KR101145058B1 - Atomic layer deposition apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An atomic layer deposition apparatus is provided to improve deposit efficiency about a substrate by spraying deposition gas to a plurality of process chambers which respectively accepts a plurality of substrates through one gas supply unit. CONSTITUTION: A plurality of process chambers(110) respectively accepts a plurality of substrates. A gas supply unit(150) supplies deposition gas for evaporating the plurality of substrates to the plurality of process chambers. A shuttle unit(180) transfers the substrate to each process chamber. The shuttle unit is installed to the plurality of process chambers to be possible to access. The shuttle unit comprises a shuttle member and a loading member which moves according to a movement route(190). Connection holes connected to movement lines is formed on housing. A supplying nozzle individually supplies source gas, fuzzy gas, and reacting gas to the connection holes.

Description

Atomic layer deposition apparatus

An atomic layer deposition apparatus is disclosed. More specifically, an atomic layer deposition apparatus is disclosed in which a deposition process can be performed by injecting a deposition gas through a gas supply unit into a plurality of process chambers each containing a plurality of substrates.

In general, in order to deposit a thin film of a predetermined thickness on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or glass, physical vapor deposition (PVD) using a physical collision such as sputtering, and chemical reaction A thin film production method using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), or the like, has been used.

As the design rule of the semiconductor device is drastically fined, a thin film having a fine pattern is required, and the step height of the region where the thin film is formed is also increased. As a result, the use of the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method, which is capable of uniformly forming fine patterns having an atomic layer thickness and excellent step coverage, has been increasing.

This atomic layer deposition method is similar to the general chemical vapor deposition method in that it utilizes chemical reactions between gas molecules. Unlike chemical vapor deposition, which injects multiple gas molecules into the process chamber at the same time, depositing reaction products generated from above the substrate, the atomic layer deposition method injects a gaseous material into the process chamber and then The difference is that only the physically adsorbed gas is left on top of the heated substrate by purging, followed by the injection of another gaseous material to deposit chemical reaction products that occur only on the upper surface of the substrate.

The thin film implemented through such an atomic layer deposition method has a very good step coverage characteristic, so that a pure thin film having a low impurity content may be implemented.

The atomic layer deposition apparatus is a batch type in which a deposition process is simultaneously performed in a state in which a plurality of substrates are stacked in a vertical direction, a single type in which a deposition process is performed on a single substrate, and a plurality of substrates are placed horizontally simultaneously. It is classified as a semi batch type in which the deposition process is performed.

By the way, in this kind of atomic layer deposition apparatus, there is a limit to the number of substrates to be deposited. In the single type, only one substrate is deposited in one deposition process, and in the semi-batch type, only six substrates are deposited in one deposition process. However, in the batch type atomic layer deposition apparatus, there is an advantage of depositing substrates in a stacked state for one deposition process, but in this case, there is a limit to the number of substrates to be deposited as well.

Therefore, it is urgent to develop a new structure of the atomic layer deposition apparatus capable of depositing a larger number of substrates in one deposition process and simplifying the overall device size.

An object according to an embodiment of the present invention, the deposition process can be performed by injecting a deposition gas through a gas supply unit to a plurality of process chambers each receiving a plurality of substrates can greatly improve the deposition efficiency for the substrate To provide an atomic layer deposition apparatus.

In addition, an object according to an embodiment of the present invention, the shuttle unit can move the lower area of the process chamber and perform the transfer operation of the substrate can not only improve the efficiency of space use but also reduce the overall device size It is to provide an atomic layer deposition apparatus.

An atomic layer deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of process chambers each containing a plurality of substrates; A gas supply unit connected to each of the plurality of process chambers by a separate moving line and supplying a deposition gas for depositing the substrates to each of the process chambers; And a shuttle unit mounted to be accessible to each of the plurality of process chambers so as to introduce the substrates into the process chambers or to receive the deposited substrates from the process chambers. The deposition process can be performed by injecting the deposition gas through a gas supply unit into a plurality of process chambers, each of which accommodates a plurality of process chambers, thereby greatly improving the deposition efficiency on the substrate.

The gas supply unit may include: a supply housing having a hollow cylindrical shape and having sidewalls formed therethrough with communication holes communicating with the moving lines; And a supply nozzle disposed in the supply housing and separately supplying a source gas, a purge gas, and a reaction gas provided in the deposition gas to the communication holes.

