JP4486794B2 - Method for generating vapor from solid precursor, substrate processing system and mixture - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a solid precursor source used to deposit a thin film on a substrate. More particularly, the present invention relates to increasing the thermal conductivity to a solid precursor in a precursor source device.

  Solid precursors are used quite often in vapor reactants because liquid or gaseous precursors are not readily available or present at all for certain elements. Such solid precursors are useful in a variety of situations, including but not limited to atomic layer deposition (ALD) and other semiconductor fabrication processes. However, using solid precursors is more difficult than liquid and gaseous precursors.

  Basically, the handling of solid precursors seems simple. The solid precursor is filled into a container heated to a sufficiently high temperature. The precursor sublimes and the precursor vapor is directed to the reaction space where it is used to deposit a thin film on the substrate surface.

  Precursor powders generally have a rather low thermal conductivity. Bulk precursors may have a low thermal conductivity and / or there may be voids between the precursor particles with little contact between the particle surfaces. However, this is not desirable for transferring thermal energy to the precursor. The void volume varies depending on the packing density of the precursor powder. At low pressure, heat transport by convection is also generally inefficient, especially when the precursor volume consists of very small voids between precursor particles. Heat transfer by radiation is also generally inefficient, since the temperature difference is relatively small and the overall radiation form factor of the powder is essentially zero.

  When the precursor container is heated from the outside, the precursor can sufficiently raise the temperature near the wall of the container, but the heating is insufficient in the central part of the precursor powder. This temperature difference arises because it takes a long time to heat the portion of the precursor container located in the center of the precursor powder. Furthermore, the sub-centered precursor sublimation consumes thermal energy, so the center of the precursor volume remains at a lower temperature than the powder near the container surface throughout the process. During ALD pulsing, this temperature difference is very difficult to reach an equilibrium state in the vapor phase of the precursor container, so that the recovery rate of the solid source after a long period of use of the precursor source is insufficient. It becomes a factor to do. The ALD process is relatively insensitive to small pulse concentration drifts, but a significant reduction in recovery rate, such as less than the full surface coverage of a semiconductor wafer (or other substrate) by precursor molecules, causes problems there is a possibility.

  Since there is a temperature difference in the precursor container, the precursor sublimates into the gas phase at the high temperature portion of the container volume, and the precursor material condenses and returns to the solid phase at the low temperature portion of the container volume. Often the top surface of the precursor appears to be cooler than the rest of the precursor. Over time, a hard and dense skin was formed on the surface of the heated precursor, and it was observed that pulse concentration drift occurred in processes using vapor reactants (eg ALD). This skin limits the diffusion of precursor molecules from the bulk material to its surface and ultimately into the gas phase. As a result, the observed sublimation rate of the precursor is slowed. A solid precursor source works well initially, but then a sufficiently high flow rate from the solid precursor source into the reaction chamber, even though a significant amount of solid precursor remains in the precursor container It will be difficult to obtain the precursor molecules.

  Another problem in the design of sublimation vessels is that the presence of heated corrosive precursors for a long time places a heavy burden on these materials that come into contact with the precursors in the precursor vessel.

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a means for improving the uniformity of source temperature across the volume of the solid precursor container. According to one aspect of the present invention, an inert material with high thermal conductivity is mixed with a solid precursor to improve the thermal conductivity of the precursor. For example, the inert material can include high thermal conductivity particles, fibers, rods, or other elements distributed throughout the precursor container and mixed with the precursor powder.

  According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided for generating vapor from a solid precursor to process a substrate, the method comprising placing a solid precursor group in a container and heating the entire precursor. Including interspersing conductive material. Thereby, the heat conducting material preferably serves to transfer heat energy to the entire precursor group. A vapor is then formed by applying thermal energy to both the thermally conductive material and the solid precursor group. In one embodiment, after vapor formation, the vapor is pumped from the vessel to the reaction chamber and reacts to deposit a layer on the substrate.

  According to another embodiment, a substrate processing system is provided for forming vapor from a solid precursor by distributing heat throughout the precursor. The provided system includes a heat transfer vessel configured to hold a solid precursor group, the heat transfer element being interspersed with the solid precursor group. A heater is also provided for heating both the precursor and the heat conducting element.

