric field in the gas inlet channel (e.g., the gas inlet holes 108) of the gas inlet portion 103 are "bent", so that the path of the electric field lines is increased, and thus the strength of the electric field in the gas inlet channel is weakened. Since there is no direct electrical field and gas flow path between the rf electrode and ground, it helps to reduce the risk of "sparking" in the inlet channel. In the case where the electric field strength in the intake passage of insulating plate 107 is weakened, the frequency of occurrence of the discharge phenomenon in the intake passage can be reduced. Therefore, fluctuation of gas in the air inlet channel can be reduced, and uniformity of air inlet is improved.

With continued reference to fig. 1, the plasma generator 100 of the present embodiment may be disposed within a coating chamber 201 of a coating apparatus 200. Examples of the coating apparatus 200 include a PECVD apparatus (plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition), a PEALD (plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition) apparatus, and the like. Taking the PEALD apparatus as an example, the PEALD apparatus includes, for example, a coating chamber 201, a precursor gas inlet 202, a purge isolation device 203, the plasma generator 100 of the present embodiment, a base 204, and the like. A substrate 205 to be coated is placed on the base 204. The substrate 205 is driven through the platen 204 sequentially to the precursor gas inlet 202, the purge isolation 203, the plasma generator 100, and back to the purge isolation 203, completing one process cycle (one atomic layer coating).

With continued reference to fig. 4, the rf electrode 105 of the plasma generator 100 is introduced to the first electrode portion 101 through the feed mechanism 109. A gas source for generating plasma is injected through the gas inlet 103. As described above, the gas inlet portion 103 includes a plurality of insulating plates 107 of, for example, a ceramic material. For convenience of explanation, the description will be given by taking an example in which the air inlet 103 includes two insulating plates 107, but the number of the insulating plates 107 is not limited to two, and may be three or more. The insulating plate 107 has a substantially rectangular plate shape. A mounting hole 110 is opened in the middle of each insulating plate 107, and the mounting holes 110 are substantially coaxial in a state where the insulating plates 107 are stacked on each other. The power feeding mechanism 109 is accommodated in these mounting holes 110.

In order to communicate the gas inlet holes 108 of the respective insulating plates 107, in a stacked state, a gap is formed between the facing surfaces of two adjacent insulating plates 107 (for convenience of description, referred to as "first insulating plate 107a" and "second insulating plate 107b", respectively) (for convenience of description, the gap between the first insulating plate 107a and the second insulating plate is sometimes referred to as "first communication gap 111"), and the gas inlet holes 108 of two adjacent insulating plates 107 (for convenience of description, the gas inlet holes of the first insulating plate 107a are sometimes referred to as "first gas inlet holes 108 a") and the gas inlet holes 108 (for convenience of description, the gas inlet holes of the second insulating plate 107b are sometimes referred to as "second gas inlet holes 108 b") communicate with each other through the first communication gap 111. Specifically, for example, the first insulating plate 107a is provided with a plurality of first air inlet holes 108a penetrating through the thickness, and the first air inlet holes 108a are arranged in a rectangular array, for example. The second insulating plate 107b is disposed below the first insulating plate 107a, and a plurality of second air inlet holes 108b penetrating in the thickness direction are opened in the second insulating plate 107 b. The second intake holes 108b are arranged in a rectangular array, for example. The first and second gas inlet holes 108a and 108b may be misaligned in the long side direction and/or the short side direction of the first insulating plate 107a and the second insulating plate 107 b. The peripheral edge of second insulating plate 107b is bonded to the peripheral edge of first insulating plate 107 a. Between the lower portion of the first insulating plate 107a and the upper portion of the second insulating plate 107b, a first communication gap 111 is formed, and the first communication gap 111 makes all the second gas inlet holes 108b in the second insulating plate 107b communicate with all the first gas inlet holes 108a in the first insulating plate 107 a.

