KR101698021B1 - A ald apparatus for large substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a batch-type large-area atomic layer deposition apparatus capable of performing an atomic layer deposition process for each substrate in a state where a plurality of large-area glass substrates are stacked in a vertical direction, The deposition apparatus includes: an inner chamber having a structure in which a lower surface and both front and rear surfaces are opened; A process gas supply unit coupled to a front surface of the inner chamber, the process gas supply unit supplying the process gas in a layered flow direction toward the inner chamber; A gas sucking / discharging unit coupled to a rear surface of the inner chamber and sucking and discharging the gas in the inner chamber; A plurality of large area substrates stacked horizontally with a laminar flow spacing and connected to a lower surface of the inner chamber to complete a sealing structure of the inner chamber; A cassette up / down driving unit coupled to a lower surface of the cassette, for driving the cassette in a vertical direction; And an outer chamber that is installed to surround the inner chamber and the cassette from the outside and can maintain the inside of the chamber in a vacuum state.

Description

[0001] A ALD APPARATUS FOR LARGE SUBSTRATE [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a large-area atomic layer deposition apparatus, and more particularly, to a large-area atomic layer deposition apparatus capable of carrying out an atomic layer deposition process for each substrate in a state in which a plurality of large- To a deposition apparatus.

In general, the atomic layer deposition process is widely used as a process for depositing a thin film in precision manufacturing fields of semiconductors, solar cells, and OLEDs. The atomic layer deposition process is a method for depositing a thin film in an atomic layer unit by alternately supplying a source gas (reaction gas) and a purge gas. The thin film thus formed has a high aspect ratio, is uniform at low pressure, There are advantages.

In the atomic layer deposition apparatus originally used in the semiconductor process, a thin film was deposited on a wafer of a small size. In recent years, in the field of solar cells, particularly in the field of thin film solar cells and in the field of production of OLEDs, There is a growing need to perform the deposition process.

In the atomic layer deposition process for such a large-area substrate, it is common that the entire distribution system for the large-area substrate horizontally moves the large-area substrate. Therefore, in the atomic layer deposition apparatus, And there is a need for a uniform thin film forming technique for all areas of a large area substrate. In addition, since the process time for a large-area substrate is prolonged, it is urgently required to develop equipment and technology capable of simultaneously performing a plurality of substrates on the substrate in order to increase the throughput of the equipment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for depositing a plurality of large-area glass substrates on a plurality of substrates in a batch-type large area And to provide an atomic layer deposition apparatus.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for depositing a large-area atomic layer, comprising: an inner chamber having a structure having a bottom surface and a front and rear surfaces open; A process gas supply unit coupled to a front surface of the inner chamber, the process gas supply unit supplying the process gas in a layered flow direction toward the inner chamber; A gas sucking / discharging unit coupled to a rear surface of the inner chamber and sucking and discharging the gas in the inner chamber; A plurality of large area substrates stacked horizontally with a laminar flow spacing and connected to a lower surface of the inner chamber to complete a sealing structure of the inner chamber; A cassette up / down driving unit coupled to a lower surface of the cassette, for driving the cassette in a vertical direction; And an outer chamber that is installed to surround the inner chamber and the cassette from the outside and can maintain the inside of the chamber in a vacuum state.

In addition, in the present invention, the process gas supply unit may include: a process gas introducing unit that supplies a process gas from a process gas supply source provided outside the outer chamber into the outer chamber; Wherein the process gas is introduced into the inner chamber and diffused in the direction of the inner chamber, wherein the process gas is introduced into the inner chamber, A process gas diffusion unit for diffusing the process gas; And a buffer space forming part provided at a front side of the process gas diffusion part and forming a constant buffer space in which the process gas supplied between the process gas diffusion part and the substrate loaded on the cassette can be uniformly diffused .

Further, in the present invention, the gas suction / discharge unit may include a gas discharge unit coupled to a rear surface of the inner chamber, for sucking and discharging the gas inside the inner chamber to the outside; A discharge pump installed outside the outer chamber and connected to the gas discharging unit to suck and discharge the gas inside the gas discharging unit to the outside; And an exhaust-side buffer space forming unit that forms a constant buffer space between the gas exhaust unit and the cassette-mounted substrate.