The supply nozzle is a spin nozzle that rotates in place and injects respective deposition gases, and the spin nozzle comprises: a nozzle body rotatably disposed inside the supply housing; A source gas supply hole formed through the nozzle body so as to correspond to the communication holes and connected to a source gas supply part supplying the source gas to supply the source gas to the communication hole; A reaction gas supply hole formed through the nozzle body so as to be positioned at a side of the source gas supply hole and connected to a reaction gas supply part supplying the reaction gas to supply the reaction gas to the communication hole; And a purge gas supply hole formed through the nozzle body so as to be positioned at the side of the source gas supply hole and the reaction gas supply hole, and connected to a purge gas supply unit supplying the purge gas to supply the purge gas to the communication hole. It may include.

The relative position of the spin nozzle with respect to the communication hole may be controlled so that the source gas, the purge gas, the reaction gas, and the purge gas may be sequentially introduced into the process chamber from the gas injection unit.

The process chamber may include a plurality of gas injection units connected to the movement line to spray the deposition gas toward the substrate.

The gas injection unit may be provided in any one type of a shower head, a nozzle, and an air knife.

A movement path for moving the shuttle unit is formed in the lower regions of the plurality of process chambers, and the shuttle unit loaded with the substrate moves to the selected process chamber along the movement path and then the substrate in the process chamber. The substrate may be supplied or received from the process chamber.

The shuttle unit, the shuttle member to move along the movement path; And a loading member mounted to the shuttle member so as to be lifted and lowered, wherein the plurality of substrates are loaded and unloaded.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a deposition process may be performed by spraying a deposition gas through a gas supply unit into a plurality of process chambers respectively accommodating a plurality of substrates, thereby greatly improving the deposition efficiency of the substrate.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the shuttle unit can move the lower region of the process chamber and perform the transfer operation of the substrate, thereby improving the efficiency of space use and reducing the overall device size.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing an atomic layer deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the internal configuration of the individual process chambers shown in FIG. 1 and part of the components of the gas supply unit connected thereto. FIG.
3 is a perspective view schematically showing the configuration of the spin nozzle shown in FIG. 2.
4 is a view schematically illustrating a process of transferring a substrate from a shuttle unit shown in FIG. 1 to a process chamber.

Hereinafter, configurations and applications according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following description is one of several aspects of the patentable invention and the following description forms part of the detailed description of the invention.

In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail for the sake of clarity and conciseness.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing an atomic layer deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 schematically shows an internal configuration of an individual process chamber shown in FIG. 1 and a part of a configuration of a gas supply unit connected thereto. 3 is a perspective view schematically illustrating the configuration of the spin nozzle illustrated in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a process of transferring a substrate from a shuttle unit illustrated in FIG. 1 to a process chamber. .

As shown in FIG. 1, an atomic layer deposition apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of process chambers 110 in which a plurality of substrates W are accommodated, respectively, as a batch type; A gas supply unit 150 connected to each of the plurality of process chambers 110 by a moving line 130 to provide various deposition gases to each of the process chambers 110, and moves to a lower region of the plurality of process chambers 110. And a shuttle unit 180, possibly mounted to transfer the substrate W to each process chamber 110.

With this configuration, it is possible to deposit a plurality of substrates W, that is, a plurality of substrates W accommodated in the plurality of process chambers 110 by one deposition process, thereby significantly improving the efficiency of the deposition process compared with the prior art. Can be.

Here, the substrate W, which is a deposition target, may be a silicon wafer. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the substrate W may be a flat panel display type substrate W such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a plasma display panel (PDP). In addition, the shape of the substrate W is not limited to the circular plate, and may be provided in various shapes such as other shapes, for example, rectangular plates.

Referring to the respective configurations, first, the gas supply unit 150 is connected to each of the supply parts 171, 173, and 175 supplying the deposition gas, as schematically shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Serves to supply the deposition gas provided from the plurality of process chambers 110.

Here, the supply units 171, 173, and 175 supplying the deposition gas may include a source gas supply unit 171 for supplying a source gas of the deposition gas and a reaction gas of the deposition gas. The gas supply unit 173 and a purge gas supply unit 175 may be provided to supply a purge gas of the deposition gas.

For reference, in the present invention, the deposition gas refers to gases used in the process of depositing a thin film on the substrate W, and includes one or more kinds of source materials constituting the thin film to be deposited on the substrate W. A source gas, a reaction gas for reacting the source gas on the substrate W, and a purge gas for removing the source gas and the reactant gas from the substrate W are included.

