KR20140140464A

KR20140140464A - Atomic Layer Deposition Apparatus

Info

Publication number: KR20140140464A
Application number: KR1020130061355A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 조생현
Original assignee: (주)브이앤아이솔루션
Priority date: 2013-05-29
Filing date: 2013-05-29
Publication date: 2014-12-09

Abstract

Provided is an atomic layer depositing apparatus capable of remarkably reducing the entire process time by quickly depositing atomic layers on substrates continuously transferred to perform a process. The atomic layer depositing apparatus comprises: a vacuum chamber (10) making a vacuum therein; a substrate mount (20) which is positioned in the vacuum chamber (10) and on which multiple substrates (1) are arranged on top of each other at regular intervals; a mount moving part (30) which vertically moves the substrate mount (20); and at least one process area (S1) which is installed in the vacuum chamber (10) and in which a source gas injection area (S11), a purge gas injection area (S12), a reaction gas injection area (S13), and a purge gas injection area (S14) are arranged in order upward or downward.

Description

{Atomic Layer Deposition Apparatus}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an atomic layer deposition apparatus for processing a plurality of substrates, and more particularly, to an atomic layer deposition apparatus for performing an atomic layer deposition process for each substrate to be processed in a laminated state of a plurality of substrates.

BACKGROUND ART [0002] In general, a semiconductor device or a flat panel display device is subjected to various manufacturing processes. In particular, a process for depositing a thin film necessary on a wafer or glass substrate is essential.

In the thin film deposition process, sputtering, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), and the like are mainly used.

First, the sputtering method is to inject an inert gas such as argon into a vacuum vacuum chamber while applying a high voltage to the target in order to generate argon ions in a plasma state. At this time, the argon ions are sputtered on the surface of the target, and the atoms of the target are separated from the surface of the target and deposited on the substrate.

Although a high-purity thin film having excellent adhesion with a substrate can be formed by such a sputtering method, when a highly integrated thin film having a process difference is deposited by a sputtering method, it is very difficult to ensure uniformity over the entire thin film. There are limitations in application.

Next, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is the most widely used deposition technique, in which a thin film having a desired thickness is deposited on a substrate using a reaction gas and a decomposition gas. For example, the chemical vapor deposition method first deposits a thin film of desired thickness on a substrate by injecting various gases into a reaction vacuum chamber and chemically reacting gases induced by high energy such as heat, light or plasma.

In the chemical vapor deposition method, the deposition rate is increased by controlling the reaction conditions through the composition ratio and amount of plasma or gases applied as much as the reaction energy.

However, in the chemical vapor deposition method, since the reactions are rapid, it is very difficult to control the thermodynamic stability of the atoms, and the physical, chemical and electrical characteristics of the thin film are deteriorated.

Finally, the atomic layer deposition method is a method for depositing a thin film of atomic layer unit by alternately supplying a source gas (reactive gas) and a purge gas. The thin film thus formed has a high aspect ratio, is uniform at low pressure, great.

In recent years, it has been difficult to apply the chemical vapor deposition method to the step coverage of a structure having a very large aspect ratio. Therefore, in order to overcome the limit of the step coverage, an atomic layer deposition method using a surface reaction .

The apparatus for performing such an atomic layer deposition method includes a batch type apparatus for collectively processing a plurality of substrates and a sheet type apparatus for performing a process while loading the substrates one by one in a vacuum chamber.

However, the conventional single wafer type apparatus has a problem that the throughput of the apparatus is low because the substrates are processed one by one. On the other hand, the arrangement type device has a problem that the deposition efficiency is lowered and the film quality is lowered because the process is performed collectively in a state where a plurality of substrates are laminated in one vacuum chamber.

Therefore, in consideration of the excellent throughput of the arrangement type apparatus, it is urgently required to develop an atomic layer deposition apparatus having high film quality and high deposition efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an atomic layer deposition apparatus capable of rapidly depositing atomic layers by carrying out processes together with transfer of deposited substrates in order to solve such problems, and to provide optimal process conditions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a vacuum chamber capable of forming a vacuum therein. A substrate table placed in the vacuum chamber, the substrate table being vertically stacked with a plurality of substrates spaced apart at regular intervals; A mount table moving part for moving the substrate table in a vertical direction; An atomic layer deposition apparatus including at least one processing region provided in the vacuum chamber and having a source gas injection region, a purge gas injection region, a reaction gas injection region, and a purge gas injection region sequentially arranged in an upward direction or a downward direction / RTI >

By moving the substrate stage in which the source gas injection region, the purge gas injection region, the reactive gas injection region, and the purge gas injection region are sequentially arranged in the vertical direction and the plurality of substrates are stacked up and down, It is possible to perform the process by the process of the present invention, and the whole process time can be remarkably shortened.