The cassette according to the present invention may further include: a substrate support column for supporting a distal end portion of the substrate such that a plurality of substrates have a layered flow; And a lower plate on which a lower portion of the substrate support column is fixed, wherein the substrate support pillar is formed with a substrate support portion at a height spaced from the lower end by a distance in which the substrate supply means enters.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the lower plate is further provided with a sealing member which is provided at a portion in contact with the lower surface of the inner chamber, and which maintains airtightness in the inner chamber.

According to the large-area atomic layer deposition apparatus of the present invention, an atomic layer deposition process is simultaneously performed on a large number of large-area substrates, and uniform thin films can be formed with excellent throughput over all areas of a large-area substrate.

1 is a view showing a structure of a large-area atomic layer deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a perspective view showing a structure of a process gas supply unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of a process gas supply unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a perspective view showing a structure of a cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a gas suction / discharge unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a view showing a state in which a cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention is inserted into an inner chamber.
7 is a view showing a state in which a substrate is loaded on a cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a view showing a structure of an inner chamber according to an embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a view showing a process gas supply state of a process gas supply unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a view illustrating a process of carrying out a substrate in a large-area atomic layer deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a specific embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1, the large-area atomic layer deposition apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes an inner chamber 110, a process gas supply unit 120, a gas suction / discharge unit 130, a cassette 140, An upper and lower driving unit 150, and an outer chamber 160.

8, the inner chamber 110 has a structure in which a lower surface and both front and rear surfaces 112 and 114 are opened, and is installed in the outer chamber 160, as shown in FIG. An atomic layer deposition process for the large area substrate S is performed in the inner chamber 110.

1, a process gas supply unit 120 and a gas suction / discharge unit 130 are coupled to the inner chamber 110. As shown in FIG. First, the process gas supply unit 120 is coupled to an open front of the inner chamber 110 and supplies the process gas in a layered flow direction toward the inner chamber 110.

3, the process gas supply unit 120 includes a process gas introducing unit 122, a process gas diffusing unit 124, and a buffer space forming unit 126 . 1, the process gas supply unit 122 receives a process gas from a process gas supply source 121 provided outside the outer chamber 160 and transfers the process gas into the outer chamber 160 .

1, the process gas diffusing unit 124 is coupled to the front surface of the inner chamber 110, and the process gas introduced from the process gas loading unit 122 is introduced into the inner chamber 110, Diffusing the process gas into the space between the substrates S loaded on the cassette 140. The process gas diffuses in the space between the substrates S mounted on the cassette 140. [ Herein, the term "laminar flow" refers to a flow of gas that flows in a direction with almost no disturbance in a certain direction without being diffused freely by being injected into a space between narrow spaces.

The term 'laminar flow interval' refers to 'the distance between two plates in which the gas moves in the form of a laminar flow'. In this embodiment, the laminar flow interval is preferably 0.2 to 50 mm. In the case where the layer flow interval is less than 0.2 mm, there is a problem that processing and manufacturing are difficult and control of gas supply is difficult. In the case where the layer flow interval is more than 50 mm, the layer flow of the gas is broken, .

Here, the process gas can be changed according to the progress of the atomic layer process. For example, in order to deposit the ZrO ₂ layer by the atomic layer deposition, first, the source of Zr, the source of O ₃ , and the source of N ₂ And the process gas supply unit 122 brings the first and second reaction gases and the purging gas into the process gas diffusion unit 124 to be described later. At this time, the respective process gases are controlled so as not to be mixed with each other, and the paths to be introduced into the process gas diffusion unit 124 may be separately formed and used.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the process gas diffusion unit 124 is provided with a plurality of process gas injection nozzles 125 spaced apart from each other by an interval equal to the interval at which the plurality of substrates S are stacked.

2 and 3, the buffer space forming unit 126 is installed in front of the process gas diffusing unit 124 and is installed in the process gas diffusing unit 124 and the cassette 140 Is a component that forms a constant buffer space 128 through which the process gas supplied between the substrates S can be uniformly diffused.

Here, the 'buffer space' refers to a process in which a plurality of spray holes 127 are formed in the above-described spray nozzle 125 and sprayed from one spray hole 127 The gas distribution space is formed to have a width larger than the width d1 overlapping with the process gas distribution space diffused and diffused from the adjacent spray holes 127 so that the process gas injected from the plurality of spray holes 127 uniformly flows in the layer flow And a diffusion width d2 sufficient to form the diffusion width d2. Therefore, the width of the buffer space forming portion 126 in the up and down direction should be greater than the overlapping width d1 of the process gas injected in the adjacent spray holes 127.