In this embodiment, a source gas and a reaction gas which chemically react with each other to form a thin film, and a purge gas for purging these gases can be used. For example, in order to deposit a silicon thin film, the source gas may be a silane (Silane, SiH4) containing silicon, or any one of disilane (Disilane, Si2H6), silicon tetrafluoride (SiF4), and an organometallic compound source. The reactive gas may be a reactive gas decomposed by oxygen, ozone (O 3), or plasma.

The purge gas uses a source gas and a reaction gas, and a stable gas that does not chemically react with the thin film deposited on the substrate W. For example, a gas of argon, nitrogen, helium, or a mixture of two or more thereof. Can be used. However, the type or combination method of the source gas, the reaction gas and the purge gas is not limited thereto, and it is natural that other types or combinations of gases may be applied as the deposition gas.

On the other hand, when the configuration of the gas supply unit 150 for supplying such deposition gases to each process chamber 110 will be described, the gas supply unit 150 of the present embodiment, the deposition gas to each process chamber 110 The supply housing 151 in which the communication hole 153 for supplying is formed, and the supply nozzle 160 rotatably mounted in the supply housing 151 to supply each deposition gas to the communication hole 153, that is, the present embodiment An example spin nozzle 160 may be provided.

That is, each deposition gas supplied from the spin nozzle 160 may be injected into the process chamber 110 through the moving line 130 after passing through the communication hole 153 of the supply housing 151.

In this embodiment, the communication holes 153 of the supply housing 151 are arranged at intervals of 90 degrees so as to correspond to the arrangement of the process chamber 110 and a plurality of communication holes 153 are provided in the height direction. Each of the communication holes 153 is connected to a moving line 130 that moves the deposition gas to the process chamber 110. Therefore, the deposition gas passes through the moving line 130 and then the substrate W of the process chamber 110. May be sprayed) to proceed with the deposition process. However, in the embodiment, since the number of the process chambers 110 is four, the communication holes 153 are formed as described above, but the arrangement structure of the communication holes 153 according to the number of the process chambers 110 and Naturally, the number can be changed.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the spin nozzle 160 of the present embodiment includes a cylindrical nozzle body 161, a source gas injection hole 163 for injecting a source gas, and a reaction gas for injecting a reactive gas. A reactive gas injection hole 165 and a purge gas injection hole 167 for injecting purge gas may be provided.

2 and 3, the source gas injection holes 163 are provided at intervals of 90 degrees along the circumference of the nozzle body 161 so as to correspond to the communication holes 153 described above, and are provided in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, the source gas supplied from the source gas supply unit 171 may flow into the moving line 130 through the source gas injection hole 163.

On the other hand, the reaction gas injection hole 165 is also formed in the nozzle body 161 to correspond to the above-mentioned communication hole 153. That is, the reaction gas injection hole 165 may be provided in the nozzle body 161 so as to be positioned at the side of the source gas injection hole 163. Accordingly, the spin nozzle 160 is rotated to react with the reaction gas injection hole 165. After matching the communication hole 153, the reaction gas supplied from the reaction gas supply unit 173 may flow into the moving line 130 through the reaction gas injection hole 165.

Similarly, the purge gas injection hole 167 is also provided in the nozzle body 161 so as to correspond to the communication hole 153 described above, and thus, the purge gas injection hole 167 and the communication hole ( 153) can be matched.

As such, in this embodiment, the spin nozzle 160 is rotated so as to send each deposition gas to the moving line 130 through the communication hole 153, and thus, the source in each process chamber 110. The gases, purge gases, reactant gases and purge gases may be provided in substantially the same order.

However, in the present exemplary embodiment, the spin nozzle 160 is provided in the gas supply unit 150 to supply the source gas, the reactive gas, and the purge gas to the respective process chambers 110. However, the gas supply unit 150 The spin nozzle 160 may not be provided. That is, if the structure capable of supplying the deposition gas to the moving line 130 through the gas supply unit 150 may be applied to the gas supply unit 150.

On the other hand, the above-described gas supply unit 150 may be connected to each process chamber 110 by the movement line 130. The movement line 130 of the present embodiment may be equipped with a control valve (not shown) to adjust the flow rate and the hydraulic pressure of the moving deposition gas.