With continued reference to fig. 3 and 4, in some embodiments, the first communication gap 111 covers the first air inlet hole 108a and the second air inlet hole 108b in a top view. In other words, the first intake holes 108a and the second intake holes 108b are opened in the area of the first communication gap 111. The formation mode of first communicating gap 111 is not particularly limited, and for example, a groove may be formed in the lower surface of first insulating plate 107a and/or the upper surface of second insulating plate 107b except for the peripheral edge. The shape of the groove is not particularly limited, and may be, for example, rectangular. Further, the shape of the groove portion may be, for example, a snake shape, specifically, for example, the groove portion is opened only in the region where the first air intake hole 108a and the second air intake hole 108b are opened, whereby it is also possible to "bend" the electric field lines generated by the radio frequency electric field in the air intake passage of the air intake portion 103, thereby increasing the path of the electric field lines and thereby weakening the electric field strength in the air intake passage.

Further, the depth D1 of the first communicating gap 111 may be 0.25mm or more and 10mm or less. Specifically, according to the paschen law of gas discharge theory, namely, the relationship between the product of the plate spacing and the pressure and the discharge threshold voltage corresponding to the gas, it is expected that the product of the plate spacing and the pressure is much smaller than 1 or much larger than 10 to suppress the gas discharge in the gas inlet passage (i.e., the gas inlet hole 108), so that the threshold voltage of the gas discharge can be greatly increased, thereby increasing the difficulty of the gas discharge. Since the pressure value of the gas is determined according to a specific process, it is difficult to adjust the pressure value at will, and in addition, if the product value of the inter-plate distance and the pressure is much larger than 10, the size of the entire apparatus may be increased. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the product of the plate pitch and the pressure can be made smaller than 1 by reducing the plate pitch as much as possible. For a pressure range of 1-25 torr, the lowest firing voltage will be in the gap of 0.4mm-10 mm. In the present embodiment, in order to suppress parasitic plasma, the depth D1 of the first communicating gap 111 may be 0.25mm or more, and the difficulty of processing the groove portion can be reduced by setting the depth D1 of the first communicating gap 111 (i.e., the depth of the groove portion) to 0.25mm or more. In addition, by setting the depth of the first communicating gap 111 to be 10mm or less, the product of the plate pitch and the pressure can be reduced as much as possible while ensuring that the gas pressure value meets the process requirements (for example, 1 to 25 Torr), thereby increasing the difficulty of gas discharge. In some embodiments, the depth D1 of the first communication gap 111 may be set to 1mm or more and 8mm or less. Further, the depth D1 of the first communication gap 111 may be 3mm or more and 6mm or less.

Thus, in the plasma generator 100 of the present embodiment, the frequency of occurrence of the discharge phenomenon in the gas inlet passage is reduced in common by both weakening the electric field strength in the gas inlet passage and increasing the threshold voltage of the gas discharge. Therefore, the fluctuation of the gas in the air inlet channel can be reduced, and the uniformity of the air inlet can be improved.

By providing multiple insulating plates 107 and forming first communicating gap 111, the threshold voltage of gas discharge can be increased, thereby increasing the difficulty of gas discharge.

In addition, by providing a plurality of insulating plates 107 and displacing the air inlet holes 108 of the insulating plates 107 from each other, it is possible to reduce the electric field intensity in the air inlet passage and suppress the direct electric field (direct electric field). In addition, in order to increase the difficulty of discharging the gas in the channels, it is only possible to make the product of the pressure and the diameter of the holes satisfy a range much smaller than the paschen curve P × d, and in some embodiments, the diameter of each gas inlet hole 108 may be more than or equal to 0.25mm and less than or equal to 10 mm. Further, the diameter of each intake hole 108 may be 1mm or more and 8mm or less.

In some embodiments, in order to make the air intake of the air intake part 103 more uniform, a first distribution area 112 and a second distribution area 113 are formed in the air intake holes 108 on each insulating plate 107, the first distribution area 112 is closer to the rf electrode 105 than the second distribution area 113, and the distribution of the air intake holes 108 in the first distribution area 112 is denser than the distribution of the air intake holes 108 in the second distribution area 113. Specifically, the first distribution region 112 is a region having a certain length and width, for example, centered on the power feeding mechanism 109. For example, the length and width of this region may be 2 times or more and 3 times or less the diameter of the mounting hole 110 opened in the middle of each insulating plate 107. In this region (i.e., the first distribution region 112), the distance in the long-side and/or short-side direction of the insulating plate 107 between the gas inlet holes 108 adjacent to each other on the same insulating plate 107 is, for example, 0.3 times or more and 0.5 times or less the distance in the long-side and/or short-side direction of the insulating plate 107 between the gas inlet holes 108 of the other region (i.e., the second distribution region 113). Since the feeding mechanism 109 occupies a certain air intake space, in the present embodiment, by disposing the air intake holes 108 at a position close to the feeding mechanism 109, other diffusion in the central area can be increased, and the non-uniformity of gas diffusion in the central area caused by central feeding can be compensated.