The process gas in a state in which the layer flow is uniformly diffused by the buffer space forming unit 126 is maintained in a state where a layer flow is maintained in a space between the substrates S mounted at a predetermined interval in the cassette 140 And passes through. 1, the buffer space forming unit 126 may include a plurality of partition plates 126 separated by an interval equal to the interval between the substrates S mounted on the cassette 140 . As shown in FIG. 1, the front end of the partition plate 126 is accurately engaged with the upper end of the substrate S mounted on the cassette 140 so that the space formed by the buffer space formation unit 126 is the same To the space divided by the substrate S. Therefore, the layered flow of the process gas formed by the buffer space forming unit 126 is maintained in the space between the substrates S, and the process gas is moved. In this process, the atomic layer The deposition process is performed.

1, the gas suction / discharge unit 130 is coupled to a rear surface of the inner chamber 110 and sucks and discharges the gas inside the inner chamber 110 . 5, the gas suction / discharge unit 130 may include a gas discharge unit 132, a discharge pump 134, and an exhaust-side buffer space forming unit 136 .

5, the gas discharging unit 132 is coupled to a rear surface of the inner chamber 110, that is, to the opposite side of the process gas supplying unit 120, To the outside and discharges it. 1, the discharge pump 134 is installed outside the outer chamber 160 and connected to the gas discharging unit 132 to discharge the gas inside the gas discharging unit 132 to the outside It is a component to suck and discharge.

5, the exhaust-side buffer space forming unit 136 may include a component forming a constant buffer space between the gas discharging unit 132 and the substrate S mounted on the cassette 140, to be. Specifically, the exhaust-side buffer space forming unit 136, as with the buffer space forming unit 126 described above, processes the layer-by-layer flow of the process gas, which has passed through the space between the substrate S and the rear side of the cassette 140, Side buffer space so as to move a certain distance while maintaining the layer flow. Accordingly, the exhaust-side buffer space forming unit 136 also has a plurality of exhaust-side partitioning plates 136 arranged in the same width as the space between the substrates S, as in the buffer space forming unit 126, The end of the exhaust-side partition plate 136 accurately engages with the lower end of the substrate S so that the layered-flow process gas passing between the substrates S passes therethrough while maintaining the layered flow.

Holding the uniformly layered flow of the process gas to the lower space outside the substrate S by the exhaust-side buffer space forming unit 136 as described above has the effect of forming a uniform thin film even at the distal end of the large-area substrate come.

1, the cassette 140 includes a plurality of large-area substrates S stacked in a horizontal direction with a layered flow space therebetween. The cassettes 140 are coupled to a lower surface of the inner chamber 110, Thereby completing the sealing structure of the inner chamber 110. The upper and lower surfaces of the inner chamber 110 are sealed by the process gas supply unit 120 and the gas suction and discharge unit 130 so that the lower surface of the cassette 140 is connected to the inner chamber 110 The inner chamber 110 is brought into close contact with the lower surface of the inner chamber 110 while the inner chamber 110 is brought into a closed state.

For this, the cassette 140 may include a substrate support column 142 and a lower plate 144 in this embodiment. First, the substrate support posts 142 are components that support the end portions of each substrate such that a plurality of substrates are loaded with a layered flow, as shown in FIG. At this time, the substrate support pillars 142 preferably contact a minimum area of the large area substrate S. The substrate support posts 142 may be installed at four corners of the cassette 140, and may be installed at other portions.

The gap between the plurality of substrates S mounted on the substrate support pillars 142 is equal to the interval between the injection nozzles 125 of the process gas diffusion portion 124 described above.

As shown in FIG. 4, the lower plate 144 is a component to which the lower portion of the substrate support column 142 is fixed. When the lower plate 144 is coupled with the inner chamber 110, Likewise, the lower surface of the inner chamber 110 is sealed. Therefore, the lower plate 144 has a shape matching the lower surface of the inner chamber 110.

7, a substrate supporting part 141 for mounting a substrate from the lower end is formed on the substrate supporting column 142, and a gap between the lower plate 144 and the first substrate supporting part 141 (d2) is formed to be larger than the interval (d1) between the other substrate supporting portions (141). The distance d2 between the lower plate 144 and the first substrate supporting part 141 is set so that the substrate feeding means (not shown in the drawing) for bringing the substrate into or out of the cassette 140 smoothly enters, Are formed at sufficient intervals so as to be able to be lifted or lifted. Therefore, in the process of loading the substrate into the actual cassette, the substrate is first loaded on the uppermost one of the substrate support posts 142, and the cassette 140 is sequentially stacked in the downward direction while increasing the pitch by one pitch.