The process chamber 110 of the present embodiment is a portion in which the deposition process of the substrates W stacked in the height direction is performed. As shown in FIG. 2, the chamber housing 111 and the chamber forming the deposition space 110S and the chamber are shown. A susceptor 115 mounted in the housing 111 so as to be liftable and supporting the substrate W in a height direction, and a heater part mounted in the chamber housing 111 to provide heat to the susceptor and the substrate W ( It may include a plurality of gas injection unit 120 is formed on the side wall of the chamber housing 111 to be connected to the moving line 130 to inject the deposition gas to each substrate (W).

The chamber housing 111 is provided in a hollow cylindrical shape. An entrance door 112 may be formed on the bottom wall of the chamber housing 111 to allow the substrate W to be drawn in. Therefore, not only the substrate W may be moved from the shuttle unit 180 to be described later into the chamber housing 111 but also the reverse operation may be performed.

In addition, the chamber housing 111 may be provided with an exhaust unit (not shown) for discharging the gas generated as a result of the deposition process to the outside.

The susceptor 115 of the present embodiment is a portion that supports a plurality of substrates W in a deposition process, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of support members 116 disposed in a height direction, and A driving shaft 117 for driving the three supporting members 116 integrally, and a driving unit 118 for generating a driving force for driving the driving shaft 117 may be provided.

The substrate W is disposed on each support member 116. The support members 116 may be connected by a connection member (not shown) to be driven together when the drive shaft 117 is driven.

The heater unit (not shown) is mounted inside the chamber housing 111 to provide heat to the substrate W and the support member 116 on which the substrate W is supported. Accordingly, the substrate W may be maintained at a suitable temperature to be deposited, and thus, the reliability of the deposition process of the substrate W may be improved.

On the other hand, the gas injection unit 120 of the present embodiment, as a portion for injecting the deposition gas to each substrate (W), as shown in Figure 2, is formed in the side wall of the chamber housing 111 is moved line 130 A plurality of buffer spaces 121 for buffering the deposition gas introduced through the through hole) and a portion of the sidewalls of the chamber housing 111 to inject the deposition gas introduced into the buffer space 121 onto the substrate W. The injection hole 124 may have a through hole forming member 123 formed therethrough.

That is, the gas injection unit 120 of the present exemplary embodiment is provided in the shower head type, and thus, the deposition gas may be evenly sprayed onto the substrate W, thereby improving reliability of the deposition process on the substrate W. FIG.

However, in the present embodiment, the gas injection unit 120 is provided as a shower head type, but is not limited thereto, and the gas injection unit 120 may be provided in another type such as a nozzle or an air knife. Of course.

As described above, according to the present exemplary embodiment, the deposition process may be performed by spraying the deposition gas through one gas supply unit 150 into the plurality of process chambers 110 respectively accommodating the plurality of substrates W. Thus, The efficiency of the deposition process for the substrate W can be greatly improved.

On the other hand, the shuttle unit 180 of the present embodiment, serves to transfer the substrate (W) to each process chamber 110.

The shuttle unit 180 is movably mounted in the lower regions of the plurality of process chambers 110 and the gas supply unit 150, and receives the substrate W from a substrate supply unit (not shown), and then moves the movement path 190. The substrate W may be introduced into each of the process chambers 110, or the substrate W having the deposition process completed may be transferred to the outside.

1 and 4, the shuttle unit 180 of the present embodiment is provided on the shuttle member 181 and the shuttle member 181 that are movable along the movement path 190. A loading member 183 may be provided to load and unload the substrate W.

In addition, the shuttle unit 180 may be equipped with a robot arm (not shown) that directly handles the substrate (W), thus performing the transfer of the substrate (W) between the substrate supply unit and the shuttle unit 180, or the shuttle unit 180 And transfer of the substrate W between the process chambers 110.

However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and a transfer robot (not shown) equipped with a robot arm may be mounted in an adjacent region of the substrate supply unit and an adjacent region of each process chamber 110 to perform a transfer operation of the substrate W. Of course it is.

As such, the shuttle unit 180 may move the lower region of the process chamber 110 and perform a transfer operation of the substrate W, thereby improving efficiency of space use and reducing overall device size. There is an advantage.

In addition, below, the board | substrate W vapor deposition process of the atomic layer vapor deposition apparatus 100 which has such a structure is demonstrated.

