KR101080637B1 - Gas injecting device for substrate processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a gas injection device. Gas injection device according to the present invention is coupled to the chamber for performing a certain process for the substrate and the gas inlet is formed a spaced apart from the support plate, the support plate is formed a predetermined distance and the gas introduced through the gas inlet into the chamber It is coupled to the other of the support plate and the gas injection plate consisting of a gas injection plate, a plurality of gas injection holes are formed to spray toward the seated substrate, a magnet and a magnetic body coupled to any one of the support plate and the gas injection plate, the magnet It characterized in that it comprises a coupling member for coupling the support plate and the gas injection plate with a magnetic force formed between.

Description

Gas injecting device for substrate processing apparatus

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gas injection device, and more particularly, to a gas injection device that is used in a device for processing a large area substrate, such as a substrate processing device for manufacturing a solar cell and a substrate processing device for manufacturing an LCD.

Recently, as the interest in solar cells as a clean energy to cope with the depletion of fossil fuel and environmental pollution, the research on the substrate processing apparatus for manufacturing solar cells is being actively conducted.

A solar cell is a device that generates electromotive force by generating a voltage difference as a minority carrier excited by sunlight diffuses across a PN junction inside a semiconductor on which a PN junction is formed. Such a solar cell is a process of depositing a thin film such as a P-type or N-type semiconductor layer, an antireflection film, an electrode on a substrate (collectively referred to as a silicon wafer or a glass substrate), and to form a pattern required to improve energy conversion efficiency. Various processes such as etching the deposited thin film must be performed, and these processes are performed in a chamber that provides optimum conditions for the process.

1 shows a chemical vapor deposition apparatus for depositing an antireflection film on a substrate.

Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional PECVD apparatus 9 includes a chamber body 1 and a chamber lead 2 that opens and closes the chamber body 1. An exhaust hole 7 connected to a pump (not shown) is formed below the chamber body 1. In the inner space formed by the chamber body 1 and the chamber lid 2, a susceptor 3 for supporting and heating the substrate s is provided to be liftable, and the substrate (on the upper side of the susceptor 3 is provided with a substrate ( Towards s), a shower head 6 is provided for supplying various gases required for thin film deposition such as source gas and reaction gas.

The shower head 6 is composed of an electrode plate 5 to which a high frequency power is connected and a gas injection plate 4 in which a plurality of gas injection holes 4a are formed. The upper part of the gas injection plate 4 has a screw ( It is coupled to the electrode plate 5 by b). A gas diffusion space 8 through which gas can be diffused is provided between the electrode plate 5 and the gas injection plate 4. The gas introduced through the gas inlet 5a formed in the electrode plate 5 is diffused in the gas diffusion space 8 and then sprayed through the gas injection hole 4a of the gas injection plate 4 to the substrate s. do. A heater (not shown) is embedded below the susceptor 3 to increase the efficiency of the process by performing a thin film deposition process while heating the substrate s to about 300 ° C.

In the conventional CVD equipment, since the area of the substrate s to be processed is not large, the process can be smoothly performed using the CVD equipment having the above-described configuration. However, in recent years, the area of the substrate to be processed while performing a process by mounting a plurality of solar cell substrates on one tray increases, so that the shower head 6 is also large in area, and the large shower head 6 has a high temperature. In the case where it is heated to 1, there is a problem that the heat deformation from the state of the virtual line to the state of the solid line in FIG.

That is, in the conventional CVD equipment, since the gas diffusion plate 4 is constrained to the electrode plate 5 by the screw b or the like, thermal deformation cannot be accommodated. Therefore, the gas diffusion plate 4 is disposed along the plane direction. It could not be thermally expanded evenly, and deformation of the central portion sag was inevitable. Due to this deformation, the distance between the substrate s and the showerhead 6 is not evenly formed throughout the substrate, some of the substrates are in close proximity to the showerhead, and some of the substrates are relatively further from the showerhead. It becomes

Accordingly, there is a problem that the uniformity of the thin film deposited on each substrate is not formed uniformly, and there is a problem that the maintenance of the equipment is not easy.

On the other hand, the thermal deformation problem of the gas injection device as described above is the same in the apparatus for processing the LCD substrate. That is, LCD substrates are gradually becoming larger in size through 6th generation and 7th generation, and accordingly, the problems caused by thermal deformation are also shown in the gas injection apparatus employed in the LCD substrate processing apparatus.