With continued reference to fig. 3 and 5, the first electrode portion 101 is disposed below the intake portion 103. The air inlet portion 103 and the first electrode portion 101 are stacked, a communication gap is formed between the air inlet portion 103 and the first electrode portion 101 (for the sake of convenience of distinction, the communication gap between the air inlet portion 103 and the first electrode portion 101 is referred to as a "second communication gap 114"), and an air inlet hole 108 (a second air inlet hole 108b in the drawing) in an insulating plate 107 (a second insulating plate 107b in the drawing) adjacent to the first electrode portion 101 in the air inlet portion 103 communicates with an air outlet hole 106 in the first electrode plate 104 via the second communication gap 114. Specifically, the first electrode portion 101 is used as an electrode unit connected to the radio-frequency electrode 105. The first electrode portion 101 has, for example, a plurality of first electrode plates 104, and here, for convenience of explanation, an example in which the first electrode portion 101 has three first electrode plates 104 will be described. The insulating plate 107 (second insulating plate 107b in the drawing) located lowermost among the gas inlet portions 103 overlaps the peripheral edge of the first electrode plate 104 located uppermost among the first electrode portions 101. The second communicating gap 114 can be formed, for example, in a manner referred to the first communicating gap 111. The depth D2 of the second communication gap 114 may be 0.25mm to 10mm, and may be 1mm to 8 mm. Further, it may be 3mm or more and 6mm or less. Thereby, the threshold voltage of the gas discharge can be greatly increased as in the first communicating gap 111, thereby increasing the difficulty of the gas discharge.

Further, in a top view, the air inlet holes 108 and the air outlet holes 106 are offset from each other between the insulating plate 107 (second insulating plate 107b in the drawing) adjacent to each other and the first electrode plate 104. For example, the insulating plate 107 and the first electrode plate 104 facing each other with the second communicating gap 114 therebetween have their respective holes shifted from each other. Specifically, the first electrode plate 104 is also substantially rectangular plate-shaped, and the size of the first electrode plate 104 is substantially the same as the size of the insulating plate 107. The gas outlet holes 106 of the first electrode plate 104 are arranged in a rectangular array, for example. Furthermore, the air outlet hole 106 of the first electrode plate 104 and the air inlet hole 108 of the insulating plate 107 are respectively staggered along the long side direction and the short side direction of the first electrode plate 104. In other words, in a top view, the air inlet holes 108 on the third insulating plate 107 and the air outlet holes 106 of the first electrode plate 104 located uppermost among the first electrode portions 101 are not concentric.

Therefore, when the gas source starts from the gas inlet hole 108, the gas can greatly reduce the discharge of the gas in the gas inlet 103 through the gas inlet 103 which can weaken the electric field intensity in the gas inlet channel and can increase the threshold voltage of the gas discharge, and the unnecessary consumption of the gas in the gas inlet 103 can be suppressed, and furthermore, by similarly providing a structure (a structure in which the gas inlet hole 108 and the gas outlet hole 106 are displaced from each other) which can weaken the electric field intensity in the gas inlet channel between the gas inlet 103 and the first electrode 101, and similarly providing the second communication gap 114 which can increase the threshold voltage of the gas discharge, the discharge of the gas in the area before the gas enters the first electrode 101 after coming out of the gas inlet 103 can be further suppressed. This can improve the uniformity of the gas entering the first electrode portion 101 as a whole.