The process regions may be arranged continuously in the upward direction or the downward direction.

Particularly, if two or more process regions are disposed continuously in the upward direction or the downward direction, it is possible to perform a plurality of process cycles.

Wherein each of the source gas injection region, the purge gas injection region, the reaction gas injection region, and the purge gas injection region includes a gas injection portion for injecting the gas toward the substrate table, And a gas discharging portion for sucking and discharging the gas injected by the gas injecting portion.

The substrate mounting table may have a circular outline of a horizontal outline, and the gas ejecting portion and the gas ejecting portion may have a arc shape surrounding the outer side of the substrate mounting table.

The substrate stage may have a horizontal outline formed in a rectangular shape, and the gas ejecting unit and the gas ejecting unit may be installed to eject gases in a size corresponding to the opposite sides of the substrate table.

By providing the gas injection portion and the gas discharge portion in each of the source gas injection region, the purge gas injection region, the reaction gas injection region, and the purge gas injection region, the source gas injection region, the purge gas injection region, The gas injection region can form an independent gas injection region in the vacuum chamber.

Each of the source gas injection region, the purge gas injection region, the reaction gas injection region, and the purge gas injection region may be installed to inject gas onto two or more substrates.

In this manner, the atomic layer processing conditions can be optimized by jetting gas onto two or more substrates on which the substrate gas injection area, the purge gas injection area, the reactive gas injection area, and the purge gas injection area are mounted on the substrate mounting table.

And a vertical height of the inside of the vacuum chamber is determined by a vertical movement of the substrate table, a substrate located at the uppermost position of the substrate table is positioned in a gas injection area located at the lowermost position of the processing area, It is preferable that the substrate to be positioned has a height as high as possible to be located in the gas injection region located at the uppermost portion of the process region.

It is preferable that the substrate table is rotated with the vertical axis as a rotation axis for performing a uniform atomic layer deposition process.

The present invention is characterized in that the source gas injection area S11, the purge gas injection area S12, the reaction gas injection area S13 and the purge gas injection area S14 are sequentially arranged in the vertical direction, By vertically moving the stacked substrate table 20, it is possible to carry out the process by continuously moving the substrate table 20 up and down, and the whole process time can be remarkably shortened.

1 is a cross-sectional view of an atomic layer deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention,
FIGS. 2 and 3 are cross-sectional views illustrating the operation of the atomic layer deposition apparatus of FIG. 1,
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a gas injecting unit and a gas discharging unit installed in a process region of the atomic layer deposition apparatus of FIG. 1;

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an atomic layer deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

An atomic layer deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a vacuum chamber 10 capable of forming a vacuum therein, as shown in FIG. 1; A substrate table 20 placed in the vacuum chamber 10 and stacked vertically with a plurality of substrates 1 spaced apart at regular intervals; A mount table moving part 30 for vertically moving the substrate table 20; The source gas injection area S11, the purge gas injection area S12, the reaction gas injection area S13 and the purge gas injection area S14 are sequentially arranged in the upward or downward direction in the vacuum chamber 10 (S1, S2). &Lt; / RTI >

The vacuum chamber 10 has a constant space therein and has a structure capable of maintaining the internal space in a vacuum state. Accordingly, the vacuum chamber 10 is provided with an exhaust port (not shown) for exhausting the gas inside the vacuum chamber 10, and an exhaust port (not shown) may be connected to a vacuum pump (not shown). Further, temperature control means (not shown) for controlling the temperature inside the vacuum chamber 10 may be further provided.

In this vacuum chamber 10, a cassette in which a plurality of substrates 1 are stacked in a vacuum chamber 10 is carried in and a cassette entrance (not shown) in which a cassette in the vacuum chamber 10 can be taken out And this cassette entrance is blocked by a gate valve (not shown) for vacuum maintenance inside the vacuum chamber 10 during processing.