In order to solve the above problems, structures have been developed to accommodate the heat deformation of the gas diffusion plate by forming the side wall of the shower head with an elastic material, but the gas diffusion plate is physically formed on the electrode plate even when the side wall is formed with the elastic material. As a result, the gas diffusion plate was thermally deformed in a direction affecting the height of the gas diffusion plate, and thus the desired effect could not be achieved.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, it is possible to maintain a constant distance between the substrate and the gas injection port even in a high temperature environment to provide a gas injection device with an improved structure to improve the uniformity of the deposited film There is a purpose.

Gas injection device according to the present invention for achieving the above object is coupled to the chamber for performing a predetermined process for the substrate, the gas inlet is formed on the support plate, the support plate is disposed spaced a predetermined distance from the gas inlet, The support is composed of a gas injection plate, a plurality of gas injection holes are formed to spray the gas introduced through the toward the substrate seated inside the chamber, a magnet and a magnetic body coupled to any one of the support plate and the gas injection plate Is coupled to the other one of the plate and the gas injection plate, the coupling member for coupling the support plate and the gas injection plate with a magnetic force formed between the permanent magnets, characterized in that it comprises a.

According to the invention, the coupling member is preferably nickel.

According to the present invention, at least one of the magnet and the coupling member is preferably coated with a corrosion resistant material to prevent corrosion.

In addition, according to the present invention, it is preferable that at least one of the magnet and the coupling member is inserted into the support plate and the gas injection plate to prevent exposure to the outside.

According to the present invention, it is preferable that the support plate and the gas injection plate and the inner wall of the chamber are spaced apart to accommodate the heat deformation.

Gas injection device according to the present invention is configured so that there is no physical binding force between the gas injection plate and the support plate so that the gas injection plate can be freely thermally expanded in the plane direction, the gas injection plate is not thermally deformed in the vertical direction gas injection plate The spacing between the substrate and the substrate may be kept constant to ensure uniform deposition of the thin film.

In addition, in the gas injection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, by coating the permanent magnet and the coupling member with a corrosion resistant material or not exposed to the outside, the permanent magnet or the coupling member can be prevented from being corroded by gas or plasma. have.

The gas injection device according to the present invention is employed in equipment for a large-area substrate such as a thin film deposition apparatus and an LCD substrate processing apparatus for manufacturing a solar cell. The equipment will be described as an example.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the gas injection value employed in the anti-reflection film deposition apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining a gas injection device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The thin film deposition apparatus 100 employing the gas injection device 90 according to the present embodiment includes a chamber 10. The chamber 10 is composed of a chamber body 11 and a chamber lead 12 coupled to the top of the chamber body 11 so as to be opened and closed. When the chamber lead 12 is coupled to the chamber body 11, a space 13 may be formed in the chamber 10 to perform a process on the substrate s. The space 13 is to be maintained in a vacuum during the process, the bottom of the chamber body 11 is formed with an exhaust hole 14 connected to an external pump (not shown). In addition, a through hole 15 into which the lifting shaft 22 of the susceptor 20 is inserted is formed at the bottom of the chamber body 11, and the through hole is formed in a bellows (not shown) to maintain airtightness. Is cut off from the outside.

The susceptor 20 is for supporting and heating the substrate s. The susceptor 20 includes a substrate support portion 21 arranged flat and a lifting shaft 22 formed perpendicularly to the lower side of the substrate support portion 21. The lifting shaft 22 extends to the outside of the chamber 10 through the insertion hole 15 and is connected to lifting means such as a motor (not shown). A heater (not shown) is embedded in the substrate support 21 to heat the substrate s supported on the upper surface of the substrate support 21 to 200 ° C to 300 ° C. On the other hand, in the thin film deposition apparatus 100 to form a plasma in the chamber 10 to improve the process efficiency, a high frequency power is applied to the support plate 30 to be described later, the susceptor 20 is grounded.

The gas injection device 90 according to the present embodiment is disposed above the susceptor 20, and includes a support plate 30, a gas injection plate 40, a permanent magnet 51, and a coupling member 55. do.

