KR20190087070A - Diffuser for horizontal type vapor deposition apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a diffuser having a structure suitable to uniformly diffuse gas into a horizontal type chamber. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a diffuser for vapor deposition comprises: a main body having a cylindrical structure to fit into the chamber; and a plurality of through holes formed in the main body for the diffused gas to pass therethrough. The size, position, and shape of a gas inlet and a gas outlet of the through holes are formed to be suitable for uniform diffusion of gas. Therefore, according to the diffuser, uniformity of a deposition process can be significantly increased compared to an existing uniform shower head.

Description

[0001] DIFFUSER FOR HORIZONTAL TYPE VAPOR DEPOSITION APPARATUS FOR HORIZONTAL VAPOR DEPOSITION DEVICE [0002]

The present invention relates to a diffuser for use in a vapor deposition apparatus such as CVD / ALD, and more particularly to a diffuser having a structure suitable for uniformly diffusing gas inside a horizontal chamber.

Deposition is a step of coating a thin film of a predetermined thickness on a substrate such as a semiconductor substrate or glass. In general, techniques for depositing a thin film on a substrate include physical vapor deposition (PVD) using physical collision such as sputtering, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using chemical reaction, , And Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD).

Since the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) utilizes the surface reaction and the gas phase reaction of the substrate at the same time, the deposition rate of the thin film is high, but it is difficult to control the thickness of the deposited thin film by atomic unit and the uniformity is low. On the other hand, since the ALD is deposited by the surface saturation reaction through the self-limited growth method in which the source gas and the reactive gas are separately supplied and alternately supplied, Can be deposited at a thickness of an atomic unit, and the thickness of the deposited thin film can be easily controlled.

However, the atomic layer deposition (ALD) has a problem in that the deposition rate and productivity are significantly lower than those of other techniques because one layer of atomic layer is deposited per one cycle of injecting and discharging the source gas, the reactive gas, and the exhaust gas .

As a means for solving such a low productivity problem, a batch type method has been introduced in which a plurality of substrates are disposed in a vacuum chamber and then the process is simultaneously performed. In the case of such a batch type method, it is difficult to finely and uniformly deposit a large number of substrates on a structure in which gas is injected from above the vertical cylindrical chamber used in the single-leaf type deposition method for single substrate deposition. Accordingly, a horizontal platform is used in which a plurality of substrates are arranged at regular intervals in a horizontal chamber, and a gas is sprayed in a horizontal direction to perform a process. Unlike the vertical structure in which the substrate is indirectly heated by heating the susceptor for fixing the substrate in the case of the horizontal type structure, the wall surrounding the vacuum chamber is heated to directly create the high temperature environment, thereby improving the process speed There is also the advantage that it can be done.

A CVD / ALD apparatus having a general vertical cylindrical chamber has a showerhead on a substrate, and serves to uniformly spray the gas injected from the gas injection port onto the substrate at a proper concentration. However, such a showerhead is not used in a CVD / ALD apparatus having a horizontal chamber, and when the same showerhead as the vertical chamber is arbitrarily used, there is a problem in that the uniformity of the deposition is lowered have.

Patent Registration No. 10-1173081

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a diffuser having a structure suitable for uniformly diffusing a gas in a horizontal chamber, and further to a CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition ) / Atomic layer deposition (ALD) device.

A diffuser for diffusing vapor in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention for realizing the object of the present invention is a diffuser for uniformly diffusing a gas injected into a horizontal tubular chamber and has a cylindrical structure body fitted into the chamber, And a plurality of through holes formed in the main body so that the injected gas can pass therethrough.

In one embodiment, the through-hole may have a funnel-shaped gas inlet having a smaller diameter toward the inside of the main body, and a funnel-shaped gas outlet having a larger diameter toward the outside of the main body.

In one embodiment, the gas outlets are positioned higher than the plurality of through-flow gas inlets, so that the inflowed gas can be formed to move upward.