First, the substrate W is transferred from the substrate supply part to the shuttle unit 180. Subsequently, the shuttle unit 180 moves along the movement path 190 formed under the process chambers 110 and introduces the substrate W into each process chamber 110. When the drawing of the substrates W is completed to all the process chambers 110, the deposition gas is supplied from the respective gas supply units 171, 173, and 175 to the gas supply units 150 to perform the deposition process on the substrates W. FIG. Run

In detail, first, the source gas is injected into the substrate W by supplying the source gas from the source gas supply unit 171 to the gas supply unit 150. The source gas supplied to the gas supply unit 150 passes through the source gas injection hole 163 of the spin nozzle 160, passes through the moving line 130, and then through the gas injection unit 120 of the process chamber 110. Sprayed to the substrate (W). Subsequently, the spin nozzle 160 is rotated such that the purge gas injection hole 165 of the spin nozzle 160 coincides with the communication hole 153 of the supply housing 151, and then the gas supply unit 173 is supplied from the reaction gas supply unit 173. The purge gas is supplied to the substrate W by supplying the purge gas to the 150.

By substantially supplying the reaction gas and the purge gas to the substrate W in substantially the same principle, a deposition process for the substrate W may be performed.

When the deposition process for the substrate W is completed, the shuttle unit 180 collects the substrate W while sequentially moving each process chamber 110 along the movement path 190. The shuttle unit 180 may complete the entire deposition process on the substrate W by transferring the collected substrate W back to the substrate supply unit.

As such, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the deposition process may be performed by spraying the deposition gas through one gas supply unit 150 into the plurality of process chambers 110 respectively accommodating the plurality of substrates W. As shown in FIG. The deposition efficiency of the substrate W can be greatly improved, and the shuttle unit 180 can move the lower region of the process chamber 110 and transfer the substrate W, thereby improving space usage efficiency. In addition to improving the performance, the overall device size can be reduced.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, such modifications or variations will have to be belong to the claims of the present invention.

100: atomic layer deposition apparatus 110: process chamber
120: gas injection unit 130: moving line
150: gas supply unit 151: supply housing
160: spin nozzle 180: shuttle unit

Claims (8)

A plurality of process chambers each containing a plurality of substrates;
A gas supply unit connected to each of the plurality of process chambers by a separate moving line and supplying a deposition gas for depositing the substrates to each of the process chambers; And
A shuttle unit mounted to be accessible to each of the plurality of process chambers so as to introduce the substrate into the process chamber or to receive the deposited substrate from the process chamber;
Including;
The gas supply unit,
A supply housing having a hollow cylindrical shape and having sidewalls formed therethrough with communication holes communicating with the moving lines; And
A supply nozzle disposed inside the supply housing and separately supplying a source gas, a purge gas, and a reaction gas provided in the deposition gas to the communication holes;
And said supply nozzle is a spin nozzle that rotates in place and injects respective deposition gases.
delete The method of claim 1,
The spin nozzle,
A nozzle body rotatably disposed inside the supply housing;
A source gas supply hole formed through the nozzle body so as to correspond to the communication holes and connected to a source gas supply part supplying the source gas to supply the source gas to the communication hole;
A reaction gas supply hole formed through the nozzle body so as to be positioned at a side of the source gas supply hole and connected to a reaction gas supply part supplying the reaction gas to supply the reaction gas to the communication hole; And
A purge gas supply hole formed through the nozzle body so as to be positioned at the side of the source gas supply hole and the reaction gas supply hole, and connected to a purge gas supply part supplying the purge gas to supply the purge gas to the communication hole; Atomic layer deposition apparatus.
The method of claim 3,
The source gas is first injected from the gas injection unit into the process chamber, and then the purge gas for purging the source gas is injected, and then the reaction gas is injected, followed by the purge gas for purging the reaction gas. Wherein the relative position of the spin nozzle with respect to the communication hole is controlled so as to sequentially flow in.
The method of claim 1,
And the process chamber includes a plurality of gas injectors connected to the moving line to spray the deposition gas toward the substrate.
The method of claim 5,
The gas injection unit is an atomic layer deposition apparatus provided with any one type of a shower head, a nozzle and an air knife.
The method of claim 1,
Movement paths for moving the shuttle unit are formed in lower regions of the plurality of process chambers,
And the shuttle unit loaded with the substrate moves to the selected process chamber along the movement path and then supplies the substrate to the process chamber or receives the substrate from the process chamber.
The method of claim 7, wherein
The shuttle unit,
A shuttle member moving along the movement path; And
And a loading member mounted to the shuttle member so as to be lifted and lowered, wherein the plurality of substrates are loaded and unloaded.

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