The support plate 30 is formed to be flat in an approximately quadrangular shape and is fixed to the chamber lead 10. The support plate 30 is provided with a gas inlet 31 for introducing an external gas required for thin film deposition such as a reaction gas and raw material gas. The support plate 30 is made of a metal material such as aluminum so as to pass electricity, and serves as an electrode plate to which a high frequency power source (RF power source) is applied.

The gas injection plate 40 is disposed below the support plate 30 at a predetermined distance. The gas injection plate 40 is also made of a metal material such as aluminum so as to allow electricity to pass through, and is formed flat in an approximately quadrangular shape so as to correspond to the support plate 30.

A plurality of gas injection holes 41 are formed in the gas injection plate 40 so as to spray the gas introduced into the gas inlet 31 toward the substrate s. The gas injection holes 41 are not arranged concentrated in any part but are arranged in the same number per unit area so that the amount of gas injected into the substrate s is constant over the entire area of the substrate.

A constant space d is formed between the gas injection plate 40 and the support plate 30, that is, inside the gas injection device 90. This space (d) is a gas diffusion space in which gases introduced into the gas inlet 31 of the support plate 30 are diffused, and the gas is diffused in the gas diffusion space d and then discharged through the gas injection hole 41. do.

In the thin film deposition apparatus 100, not only the inside of the chamber 10 is heated by a heater embedded in the susceptor 20, but also a plasma between the gas injection device 90 and the susceptor 20 by a high frequency power source. As is formed, the gas injection plate 40 may be heated to a high temperature and thermally expanded. When the gas injection plate 40 is thermally expanded, the expansion along the planar direction of the gas injection plate 40 has no effect on the deposition uniformity of the thin film, but as mentioned in the prior art, the gas injection plate 40 When the gap between the substrate s and the gas injection plate 40 is deformed due to sagging), the thin film uniformity for each substrate s is affected.

In the conventional gas ejection apparatus, the gas ejection plate is physically constrained to the electrode plate by a bolt or the like, which prevents the gas ejection plate from thermally expanding along the planar direction, thereby causing the gas ejection plate to deform in the vertical direction. Is as already described. In particular, this problem may be more serious in a large-area gas injection device as in the present embodiment.

Accordingly, in the gas injection device 90 according to the present invention, the gas injection plate 40 can be freely moved relative to the support plate 30, that is, the gas between the gas injection plate 40 and the support plate 30. In order to minimize the physical restraining force in the thermal expansion of the spray plate 40 in the planar direction, it is hardly acted. That is, the gas injection plate 40 is coupled to the support plate 30, and at the same time, the relative movement is freed between the gas injection plate 40 and the support plate 30.

As described above, the magnet 51 and the coupling member in the present invention in order to couple the gas injection plate 40 to the support plate 30 while minimizing the physical restraint between the gas injection plate 40 and the support plate 30 (55) was adopted.

That is, the gas injection plate 40 is formed by a magnetic force formed between the permanent magnet 51 fixed to the support plate 30 and the coupling member 55 of the magnetic material fixed to the gas injection plate 40. It is coupled to the support plate (30). Of course, the permanent magnet 51 is fixed to the gas injection plate 40, the coupling member 55 may be fixed to the support plate (30). Coupling member 55 is formed of a thin plate-like plate.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, both the lower surface of the permanent magnet 51 and the upper surface of the coupling member 55 are exposed to the outside, so that the lower surface of the permanent magnet 51 and the upper surface of the coupling member 55 are in contact with each other. . When the lower surface of the permanent magnet 51 and the upper surface of the coupling member 55 is directly contacted and coupled, the coupling force can be increased.

However, the contact surface of the permanent magnet 51 and the coupling member 55 is exposed to the outside, the corrosion may be a problem. That is, not only various source gases are used in the gas injector, but also these gases are plasma-formed by a high frequency power source, so that the contact surface of the permanent magnet 51 or the coupling member 55 exposed to the outside is corroded when used for a certain period of time. Problems such as contaminating the chamber or inferior bonding force may occur. Thus, in the present embodiment, the coupling member 55 is made of nickel having a very high corrosion resistance. In addition, the corrosion of the permanent magnet 51 is prevented by applying a material having strong corrosion resistance and heat resistance to the surface of the permanent magnet 51 such as nickel or epoxy.