In one embodiment, the plurality of through holes may be formed such that the diameter of the upper through hole is larger than the diameter of the lower through hole.

In one embodiment, the diameter of each through-hole may be determined based on at least one of the size of the body, the length of the through-hole, and the distance between the diffuser and the substrate.

In one embodiment, the diffuser may be in the form of a first unit of a cylindrical structure having a plurality of through-holes and a second unit of a cylindrical structure having a plurality of through-holes arranged at a predetermined interval.

In one embodiment, the through-hole of the second unit is constituted by two or more through-hole sets smaller than the diameter of the through-hole of the first unit, and the through-hole set is located at a position corresponding to the through- .

In one embodiment, the diffuser may be in the form of a first unit of a cylindrical structure having one through-hole and a second unit of a cylindrical structure having a plurality of through-holes arranged at a predetermined interval.

A vapor deposition apparatus according to one embodiment for realizing the object of the present invention is a vapor deposition apparatus for vaporizing a vapor of a vapor of a vapor in a direction parallel to the chamber, And may include a jetting port.

In one embodiment, the vapor deposition apparatus may further include a substrate insertion portion having a semi-cylindrical structure in which a plurality of substrates are arranged at regular intervals.

The diffuser according to the embodiments of the present invention has a structure suitable for uniformly diffusing the gas injected into the horizontal tubular chamber. According to one embodiment, the diffuser includes a plurality of through holes in a body of a cylindrical structure, and the size, position, and shape of the gas inlet and the outlet are adjusted in consideration of the influence of gravity due to the horizontal chamber structure, The uniformity of the deposition process can be greatly improved as compared with the conventional uniform showerhead structure.

1A to 1C are perspective views showing a vapor deposition apparatus having a diffuser according to an embodiment.
2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an internal structure of a diffuser according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
3A to 3C are cross-sectional views illustrating an internal structure of a diffuser having a through-hole structure suitable for a horizontal chamber according to embodiments.
4 is a view illustrating a structure of a diffuser having two units according to one embodiment.
5 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a diffuser having two units having different diameter through holes according to an embodiment.
6 is a view showing the structure of a diffuser having two units having different diameter through holes according to another embodiment.
In the drawings, some components are enlarged and exaggerated in order to emphasize the features of the invention, and general components of the vapor deposition apparatus not directly related to the technical features are omitted.

The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. It should be understood that the various embodiments of the present invention are different, but need not be mutually exclusive. For example, certain features, structures, and characteristics described herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention in connection with an embodiment. It is also to be understood that the position or arrangement of the individual components within each disclosed embodiment may be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is to be limited only by the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled, if properly explained.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1A to 1C are perspective views illustrating a vapor deposition apparatus having a diffuser according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Vapor deposition refers to a process technique for depositing a thin film on a target substrate using a chemical reaction of gas by sequentially or simultaneously injecting a specific gas into a chamber provided with the substrate. The present invention can be applied to all kinds of vapor deposition processes that use chemical chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or atomic layer deposition (ALD) as well as gas chemical reactions.

The chamber 10 is a space in which a deposition process using a gas is performed. Although the present specification and the drawings have been described by taking a horizontally placed cylindrical tubular chamber as an example, this is merely an example, and the structure of the chamber is not limited to a specific form.

The batch type ALD apparatus further includes a semi-cylindrical substrate insertion portion 40 in which a plurality of substrates 50 are arranged at regular intervals as shown in FIG. 1A. The substrate inserting portion 50 in which the substrate is placed is inserted into the chamber 10 before the process is performed and the inside of the chamber is vacuumed by closing the opening and closing portions of the chamber. When the deposition process is completed, the opening and closing portions of the chamber are opened, the substrate inserting portion is taken out, and the substrate is separated.