With continued reference to fig. 5, in some embodiments, to further improve the uniformity of the gas sprayed from the first electrode portion 101, the first electrode portion 101 may have a plurality of first electrode plates 104, the plurality of first electrode plates 104 being spaced apart along the opposing direction of the first electrode plates 104 and the second electrode plates 102 to form a flow-equalizing chamber 115. For example, the first electrode plates 104 may have three pieces, and the three pieces of the first electrode plates 104 are connected to each other to form electrode units (i.e., may be regarded as one electrode) having the same electric field. The first electrode plate 104 adjacent to the insulating plate 107 (i.e., the uppermost electrode plate) is connected to the rf electrode 105 through a feeding mechanism 109. The other two first electrode plates 104 serve as dispersion plates for diffusing gas. This enables formation of an electrode structure having a uniform flow cavity 115 for uniform flow of gas.

Referring to fig. 3, in addition, the air outlets 106 of the adjacent first electrode plates 104 are also displaced from each other in a top view. By offsetting the gas outlet holes 106 of the adjacent first electrode plates 104 from each other, the gas can be filled and diffused more uniformly between the two first electrode plates 104, and then can be further diffused toward the lower first electrode plate 104.

With continued reference to fig. 5, in some embodiments, in order to make the gas in the flow equalizing cavity 115 more uniform, the gas outlet holes 106 on each first electrode plate 104 are formed with a third distribution area 116 and a fourth distribution area 117, the third distribution area 116 is closer to the rf electrode 105 than the fourth distribution area 117, and the distribution of the gas outlet holes 106 in the third distribution area 116 is denser than that of the gas outlet holes 106 in the fourth distribution area 117. Specifically, the third distribution region 116 is a region having a certain length and width, for example, centered on the power feeding mechanism 109. For example, the region substantially coincides with the first distribution region 112 in a top view. In this region (i.e., the third distribution region 116), the distance between the gas outlet holes 106 adjacent to each other in the same first electrode plate 104 is, for example, 0.3 times or more and 0.5 times or less the distance between the gas outlet holes 106 in the other region (i.e., the fourth distribution region 117). Since the feeding mechanism 109 occupies a certain air inlet space, i.e. it is difficult to directly arrange the air outlet holes 106 below the center feeding structure, by arranging more dense air outlet holes 106 at a position close to the feeding mechanism 109, other diffusion in the center area can be increased, and the non-uniformity of gas diffusion in the center area caused by center feeding can be compensated.

Further, the gas outlet holes 106 in the third distribution area 116 of the first electrode plate 104, which is connected to the rf electrode 105, are inclined toward the rf electrode 105. That is, the gas outlet holes 106 in the third distribution region 116 of the first electrode plate 104 facing the insulating plate 107 with the second communicating gap 114 therebetween in the first electrode portion 101 are inclined toward the radio-frequency electrode 105. More specifically, an angle R1 between the virtual axis L0 of the gas outlet 106 and the virtual axis L1 of the rf electrode 105 may be, for example, 30 ° or more and 45 ° or less. By setting the angle R1 between the virtual axis L0 of the gas outlet 106 and the virtual axis L1 of the rf electrode 105 to 45 ° or less, it is possible to ensure that the gas discharged through the gas outlet 106 can be filled as far as possible below the power feeding mechanism 109, and by setting the angle between the virtual axis L0 of the gas outlet 106 and the virtual axis L1 of the rf electrode 105 to 45 ° or more, it is possible to suppress the gas discharged through the gas outlet 106 from intersecting and colliding below the power feeding mechanism 109, and to cause gas turbulence or the like in this region.

In addition, in some embodiments, the diameters of the air outlet holes 106 of one first electrode plate 104 are respectively larger than the diameters of the air outlet holes 106 of another first electrode plate 104 located on the opposite side of the second electrode plate 102 compared to the first electrode plate 104, among the first electrode plates 104. That is, in the present embodiment, the diameter of the gas outlet hole 106 of the first electrode plate 104 positioned on the lower side is larger than the diameter of the gas outlet hole 106 of the first electrode plate 104 positioned on the upper side. Accordingly, the number of layers of the first electrode plates 104 and the volume of the first electrode plates 104 required for the entire first electrode portion 101 can be reduced, and the radio frequency power loss can be reduced accordingly.