  According to yet another embodiment, a substrate processing system for forming vapor from a solid precursor is provided. The system includes a container configured to hold a solid precursor group and a microwave oscillator adjacent to the container. The oscillator is configured to transfer thermal energy in the form of microwave energy to heat the precursor.

  According to another embodiment, a mixture is provided for generating vapor for use in substrate processing. The mixture includes a batch process precursor to produce substrate process vapor and a plurality of heat transfer solids dispersed throughout the batch process precursor. Multiple heat transfer solids collectively increase the thermal conductivity of the precursor for batch processing.

  By realizing the preferred embodiment, it is advantageous to reduce the formation of the outer skin on the precursor surface and increase the sublimation of the precursor. Furthermore, the amount of unused precursor is reduced by improving the uniformity of the sublimation rate throughout the operational life of the precursor batch process. Replenishment to the precursor container is also necessary, although less frequently, i.e. the material is used efficiently. Another advantage of the present invention is that between pulses, the partial pressure of the reactants in the gas phase of the vessel is reduced to a steady state value (one such value is P0, the material's saturated vapor pressure). By recovering quickly, the process of using vapor from the solid precursor improves the thickness uniformity of the thin film on the substrate.

  For purposes of summarizing the invention and advantages realized over the prior art, certain objects and advantages of the invention have been described above. Of course, it is to be understood that not necessarily all such objectives or advantages may be achieved by any particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, for example, one of ordinary skill in the art will realize one or several advantages taught herein without necessarily realizing other objectives or advantages that may be taught or suggested herein. It will be understood that the present invention can be embodied and implemented in an optimized manner.

  All of these embodiments are intended to be within the scope of the invention disclosed herein. These and other embodiments of the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the present invention may be It is not limited to the preferred embodiment.

  Referring to FIG. 1A, a precursor source device 5 is shown in series between a carrier gas source 4 and a reaction chamber 6 configured to accommodate a substrate 8.

  FIG. 1B shows a preferred embodiment of a precursor source device 5 for vaporizing a solid precursor, and the resulting vapor is used for substrate processing, which includes a pressure chamber 10, an inlet 12, An outlet 14 and preferably an overpressure relief valve 16. The inlet 12 is preferably attached to the carrier gas supply 4 (FIG. 1A) via the first conduit 2, while the outlet 14 is connected to the reaction chamber 6 (FIG. 1A) via the second conduit 3. It is preferable to be attached to.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic, partially broken perspective view of the precursor source device 5 of FIG. 1 and shows an internal precursor container or crucible 20 within the pressure chamber 10. An internal crucible 20 positioned within the pressure chamber 10 is used as a precursor container. The shape and dimensions of the crucible 20 are selected according to the volume available in the temperature controlled pressure chamber 10. The material of the crucible 20 can include an inert substance such as quartz glass or silicon carbide. Furthermore, it is preferable to arrange the particle filter 22 at the top of the crucible 20. In an alternative embodiment, a particle filter is placed at the container outlet 14 or the second conduit 3. In one preferred embodiment, a wall of a porous crucible is used that acts as a particle filter as precursor vapor diffuses through the wall.

  FIG. 3 illustrates the prior art skin formation, which is one of the problems that preferred embodiments of the present invention address. FIG. 3 shows a schematic side view of the crucible 20 holding a volume of solid precursor 32. The outer skin 34 is easily formed on the upper surface of the solid precursor 32, and an arrow 36 in FIG. 3 indicates a moving direction of heat applied to the crucible 20.

  4 and 5 illustrate yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention. The insert 38 is configured to fit into a crucible 20 (FIG. 2) or other container in which a solid precursor is held. The insert 38 is preferably selected to have good thermal conductivity. The insert 38 includes a heat conducting element 40, i.e., a rod, which is machined and attached to the bottom 42 of the container. It is preferred that the heat flow along the main axis of the element 40 and then radially outward toward the material, resulting in efficient and uniform heating of the entire precursor volume. Element 40 is preferably formed, for example, from the highest purity and quality SiC to allow cleaning and reuse. In another embodiment, the heat conducting element is preferably made of the same material as the container, such as stainless steel. In the illustrated embodiment, this element is formed of graphite coated with SiC, while in other embodiments the element is not coated. In yet another embodiment, the element is formed from a thermally conductive material other than SiC and graphite.