In FIGS. 1A and 1B, the substrate inserting portion having a structure in which the substrates are arranged horizontally has been described as an example, but the structure of the substrate inserting portion and the arrangement structure of the substrates are not limited to specific forms. For example, as shown in FIG. 1C, the substrate inserting unit 40 may be a cassette type in which a plurality of substrates 50 are vertically installed and fixed, or may have any other structure other than a semi-cylindrical structure.

The gas is injected into the chamber 10 through the gas injection port 20. The reaction gas containing the element used for the chemical reaction of the CVD is directly injected into the chamber. In the case of ALD, the gas such as the raw material gas, the reactive gas and the exhaust gas necessary for the one cycle process is injected into the chamber do.

The diffuser 3 is a module for uniformly diffusing the gas injected through the gas injection port 20 into the chamber. In general, the gas injection port 20 has a narrow inlet shape to increase the gas outlet pressure. When the gas is injected directly onto the substrate without using a diffuser or a shower head, the gas is not uniformly adsorbed on the substrate, And thin film coating is degraded.

Accordingly, the diffuser is used to uniformly spread the gas on one or a plurality of substrates so that the gas of high extrusion ejected from the gas ejection opening is dispersed while passing through the plurality of through holes.

1A through 1C, a diffuser 3 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a main body 30 having a cylindrical structure fitted in a chamber 10, And a plurality of through holes (300) are formed.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of the diffuser 3 shown in Figs. 1A to 1C. As a result, the gas ejected from the gas ejection port 20 passes through the plurality of through holes 300 and is uniformly dispersed in the substrate to be adsorbed on the substrate in the chamber. As a result, the uniformity of the deposition and the thin film coating are improved do.

3A to 3C are cross-sectional views illustrating an internal structure of a diffuser having a through-hole structure suitable for a horizontal chamber according to embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 3A, the through-hole 300 of the diffuser according to the embodiment has a funnel-shaped gas inlet that becomes smaller in diameter toward the inside of the main body 30, And may have a gas outlet in the form of a funnel. According to this structure, the pressure becomes small as the pressure of the gas passing through the inlet of the funnel type becomes narrower and the gas flowing out of the through hole 300 flows out to the outlet of the funnel shape. As a result, So that it spreads widely. Therefore, since the gas can be diffused over a wider range than the straight through-hole structure shown in Fig. 2 (the structure having the same diameter of the inlet / outlet), the uniformity of the deposition can be further improved.

Referring to FIG. 3B, the penetration hole 300 of the diffuser according to another embodiment may be formed such that the gas outlet is located higher than the gas inlet. That is, as in the above-described embodiments, the through holes are formed diagonally upward rather than parallel to the horizontal tube 10 and the main body 30, so that the gas introduced from the left gas ejection port is moved upward .

The above structure is designed in consideration of the horizontal structure of the chamber. In a typical vertical-type chamber structure, the showerhead (diffuser) through-hole is generally formed in a vertical direction since the gas jetting orifice and the showerhead (diffuser) are positioned on the substrate and the gas is sprayed from top to bottom.

However, in the horizontal type chamber structure, since the gas passing through the diffuser proceeds in the parabolic direction due to the influence of gravity, in the case of a batch type process in which a plurality of substrates are simultaneously deposited, A difference occurs in the amount of gas ejected onto the far-away substrate. In addition, even within a single substrate, there is a difference between a portion located near the diffuser and a portion farther away. As a result, uniformity and thin film coverage deteriorate in a single substrate, and productivity is deteriorated due to differences in quality among a plurality of substrates.

The upward through hole structure of FIG. 3B is designed to solve this problem. Since the gas passing through the through hole 300 starts diffusing from a position higher than a general linear structure, the path distortion due to gravity Reducing the effect so that the gas is uniformly sprayed onto the substrate. Therefore, even in a vapor deposition apparatus having a horizontal chamber, uniformity over a certain level and thin film deposition can be maintained.