Next, the substrate table 20 is placed in the vacuum chamber 10, and a plurality of substrates 1 are stacked on top of one another at regular intervals. The substrate table 20 may be a cassette for carrying the substrate 1 into the vacuum chamber 10 or may be a separate device provided inside the chamber 10.

Here, the substrate table 20 is a robot for transferring the cassette from the outside to the table-moving section 30 through the cassette entrance port in the case of a cassette for bringing the substrate 1 into the vacuum chamber 10, a rail May be further included.

In addition, if the substrate table 20 is configured separately from the cassette, a separate structure such as a robot for transferring the substrate 1 from the cassette to the substrate table 20 may be further provided.

The substrate table 20 may further include a rotating device (not shown) capable of independently rotating each of the substrates 1 stacked thereon. This rotating device rotates the substrate 1 at a constant speed during the process so that a uniform thin film is formed on the substrate 1. Of course, this substrate rotating device may not be provided.

The substrate table 20 may further include a heating device (not shown) capable of heating the substrate 1 stacked thereon.

In addition, it is preferable that the interval between the substrates 1 to be laminated is kept the same on the substrate table 20.

On the other hand, the substrate table 20 may have a shape corresponding to the shape of the substrate 1 on which the outline of the horizontal cross section, such as a circular shape or a rectangular shape, is laminated.

The mount table moving section 30 is configured to move the substrate table 20 in the vertical direction.

The mount table moving unit 30 may be any device capable of moving the substrate table 20 in the up and down direction, for example, supporting the bottom surface of the substrate table 20 and moving in the vertical direction, (20) can be moved up and down.

And is mounted on the upper side of the substrate table 20 and moves in the vertical direction to move the substrate table 20 in the vertical direction.

More specifically, the table moving section 30 may include a table support portion 31 for supporting the substrate table 20 and a vertical drive portion 32 for driving the table support portion 31 up and down.

In order to perform a uniform process, the substrate table 20 is preferably rotated with the vertical axis as a rotation axis. The table table moving part 30, which supports the substrate table 20 and moves in the vertical direction, The mounting table 20 can be rotated with the vertical direction as a rotation axis.

1 to 3, the vacuum chamber 10 has one or more processing regions S1 and S2 for performing an atomic layer deposition process on the substrate 1. [

The process regions S1 and S2 are provided in the vacuum chamber 10 and arranged in the upward or downward direction to form the source gas injection region S11, the purge gas injection region S12, the reaction gas injection region S13, And a jetting area S14 are sequentially arranged.

More specifically, the process regions S1 and S2 are provided in the vacuum chamber 10 and arranged in the upward direction or the downward direction. The source gas injection region S11, the purge gas injection region S12, the reaction gas injection region S13, And the gas injection area S14 are sequentially disposed on the substrate table 20 so that the substrate table 20 on which the substrate 1 is stacked as described above moves the process areas S1 and S2 in the upward and downward directions, The source gas, the purge gas, the reactive gas, and the purge gas are sequentially sprayed on the substrate 1 stacked on the substrate 1, thereby enabling the atomic layer deposition process to be performed.

In this way, the source gas injection area S11, the purge gas injection area S12, the reaction gas injection area S13, and the purge gas injection area S14 are sequentially arranged in the vertical direction, The substrate stage 20 can be vertically moved by moving the substrate stage 20 up and down, thereby shortening the entire process time.

The source gas injection area S11 can be configured as a region where a source gas for performing an atomic layer deposition process such as TMA is injected onto the substrate 1 mounted on the substrate table 20.

The height of the source gas injection area S11 is appropriately selected so that an appropriate amount of the source gas can be injected into the substrate 1 to perform the atomic layer deposition process.

The purge gas injection areas S12 and S14 can be variously configured as a region in which purge gas such as Ar is injected onto the substrate 1 mounted on the substrate mounting table 20.

The heights of the purge gas injection regions S12 and S14 are appropriately selected so that a suitable amount of purge gas can be injected into the substrate 1 to perform the atomic layer deposition process.

Reaction gas injection region (S13) is an area O _2, such as reaction gas for performing atomic layer deposition process is injected to the substrate 1 mounted on the substrate mounting table 20 can be varied.

The height of the reactive gas ejection region S13 is appropriately selected so that an appropriate amount of reactive gas can be injected into the substrate 1 to perform the atomic layer deposition process.