  According to one preferred embodiment, the insert 38 of FIGS. 4 and 5 is machined and fitted into the precursor container 20. A precursor is then poured into the container 20. According to another embodiment, the precursor container 20 is first filled with the precursor powder 32 and then the element 40 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 as an insert, ie a thermally conductive rod, inside the precursor 32. Push down so that the lower end of the rod 40 contacts the bottom of the precursor container 20. In an alternative embodiment, the rod is attached to the bottom of the source container 10 and the source container 10 is filled with the precursor powder 32. In yet another arrangement, each of the plurality of rods is configured to be inserted independently of each other. Note that the rod density is a function of the heat transfer characteristics of the solid (ie, a solid with poor heat transfer should be of a higher density so that there are fewer heat transfer paths).

  According to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the rod 40 can be positioned on the bottom plate 42. The rods 40 are preferably arranged in a polar type layout, for example, so that each precursor group 32 is positioned within a certain distance away from the rod 40 or base plate 42. The number of vertical rods 40 attached to the plate will vary depending on the physical nature of the precursor 32. More rods can be used if the heat transport within the precursor is very poor.

  In yet another alternative embodiment, the plurality of thermally conductive elements interspersed with precursors can be formed from fixed elements such as rods, laminated screens, sieves, coils, plates, and the like. These units or elements can include both porous and non-porous structures. These fixed units or elements are preferably arranged to maximize the total amount of thermally conductive surface in contact with the precursor while allowing vapor diffusion from the inlet to the outlet of the carrier gas. The precursor preferably diffuses through the mixture of powder and heat conducting element. The carrier gas preferably transports chemicals in the upper part (or head space) of the container by convection from the inlet to the outlet.

  FIG. 6 shows a preferred embodiment in which the heat conductive elements 46 and the precursor powder 32 are mixed together in the crucible 20. In one preferred arrangement, the conductive element 46 is a powder particle, but in an alternative arrangement, the conductive element 46 constitutes a larger packed element such as a fiber, strip, flake, pellet, sphere, ring, etc. Can do. The chemical catalyst industry uses elements (beads, pellets, spheres, rings, etc.) with similar geometries, each coated with a catalyst material, and are therefore suitable for implementing the alternative arrangements of the present invention. It is believed that a geometric unit configuration is also provided. These units or elements 46 can include both porous and non-porous structures. This bulking element 46 is preferably arranged to maximize the total amount of thermally conductive surface in contact with the precursor 32. In one preferred embodiment, element 46 is formed from an inert heat conducting material such as ceramic, eg SiC. The shapes and materials that can form such an element 46 are discussed in more detail below.

  In an alternative embodiment, the plurality of conductive elements 46 are interspersed with batches of precursor to form a mixture. By including solids that transfer heat, it is preferred that the thermal conductivity of the batch process precursors be increased together.

  Referring to FIG. 7, another embodiment of the present invention using an energy emitter 48 adjacent to the crucible 20 is shown. SiC or another inert energy absorbing material (not shown) along with the precursor material is placed in the precursor container, preferably in the container or crucible 20 shown, so that the precursor (not shown) absorbs energy. Get close to the material. In one arrangement, the precursor container is also preferably permeable to the energy released. While the wavelength of emitted energy is preferably in the microwave region, alternative arrangements of the embodiments disclosed herein use emission energy at other wavelengths.

  In a preferred operation, microwave absorbing material is heated with microwaves to heat the flow from the heated material to the precursor, which may be according to FIGS. 4 and 5 or 6. In other arrangements, the crucible itself absorbs microwave energy and is used in the container, thereby transferring heat from the crucible wall to the precursor. In general, the precursors normally used for thin film deposition do not absorb microwaves and therefore cannot be heated directly by microwaves. However, materials such as SiC absorb microwaves and the SiC is heated rapidly, thereby allowing the precursor to be heated uniformly as desired. Similarly, other combinations of energy absorbing materials and energy sources operating at various wavelengths are contemplated in light of the present disclosure. In yet another arrangement, if the precursor material can directly absorb electromagnetic energy such as microwaves, heating the precursor material directly is sufficient to vaporize the desired precursor, and therefore A separate microwave absorbing material can be omitted.