Referring to FIG. 3C, the through-holes 300 of the diffuser according to another embodiment may have different diameters. Specifically, the diameter of the upper through-hole is formed larger than the diameter of the lower through-hole (for example, by making the diameter (R1 to R5) of the through hole 300 smaller as it goes from top to bottom as shown in FIG. 3C) The amount of the outflow gas can be made larger than the amount of the gas flowing out to the lower through hole.

The above structure is also designed in consideration of the structure of the horizontal chamber. In a typical vertical chamber structure, it is preferable that the width of the through hole is constant since the gas is injected vertically downward from above the substrate. However, in the horizontal type chamber structure, since the gas proceeds under the parabolic curve due to the influence of the gravity, if the widths of all the through holes are the same, the outflow amount of the gas flowing through the upper through hole is larger than the outflow amount of the gas flowing through the lower through- Less.

Such a difference in the flow rate of the gas lowers the uniformity of the thin film (in particular, causes a larger difference in the cassette type in which a plurality of substrates are arranged vertically). In order to solve the above problems, the diameter (R1) of the upper through hole is made wider than the diameter (R5) of the lower through hole as in the embodiment, so that the outflow amount of the gas passing through the upper through- Can be adjusted more. As a result, the effect of the path distortion due to gravity is reduced, so that the gas is uniformly injected onto the substrate, so that evenness in the horizontal chamber can be maintained to a uniform level and thin film coverage.

The sizes (R1 to R5) of the diameter of each through hole can be arbitrarily set in consideration of the size of the diffuser body 30, the length of the through hole 300, the distance between the diffuser and the target substrate, and the like. In addition, the structure shown in FIG. 3C is merely an exemplary structure for facilitating understanding of the technique, and the ratio of the number of the through holes or the width is not limited to a specific value.

The structure according to the present embodiment can be implemented alone or in combination with other structures, so that the versatility is very high. For example, the through holes may be formed as a funnel type of FIG. 3A and may be formed diagonally upward as shown in FIG. 3B, or may have different diameters.

4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the structure of a diffuser having two units according to one embodiment. Referring to FIG. 4, the diffuser 3 may be configured such that the first unit 31 and the second unit 32 of a cylindrical structure are continuously arranged at a predetermined interval. The first unit 31 includes a plurality of through holes 310 and the second unit 32 includes a plurality of through holes 320. The first and second units 31 and 32 may be integrally formed, each may be formed as a separable modular type, or may be further combined with another unit having a similar cylindrical structure in a modular form.

In the case of the diffuser 3 of the single unit described in FIG. 2, even if a plurality of through holes 300 are formed, since a greater amount of gas flows into the gas injection port 20 as it is closer to a center located on the straight line with the gas injection port 20, A difference occurs in the amount of gas flowing out from the through hole.

The structure of FIG. 4 is designed such that the injected gas passes through the through-hole 310 of the first unit 31, is firstly diffused in the space S between the units, Passes through the through hole 320 of the chamber 32 and diffuses into the chamber. Accordingly, it is possible to eliminate an imbalance in which more gas flows out from the central through hole located close to the gas ejection opening 20. According to the embodiment, a more uniform diffusion effect can be obtained by additionally joining a third unit, a fourth unit (not shown) of similar structure to further space for diffusing the gas (note that in this case, The diffusion rate may be slower and the process speed may be slower).

5 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a diffuser having two units having different diameter through holes according to an embodiment. 5, the through-hole 320 of the second unit 32 is formed of a set of two through-holes that are smaller than the diameter of the through-hole 310 of the first unit 31, Is formed at a position corresponding to the through hole 310 of the first unit 31 (for example, a position connected to the through hole of the first unit).

According to the present embodiment, the injected gas is diffused primarily through the through-hole 310 of the first unit 31, branched into the through-hole set 320 of the second unit 32 finer than the first unit 31, . The uniformity of the deposition and the thin film coating can be improved by solving the problem of varying the gas flow rate depending on the positions of the through holes and the injection ports as in the above embodiments.