Particularly, each of the source gas injection area S11, the purge gas injection area S12, the reaction gas injection area S13, and the purge gas injection area S14 is installed to spray gas onto two or more substrates 1 desirable.

On the other hand, each of the source gas injection area S11, the purge gas injection area S12, the reaction gas injection area S13, and the purge gas injection area S14 is directed toward the substrate table 20 as shown in FIG. And a gas discharging portion 42 installed to face the gas discharging portion 41 in the horizontal direction and sucking and discharging the gas injected by the gas injecting portion 41 .

The gas jetting section 41 is capable of jetting the gas toward the substrate mounting table 20 as long as the gas can be supplied and jetted.

The gas discharging portion 42 is provided so as to face the gas discharging portion 41 in the horizontal direction so as to suck and discharge the gas injected by the gas injecting portion 41 as long as it can suck and discharge gas .

When the outline of the horizontal cross section of the substrate table 20 has a circular shape, the gas ejection portion 41 and the gas ejection portion 42 may have arc shapes surrounding the outside of the substrate table 20.

When the outline of the horizontal cross section of the substrate table 20 has a rectangular shape, the gas spraying section 41 and the gas discharge section 42 are respectively provided with a gas corresponding to the opposing sides of the substrate table 20 And may be installed to spray.

One or more guide members 43 corresponding to the outer shape of the substrate 1 may be installed in the vacuum chamber 10 so that the gas injected by the gas injecting unit 41 flows toward the substrate 1 .

On the other hand, the process regions S1 and S2 may be arranged continuously in the upward direction or the downward direction, depending on the process conditions or the like.

Specifically, when two process regions S1 and S2 are successively arranged vertically as shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, two process stages S1 and S2 in which two substrate stage 20 are successively arranged vertically ) To pass through the process of two cycles.

On the other hand, when the substrate table 20 has the source gas injection area S11, the purge gas injection area S12, the reaction gas injection area S13, and the purge gas injection area S14 constituting the process areas S1 and S2, The vertical height of the inside of the vacuum chamber 10 can be adjusted by the upward and downward movement of the substrate table 20 so that the substrate 1 located at the uppermost position of the substrate table 20 is moved The height of the substrate 1 positioned at the lowest position of the substrate table 20 and positioned at the gas injection area located at the uppermost position of the process areas S1 and S2 .

1 ... substrate
10 ... Vacuum chamber 20 ... Substrate mount
30 ... mounting table moving part
41 ... gas injection part 42 ... gas discharge part

Claims

A vacuum chamber capable of forming a vacuum therein;
A substrate table placed in the vacuum chamber, the substrate table being vertically stacked with a plurality of substrates spaced apart at regular intervals;
A mount table moving part for moving the substrate table in a vertical direction;
And at least one processing region provided in the vacuum chamber and having a source gas injection region, a purge gas injection region, a reaction gas injection region, and a purge gas injection region sequentially arranged in an upward direction or a downward direction.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein at least one of the process regions is disposed continuously in an upward direction or a downward direction.

The method according to claim 1,
The source gas injection region, the purge gas injection region, the reaction gas injection region, and the purge gas injection region, respectively,
A gas spraying unit for spraying the gas toward the substrate table,
And a gas discharging unit installed horizontally opposite to the gas discharging unit for sucking and discharging gas injected by the gas discharging unit.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Wherein the substrate mounting table has a circular outline in a horizontal direction,
Wherein the gas injecting unit and the gas discharging unit have arc shapes surrounding the outside of the substrate table.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Wherein the substrate table has a horizontal outline of a rectangular shape,
Wherein the gas injecting unit and the gas discharging unit are installed to inject gas at a size corresponding to the opposite sides of the substrate mounting table, respectively.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Wherein each of the source gas injection region, the purge gas injection region, the reaction gas injection region, and the purge gas injection region is provided so as to inject gas to at least two substrates.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The inner vertical height of the vacuum chamber
By the vertical movement of the substrate stage,
Wherein a substrate located at the uppermost position of the substrate stage is positioned in a gas injection region located at the lowermost position of the process region, and a substrate positioned at the lowest position of the substrate stage is positioned at a gas injection region Wherein the deposition chamber has a height capable of being positioned in the atomic layer deposition apparatus.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the substrate stage is rotated with the vertical axis as a rotation axis.