  It should be understood that in an alternative arrangement of the previous embodiment, it is possible to dispense with the precursor crucible directly into the bottom of the pressure chamber 10 without the inert crucible and in contact with the precursor. The surface of the pressure chamber 10 is preferably sufficiently inert. In an alternative embodiment, the particle filter is also preferably placed on top of the precursor powder or in a conduit (not shown) between the precursor source and the reaction chamber. In embodiments that use a crucible, the crucible can be formed to have a porous wall to serve as a filter, thereby reducing the need for a separate particle filter. According to one preferred embodiment, the thermally conductive material is mixed with the precursor, but in another preferred embodiment, machining is performed before, during, or after the precursor is introduced into the chamber. Place the inserted insert in the chamber.

The size and shape of the inert heat transfer material The heat transfer material or heat transfer element can be used in a variety of shapes, such as powders, fibers, irregular strips, machined articles, and the like.

  The particle size of the inert powder is selected depending on the application, as will be understood by those skilled in the art. The precursor source container, which does not contain any particulate filter, should preferably be filled with a conductive inert element (eg, SiC powder) that is sufficiently coarse to prevent material dusting. The precursor source container with the filter can be filled with a wide range of conductor particles, preferably with the smallest particles blocked by a particle filter. One advantage of using small inert conductor particles is that very small voids in the precursor powder can be filled, increasing the packing density and the thermal conductivity of the precursor volume. One purpose of certain preferred embodiments is to make the thermal conductivity of the precursor powder uniform and high.

  According to a preferred embodiment, the thermal conductivity of the mixture of conductive element and precursor is lower than pure conductor material and higher than pure precursor. For example, an inert heat transfer material is added to the solid precursor to form a solid mixture, and therefore preferably about 10-80% by volume of the heat transfer material is present in the precursor / conductor mixture, more preferably the mixture. There is about 30-60% by volume of the thermally conductive material. Reuse of conductors is possible, but is particularly problematic when the conductor particle size is very small.

  In another embodiment, a fiber of inert conductive material, such as carbide or carbon, is used. The fiber preferably conducts heat efficiently along the fiber within the precursor volume, and preferably provides heat to the precursor located near the fiber. The fiber is preferably cut into strips of about 1-20 mm in length and is mixed with the aforementioned precursors. For example, suitable SiC fibers are available from, for example, United States Advanced Materials. The selected heat conducting fiber preferably distributes heat from the wall of the heater or precursor container to the precursor.

  According to yet another embodiment, it is preferred to use a machined part of an inert conductive material, thereby providing certain benefits. By using a larger machined product, it is relatively easy to recover the heat transfer material after use. Furthermore, the heat-conducting material can be cleaned and reused many times. Therefore, it is possible to economically use an expensive heat conductive material with very high purity. The machined article can take the form of, for example, a rod or plate (shown in FIGS. 4 and 5), or a combination of such shapes and other shapes, such as along the length of a rod or other extension. It can take shapes including screens attached at various levels.

  In some embodiments, a combination of a machined article and a smaller thermally conductive strip is used. Preferably, the machined product performs heat transport over a long distance from the wall of the heater or heated precursor container to the volume of the precursor, while on the other hand a loosely packed heat transfer unit (eg beads, powder, fibers, etc.) ) Is preferably mixed with the precursor so as to distribute heat locally to the precursor. In some arrangements, a heat conductive material in powder form is used in combination with a heat conductive material in fiber form. In another arrangement, a rod is used with a powdered heat conducting material. In view of the disclosure contained herein, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate other combinations of thermally conductive material forms and materials that are also considered advantageous.

  When selecting the added inert material to be used according to the present invention, it is desirable to have good thermal conductivity. The inert material for this purpose preferably has a thermal conductivity of at least about 50 W / m · K, more preferably at least about 80 W / m · K at room temperature for the application shown in this patent application. Most preferably, it has such a high conductivity under the conditions of use.

Silicon carbide In a preferred embodiment, silicon carbide (SiC) is used to form an inert material that is added to the crucible or container. SiC is a very hard material, has high thermal conductivity, negligible vapor pressure, and very good resistance to chemicals at high temperatures. US Performance Materials, Inc. According to the above, the thermal conductivity of SiC is 250 W / m · K at room temperature and about 120 W / m · K at 400 ° C. A wide range of grades of SiC with varying purity are commercially available. It is known that the color of silicon carbide (SiC) correlates with its purity. According to the United States Advanced Materials, the purity of black SiC is up to about 99.2%, the purity of dark green SiC is about 99.5%, and the purity of light green SiC is about 99.7. %. SiC is available in the form of powders, coarse particles, crystals, granules, wafers, fibers, platelets, bars, and arbitrary shaped strips. Common impurities of SiC produced from silica sand and coke are SiO2, elemental Si, free C, and Fe2O3. Such impurities are preferably kept to a minimum so that possible contamination in processes using precursors is reduced. Thus, in a preferred embodiment, it is preferred that the inert conductive material be greater than 99% pure.