As described above, the gas injection plate 40 and the support plate 30 are freely allowed to move relative to each other between the gas injection plate 40 and the support plate 30 while maintaining mutual coupling force by magnetic force. In the environment, the gas injection plate 40 only undergoes constant thermal expansion along its planar direction, and deformation such as twisting in the vertical direction does not occur.

On the other hand, since the gas injection plate 40 and the inner wall of the chamber, more specifically, the gas injection plate 40 and the insulating member 19 of the chamber lead 12 is spaced apart a predetermined interval, the gas injection plate 40 The thermal expansion can accommodate the increasing displacement.

In the present embodiment, the support plate 30 and the gas injection plate 40 is formed in a square shape, the permanent magnet 51 and the coupling member 55 is also formed in a rectangular ring shape, respectively. However, in another embodiment, the permanent magnets 51 are not integrally formed, and the plurality of permanent magnets may be spaced apart from each other at predetermined angular intervals along the circumferential direction of the support plate 30. Similarly, the coupling member 55 may be disposed to be spaced apart from each other at a predetermined angular interval along the circumferential direction of the support plate 30.

In the gas injection device 90 having the above-described configuration, even when the gas injection plate 40 is heated to a high temperature due to plasma being formed in the chamber 10, the gas injection plate 40 is freely thermally expanded in the planar direction. Since the deformation does not occur in the vertical direction, there is an advantage that the spacing between the gas injection plate 40 and the substrate s on the susceptor 20 is kept constant, thereby ensuring uniform deposition of the thin film.

The permanent magnet 51 and the coupling member 55 have been described as being exposed to the outside to increase the bonding force so far, in the embodiment shown in Figure 3 the permanent magnet 61 and the coupling member 65 Is inserted into the support plate 30 and the gas injection plate 40 may be installed respectively. When the permanent magnet 61 and the coupling member 65 is installed inside the support plate 30 and the gas injection plate 40, the permanent magnet 61 and the coupling member 65 are not exposed to the outside. The problem of corrosion can be solved. Of course, even if the permanent magnet 61 and the coupling member 65 is disposed inside the support plate 30 and the gas injection plate 40, respectively, as long as the permanent magnet 61 and the coupling member 65 are not installed in a deep position, coupling by magnetic force is possible.

In another embodiment, one of the permanent magnet and the coupling member may be installed inside the gas injection plate or the support plate and the other may be installed to be exposed to the outside.

That is, the installation position of the permanent magnet and the coupling member can be reasonably designed in consideration of the size of the magnetic force and the problem of corrosion.

Reference numeral 19 that is not described is an insulating member interposed between the gas injection device 90 and the chamber lead 12 to prevent current from flowing from the gas injection device 90 toward the chamber lead 12.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, this is merely exemplary, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible. Could be. Accordingly, the true scope of protection of the present invention should be determined only by the appended claims.

1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a conventional gas injection value.

2 is a schematic diagram for explaining a gas injection device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 2.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100 ... thin film deposition equipment 10 ... chamber

20 ... susceptor 30 ... support plate

40 ... gas injection plate 50 ... side wall

Claims (8)

A support plate coupled to the chamber for performing a predetermined process on the substrate, and having a gas inlet formed therein; A gas injection plate disposed to be spaced apart from the support plate by a plurality of gas injection holes so as to inject a gas introduced through the gas inlet toward a substrate seated inside the chamber; A magnet coupled to any one of the support plate and the gas injection plate; And It comprises a magnetic member is coupled to the other of the support plate and the gas injection plate, the coupling member for coupling the support plate and the gas injection plate with a magnetic force formed between the magnet; And the support plate and the gas injection plate and the inner wall of the chamber are spaced apart to accommodate the heat deformation. The method of claim 1, Gas injection device, characterized in that at least one of the contact surfaces facing the magnet and the coupling member is exposed to the outside. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The coupling member is a gas injection device, characterized in that the nickel. The method according to claim 1 or 2, At least one of the magnet and the coupling member is coated with a corrosion resistant material to prevent corrosion. The method of claim 1, At least one of the magnet and the coupling member is inserted into and installed in the support plate and the gas injection plate to prevent exposure to the outside. delete The method of claim 1, And a plurality of magnets and coupling members spaced apart from each other along the circumferential direction of the gas injection plate.  The method of claim 1, The magnet and the coupling member is a gas injection device, characterized in that formed in a ring shape.

Images