With continued reference to fig. 1, as described above, the plasma generator 100 of the above embodiments may be disposed within the coating chamber 201 of the coating apparatus 200. Examples of the coating equipment 200 include PECVD equipment and PEALD equipment. By using the plasma generators 100 of the above embodiments, the coating apparatus 200 of embodiment 2 can improve the uniformity of the generated plasma, and thus can improve the uniformity of the film layer.

While embodiments of the present embodiments have been shown and described, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the embodiments, the scope of which is defined by the claims and their equivalents.

Claims (14)

1. A plasma generator, comprising:

the radio-frequency electrode comprises a first electrode part and a second electrode part, wherein the first electrode part is provided with at least one first electrode plate, the middle part of the first electrode plate is connected with the radio-frequency electrode in a top view, and the first electrode plate is provided with a plurality of air outlets;

a second electrode plate that is grounded, is provided on one side of the first electrode portion, and is spaced apart from and opposed to the first electrode plate;

and an air inlet portion provided at the other side of the first electrode portion and introducing air toward the first electrode portion, the air inlet portion including a plurality of insulating plates stacked in an opposing direction of the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate, each of the insulating plates having a plurality of air inlets, the air inlets of the insulating plates being communicated with each other in a state where the insulating plates are stacked on each other, and the air inlets of two adjacent insulating plates being displaced from each other in a plan view.

2. The plasma generator according to claim 1, wherein a first communicating gap is formed between the facing surfaces of two adjacent insulating plates in a stacked state, and the gas inlet holes of two adjacent insulating plates communicate with each other through the first communicating gap.

3. The plasma generator according to claim 2, wherein a depth of the first communication gap is 0.25mm or more and 10mm or less.

4. The plasma generator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a first distribution area and a second distribution area are formed in the gas inlet holes on each of the insulating plates, the first distribution area is closer to the radio frequency electrode than the second distribution area, and the gas inlet holes among the first distribution area are distributed more densely than the gas inlet holes in the second distribution area.

5. The plasma generator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a diameter of each of the gas inlet holes is 0.25mm or more and 10mm or less.

6. The plasma generator according to claim 1, wherein the air inlet portion and the first electrode portion are laminated, a second communication gap is formed between the air inlet portion and the first electrode portion, and the air inlet hole in the insulating plate adjacent to the first electrode portion in the air inlet portion communicates with the air outlet hole in the first electrode plate via the second communication gap.

7. The plasma generator according to claim 6, wherein a depth of the second communication gap is 0.25mm or more and 10mm or less.

8. The plasma generator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first electrode portion has a plurality of the first electrode plates, and the plurality of the first electrode plates are arranged at intervals in an opposing direction of the first electrode plates and the second electrode plates to form a flow equalizing chamber.

9. The plasma generator according to claim 8, wherein the air inlet hole and the air outlet hole are misaligned with each other between the insulating plate and the first electrode plate which are adjacent to each other in a top view.

10. The plasma generator according to claim 9, wherein the gas outlet holes of the adjacent first electrode plates are offset from each other in a top view.

11. The plasma generator according to claim 8, wherein the diameters of the gas outlet holes of one of the first electrode plates are respectively larger than the diameters of the gas outlet holes of the other first electrode plate located on the opposite side of the second electrode plate from the first electrode plate.

12. The plasma generator according to claim 10, wherein the gas outlet holes of each of the first electrode plates have a third distribution region and a fourth distribution region formed therein, the third distribution region being closer to the radio-frequency electrodes than the fourth distribution region, and wherein the distribution of the gas outlet holes among the third distribution region is denser than the distribution of the gas outlet holes in the fourth distribution region.

13. The plasma generator of claim 12, wherein a plurality of said first electrode plates are connected to each other, and wherein said first electrode plates adjacent to said insulating plate are connected to said rf electrode;

the air outlet holes in the third distribution area of the first electrode plate connected with the radio-frequency electrode are inclined towards the radio-frequency electrode.

14. Coating apparatus comprising a coating chamber, wherein the plasma generator of any one of claims 1 to 13 is disposed within the coating chamber.

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