  There are several commercial sources for high purity SiC. For example, 99% pure SiC is available from Atlantic Equipment Engineers in the United States in all coarse particle sizes. United States Poco Graphite, Inc. Also, extremely high purity SiC is produced by a chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) method in which pure graphite is brought into contact with vapor of silicon monoxide (SiO) (chemical reaction formula 1). The amount of SiC impurities is within the ppm level.

SiO (g) + 2C → SiC + CO (g) Reaction formula 1
US Cerac, Inc. Sells vacuum-deposited grade (99.5%) SiC strips with dimensions in the range of 3-12 mm.

Other Materials Some other suitable inert carbides are commercially available. The thermal conductivity of transition metal carbides is generally about 50% lower than that of SiC, and the conductivity of transition metal carbides is often sufficient to provide improved sublimation. Atlantic Equipment Engineers of the United States includes tungsten carbide (WC), vanadium carbide (VC), tantalum carbide (TaC), zirconium carbide (ZrC), hafnium carbide (HfC), molybdenum carbide (MoC), niobium carbide (NbC), and Titanium carbide (TiC) powder is sold. The purity of the carbide powder is generally 99.8-99.9%. Such metal carbides also have useful theoretical amounts of metals and carbon other than 1: 1.

In addition, alternative carbides such as boron carbide with a sufficiently high thermal conductivity (eg B ₄ C) can be used, but boron carbide is preferably not used in applications that are susceptible to boron impurities.

  Another suitable inert and conductive material is PocoFoam ™ from Poco Graphite, USA, which is a very light carbon foam whose thermal conductivity is in the range of 100-150 W / m · K. It is.

Coated material When selecting a material to form a thermally conductive material, make use of a material that has high thermal conductivity but has the property that it cannot be used directly in a solid precursor container without modification That is not desirable. For example, a potential material is believed to have the desired thermal conductivity, but the material reacts with the precursor during processing, ie during sublimation. Accordingly, the material selected to be in direct contact with the precursor is preferably inert. In certain preferred embodiments, coating a material that has high thermal conductivity and is not inert with an inert material allows the use of materials that are considered undesirable when used alone. For example, graphite and silicon are both good heat conductors. Graphite is very soft and easily forms solid particles that can contaminate the substrate in the reaction chamber. Therefore, in order to reduce the number of particles released from graphite, it is preferable to form a hard inert coating on the surface of graphite. Similarly, silicon is an efficient reducing agent when the natural oxide film on the silicon surface is destroyed. The inert coating deposited on the silicon surface preferably prevents the reaction between the silicon and the precursor.

  In particular, graphite or silicon can be coated with SiC in certain preferred embodiments. Other suitable coating materials include boron carbide, niobium carbide (NbC), tantalum carbide (TaC), titanium carbide (TiC), tungsten carbide (WC), zirconium carbide (ZrC), molybdenum carbide (MoC), vanadium carbide ( VC), and hafnium carbide (HfC). Such metal carbides also have useful theoretical amounts other than 1: 1. In one embodiment, it is preferred to coat the poorly pure carbide with a thin high purity CVD carbide coating that prevents contamination of the precursor in the precursor container. In this embodiment, CVD carbide coating impurities are in the parts per million range (ppm) and therefore do not significantly contaminate the precursor or substrate. Transitions such as thiobutide nitride (NbN), tantalum nitride (TaN), titanium nitride (TiN), tungsten nitride (WN), zirconium nitride (ZrN), molybdenum nitride (MoN), vanadium nitride (VN), hafnium nitride (HfN) Metal nitrides serve as another example of a suitable inert coating on the surface of the thermally conductive material. Further, in one embodiment, silicon nitride is formed on the silicon surface, thus passivating the silicon portions and silicon pieces.

  The following examples, including the methods performed and the results obtained, are presented for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the present invention.