6 is a view showing the structure of a diffuser having two units having different diameter through holes according to another embodiment. 6, the diffuser 3 includes a first unit 33 of a cylindrical structure having one through hole 330 and a second unit 340 of a cylindrical structure having a plurality of through holes 340 And may be arranged in a form of being arranged at a predetermined interval. Like the structure of the diffuser of Fig. 4, the first and second units 33 and 34 may be formed integrally or separately from each other, Can be further combined.

The single through-hole 330 of the first unit 33 diffuses the gas injected from the gas ejection port 20 into the diffuser internal space S in a primary manner. The gas evenly diffused in the space S is more uniformly diffused while passing through the plurality of through holes 340 of the second unit 34. Therefore, the uniformity of the deposition can be improved as compared with the diffuser composed of a single unit.

The single through-hole 330 is preferably formed to have a larger diameter than each of the through-holes 340. The diameter of the single through-hole 330 can be set in consideration of the distance from the gas injection port 20, the size of the chamber 10, the size of the diffuser 3, and the like.

The diffuser according to the above-described embodiments has a structure suitable for uniformly diffusing the gas injected into the horizontal chamber. The plurality of through holes formed in the main body of the diffuser are optimized for diffusion of the gas in consideration of the influence of gravity due to the size, position and shape of the gas inlet and the outlet, The uniformity of the deposition process can be greatly improved.

In addition, since the structure according to each embodiment can be implemented independently and in combination with other structures, it is very versatile and can be manufactured in a user-customized manner through a 3D printer, thereby facilitating design changes Do.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference to certain embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. However, it should be understood that such modifications are within the technical scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical idea of the appended claims.

The global Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) equipment market is experiencing rapid growth in recent years. As the production of electronic devices such as smart phones and displays steadily increase, demand for atomic layer deposition equipment is also expected to increase steadily.

The vapor deposition diffuser according to the present invention can contribute directly to the thin film productivity of vapor deposition equipment such as ALD / CVD, and thus is highly industrially applicable. In addition, it is easy to combine structures and design changes, which can be widely used throughout research / production fields.

10: Horizontal chamber
20: Gas nozzle
3: diffuser
30: diffuser body
31, 33: first unit
32, 34: second unit
300, 310, 320, 330, 340: through holes
40:
50: target substrate

Claims (10)

1. A vapor-diffusing diffuser for uniformly diffusing gas injected into a horizontal chamber,
A cylindrical structure body fitted into the chamber; And
And a plurality of through holes formed in the main body so that the injected gas can pass through the through-holes.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the through hole is formed to have a funnel-shaped gas inlet having a smaller diameter toward the inside of the main body, and a funnel-shaped gas outlet having a larger diameter toward the outside of the main body.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the plurality of through holes are formed such that the gas outlet is positioned higher than the gas inlet, so that the introduced gas advances upwardly.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the plurality of through holes are formed such that the diameter of the upper through hole is larger than the diameter of the lower through hole.
5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the diameter of each of the through holes is determined based on at least one of a size of the main body, a length of the through hole, and a distance between the diffuser and the substrate.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the diffuser is a type in which a first unit of a cylindrical structure having a plurality of through holes and a second unit of a cylindrical structure having a plurality of through holes are arranged at a predetermined interval.
The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the through-hole of the second unit is formed of at least two through-hole sets smaller than the diameter of the through-hole of the first unit,
And the through-hole set is formed at a position corresponding to the through-hole of the first unit.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the diffuser is a type in which a first unit of a cylindrical structure having one through hole and a second unit of a cylindrical structure having a plurality of through holes are arranged at a predetermined interval.
A vapor diffuser diffuser according to any one of claims 1 to 8;
A horizontal chamber capable of forming a vacuum therein; And
And a gas ejection port for ejecting gas in a direction parallel to the chamber.
10. The method of claim 9,
Further comprising a substrate insertion portion having a semi-cylindrical structure in which a plurality of substrates are arranged at regular intervals.

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