On the contrary, in the process of removing the substrate from the cassette 140, as shown in FIG. 10, the substrate placed in the lowest layer among the substrate support posts 142 is discharged first, and the cassette 140 is lowered by one pitch The substrate is sequentially taken out.

Next, the cassette upper and lower driving unit 150 is coupled to the lower surface of the cassette 140 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 10, and drives the cassette 140 in the vertical direction. Of course, the cassette 140 may have a structure in which the cassette 140 is simply placed on the cassette up and down driving unit 150.

The cassette up and down driving unit 150 drives the cassette 140 up and down in the process of loading or unloading the substrate S to or from the cassette 140 as described above, 140 is moved into the inner chamber 110, the cassette is moved upward.

Next, the outer chamber 160 is installed to surround the inner chamber 110 and the cassette 140 from outside as shown in FIG. 1, and is a component that can keep the inside of the chamber in a vacuum state. In the present embodiment, the outer chamber 160 forms the overall shape of the large-area atomic layer deposition apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, and has a space in which other components such as the inner chamber 110 can be installed therein I have. As shown in FIG. 1, a gate 162 is formed to transfer the substrate into or out of the outer chamber 160, and the gate 162 ) Is interrupted by the gate valve (164).

100: a large-area atomic layer deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention
100: inner chamber 120: process gas supply part
130: gas suction / discharge unit 140: cassette
150: cassette up / down driving part 160: outer chamber
190: Substrate transfer robot

Claims (5)

An inner chamber having a structure in which a lower surface and both front and rear surfaces are opened;
A process gas supply unit coupled to shut off the open front of the inner chamber, the process gas supply unit supplying the process gas in a layered flow direction toward the inner chamber;
A gas sucking and discharging unit coupled to shut off the open rear surface of the inner chamber and sucking and discharging the gas in the inner chamber;
A plurality of large-area substrates stacked horizontally with a laminar flow interval in a state where they are spaced apart from each other at a lowermost end, and a cassette for closing the opened lower surface of the inner chamber to complete the sealing structure of the inner chamber;
A cassette up / down driving unit coupled to a lower surface of the cassette, for driving the cassette in a vertical direction;
And an outer chamber installed to surround the inner chamber and the cassette from outside and capable of maintaining the inside of the chamber in a vacuum state,
Wherein the process gas supply unit includes:
A process gas inlet for supplying a process gas from a process gas supply source provided outside the outer chamber into the outer chamber;
A process gas supply unit for supplying a process gas introduced from the process gas introducing unit to the inner chamber and diffusing the process gas into the inner chamber so as to be spaced apart from each other by an interval equal to the interval at which the plurality of substrates stacked on the cassette are stacked, A process gas diffuser having a plurality of process gas injection nozzles formed therein to diffuse the process gas so as to have a layered flow in a space between individual substrates loaded on the cassette;
And a buffer space forming part provided on the substrate side of the process gas diffusion part and forming a constant buffer space in which the process gas supplied between the process gas diffusion part and the substrate loaded on the cassette can be uniformly diffused and,
The cassette
A plurality of substrates are stacked in a horizontal direction so as to have a layered flow, and a substrate support column for supporting a distal end portion of the substrate;
And a lower plate fixed to the lower portion of the substrate support column and closely contacting the lower surface of the inner chamber,
Wherein the substrate support pillar is formed with a substrate support portion at a height spaced from the lower end by a distance in which the substrate supply means enters. delete 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gas suction /
A gas discharging unit coupled to a rear surface of the inner chamber, for sucking and discharging the gas inside the inner chamber to the outside;
A discharge pump installed outside the outer chamber and connected to the gas discharging unit to suck and discharge the gas inside the gas discharging unit to the outside;
And an exhaust-side buffer space forming unit for forming a constant buffer space between the substrate discharging unit and the substrate mounted on the cassette. delete The apparatus according to claim 1,
Further comprising a sealing member installed at a portion of the inner chamber which is in contact with a lower surface of the inner chamber and which maintains airtightness inside the inner chamber.

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