Example
Example 1
To deposit HfO ₂ from alternating pulses of HfCl ₄ and H ₂ O via sequential self-saturated surface reactions, ASM International, N., Bilthoven, The Netherlands. V. A Pulser® 3000 ALCVD ™ reactor commercially available from was used. The HfCl ₄ vapor for this pulse was supplied from a solid source. A mixture of 157.6 g HfCl _{4 and} 200.8 g 99.5% SiC (obtained from Orkla Exolon, Norway) was charged to the source vessel. This mixture contained about 100 cm ^{3 of} each precursor. Therefore, the mixture of precursor material and conductive element was a 1: 1 volume mixture.

As a result, the source temperature could be lowered from 200 to 205 ° C. (without filling with carbide) to 180 ° C. (with filling with carbide). This is thought to be an improvement in the recovery rate of the source (i.e., the time after pulsing when sufficient vapor is produced for the next pulse) because the precursor sublimation rate has become faster and more stable. Thin film deposition from batches of the same precursor was possible for a longer time than without the carbide filling. By adding SiC, the thickness uniformity of the HfO ₂ thin film on the substrate was improved. The use of SiC conductive filler did not affect the number of particles on the wafer.

Example 2
In the glove box, ZrCl ₄ powder and boron carbide (B ₄ C) powder were mixed. The mixture was placed in a glass source boat. The source boat with the mixture was then placed in a glass tube that served as a carrier tube. The end of the tube was covered with Parafilm so that ZrCl ₄ was not exposed to room air and moisture. Tubes from the glove box to ASM International N. V. To the F120 ALD reactor, the source boat was transferred from the carrier tube to the reactor source tube (pressure vessel) and inert nitrogen gas was allowed to flow out of the source tube. After the loading of the source boat was completed, the substrate was placed in the reaction chamber of the reactor, and the reactor was evacuated with a mechanical vacuum pump. The reactor pressure was adjusted to about 3-10 mbar with flowing inert nitrogen gas. The reaction chamber was heated to the deposition temperature and the ZrCl ₄ reactant zone of the reactor was also heated to the sublimation temperature. A ZrO ₂ thin film was deposited from sequential alternating pulses of ZrCl 4 and H ₂ O vapor. Sublimation rate of ZrCl _4, it was found that became noticeably faster when mixing boron carbide and ZrCl _4. Boron carbide helped carry thermal energy throughout the precursor volume.

  Although the present invention has been disclosed with respect to certain preferred embodiments and examples, those skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention extends beyond the specifically disclosed embodiments to other alternative embodiments and / or usages of the invention and its obviousness. It will be understood that this also extends to various modifications. Accordingly, the scope of the invention disclosed herein should not be limited by the particular disclosed embodiments described above, but should be determined only by fair reading of the following claims.

It is an external view of the precursor supply source apparatus arrange | positioned in series between the gas supply source and the reaction chamber. 1B is a schematic side view of the precursor source device of FIG. 1A configured in accordance with a preferred embodiment. FIG. 1B is a schematic partially cutaway perspective view of the precursor supply source device of FIG. 1B showing a precursor container in a pressure chamber. FIG. It is a schematic side view of the precursor container of a prior art, the outer skin is formed in the upper surface of a certain volume solid precursor, and the arrow shows the direction of a heat flow. FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of a container insert with a heat conducting rod attached to a container base, constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment. It is a schematic perspective view of the insert of FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a precursor source device having a heat conducting unit interspersed with precursors, according to a preferred embodiment. FIG. 1 is a schematic partially broken perspective view of a precursor source device having adjacent microwave units according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

Claims (23)

A method of generating vapor from a solid precursor for processing a substrate, comprising:
Placing a solid precursor group in a container;
Inserting a plurality of rods into the container to disperse the solid precursor group independent of the heat conductive material including the plurality of rods in the heat conductive material;
Forming a vapor by applying thermal energy to both the thermally conductive material and the independent solid precursor group, heating the wall of the vessel, and along the main axis of each rod; Transferring the heat from the wall of the container radially outward of each rod; and forming the vapor;
Passing steam from the vessel into the reaction chamber.   The method of claim 1, further comprising reacting the vapor to deposit a layer on the substrate.   The method of claim 1, wherein interspersing the solid precursors in the thermally conductive material comprises forming a solid mixture having about 10% to 80% by volume of the thermally conductive material in the mixture. .   The method of claim 1, wherein interspersing the solid precursors in the thermally conductive material comprises forming a solid mixture having about 30% to 60% by volume of the thermally conductive material in the mixture. . A substrate processing system for forming vapor from a solid precursor by distributing heat to the precursor,
A container configured to hold a solid precursor group;
A plurality of heat conducting elements interspersed with the solid precursor group,
The plurality of heat conducting elements are a plurality of rods inserted into the container;
The plurality of rods are configured to transfer heat from the wall of the container to the precursor material radially outward of each rod along the main axis of each rod.   The system of claim 5, wherein the container is a heat transfer container.   6. A reaction chamber fluidly coupled to the vessel, wherein the reaction chamber is configured to provide an environment suitable for reaction of vapor generated from the vessel to deposit a layer on a substrate. The system described in.   The system of claim 7, wherein the reaction chamber is a chemical vapor deposition chamber (CVD).   The system of claim 7, wherein the reaction chamber is an atomic layer deposition chamber (ALD).   6. The system of claim 5, wherein the solid precursor group is in powder form. 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the heat conducting element is formed from a material that is substantially inert to reaction with the precursor during sublimation . The system of claim 5, wherein the thermally conductive element has a coating that is substantially inert to reaction with the precursor during sublimation . A substrate processing system for forming vapor from a solid precursor by distributing heat to the precursor,
A container configured to hold a solid precursor group;
A plurality of heat conducting elements interspersed with the solid precursor group,
The plurality of heat conducting elements are a plurality of rods inserted into the container;
The plurality of rods are configured to transfer heat along a main axis of each rod;
A system comprising a vacuum chamber surrounding the vessel.   The system of claim 5, wherein the rod is attached to a base plate configured to be inserted into the container. A substrate processing system for forming vapor from a solid precursor by distributing heat to the precursor,
A container configured to hold a solid precursor group;
A plurality of heat conducting elements interspersed with the solid precursor group,
The plurality of heat conducting elements are a plurality of rods inserted into the container;
The plurality of rods are configured to transfer heat along a main axis of each rod;
The system wherein the heat conducting element comprises a metal carbide. A substrate processing system for forming vapor from a solid precursor by distributing heat to the precursor,
A container configured to hold a solid precursor group;
A plurality of heat conducting elements interspersed with the solid precursor group,
The plurality of heat conducting elements are a plurality of rods inserted into the container;
The plurality of rods are configured to transfer heat along a main axis of each rod;
The system wherein the heat conducting element comprises silicon carbide (SiC).   The system of claim 5, wherein the thermal conductivity of the thermal conductive element is at least about 50 W / m · K at room temperature.   The system of claim 5, further comprising a heater configured to transfer thermal energy to both the heat conducting element and the precursor. A substrate processing system,
A container configured to hold precursors for batch processing to generate substrate processing vapor;
A reaction chamber connected to the vessel and configured to provide a suitable environment for reaction of vapors emanating from the vessel to deposit a layer on a substrate;
A plurality of heat transfer solids interspersed with independent batch processing precursors, which collectively include heat transfer solids that increase the thermal conductivity of the batch processing precursors,
The plurality of heat transfer solids are selected from the group consisting of powders, spheres, and fibers;
The system, wherein the independent batch process precursor and the heat transfer solid form a solid mixture for the generation of steam.   The system of claim 19, wherein the plurality of heat transfer solids are formed from a material selected from the group consisting of metal carbide, transition metal carbide, boron carbide, and silicon carbide. The system of claim 19, wherein the plurality of heat transfer solids are substantially inert to reaction with the precursor during sublimation . A mixture for generating vapor used in substrate processing,
A precursor for batch processing to generate substrate processing vapor;
A plurality of heat transfer solids interspersed with the precursor for batch processing, which collectively include heat transfer solids that increase the thermal conductivity of the precursor for batch processing;
The plurality of heat transfer solids are selected from the group consisting of powders, spheres, and fibers;
The mixture wherein the plurality of heat transfer solids are coated with a material that is substantially inert to reaction with the precursor during sublimation . The container has a side wall, the precursor for the batch process is filled in the bottom of the container and extends to the side wall, and the plurality of heat transfer solids are batch-processed from the side wall. The system of claim 19, configured to conduct heat to the precursor located substantially in the center of a minute precursor.

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