TWM519143U - Gas feeding apparatus and sputtering equipment - Google Patents

Description

Gas inlet device and sputtering equipment

The present invention relates to a gas inlet device and apparatus, and more particularly to a gas inlet device and a sputtering device for introducing a process gas during a sputtering process.

Generally, sputtering equipment is mostly coated by physical vapor deposition (PVD) and applied to thin film solar cells, touch panels, or thin film transistors. The working principle is to bombard the surface of the target through particles. The target atoms are made to fly out and deposited and adhered to the surface of the target substrate to form a thin film. The existing solar cell sputtering apparatus generally includes a reaction chamber, a planar target disposed in the reaction chamber, and a gas tube surrounding the planar target and having a process gas. The air tube is provided with a plurality of air holes spaced apart from each other and facing the planar target. In the preparation, a process gas is first introduced into the reaction chamber through the gas pipe, and then a substrate is sputtered through the sputtering operation principle described above.

However, when sputtering, environmental factors such as vacuum degree, electric field, target magnetic field, pumping gas flow, and process gas distribution in the reaction chamber may cause uneven film thickness, even if the process gas is evenly distributed. It is affected by environmental factors such as the target magnetic field and the exhaust gas flow, and affects the film thickness distribution on the substrate. Therefore, in Chinese Patent Application No. 200910167703.2, a method for improving the uniformity of the thickness of the magnetron sputtering is provided. A correction baffle is arranged between the substrate and the planar target to reduce the deposition rate of the local area of the substrate, and a suitable shape of the correction baffle is designed through numerical analysis or theoretical model, thereby improving the uniformity of the film thickness. Sex.

However, shielding by the correction baffle causes the film to be deposited on the correction baffle, causing waste of the target. Further, if the target is an expensive metal such as copper gallium alloy (CuGa), it is more Increase production costs.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a gas inlet device capable of uniform sputtering and improved utilization of a target.

Therefore, another object of the present invention is to provide a sputtering apparatus which can uniformly sputter and improve the utilization of a target.

Therefore, the novel gas inlet device is adapted to be disposed in a reaction chamber, wherein the reaction chamber is provided with a substrate, and a target spaced from the substrate, and defines a passage through the substrate and the A straight line of the target, the gas inlet device comprises: a gas pipe, and an air flow adjusting unit. The gas pipe is filled with a process gas, and around the line defines a gas field region between the substrate and the target, the gas pipe includes a plurality of gas distributions spaced apart from each other and respectively for the process gas to pass into the gas field The stomata of the area. The airflow adjusting unit is disposed on the air pipe and is configured to adjust a gas flow rate of one of the air holes.

Thus, the novel sputtering apparatus is suitable for sputtering a substrate and comprises: a reaction chamber, a target, and a gas passage means. The reaction chamber defines a reaction chamber into which the substrate can be placed. The target is disposed in the reaction chamber and spaced from the substrate and defines a line through the substrate and the target. The gas passage means is disposed in the reaction chamber.

The utility model has the advantages that the design of the airflow adjusting unit and the air pipe can control the distribution of the process gas in the gas field region through the plug hole to deposit a film having a uniform thickness on the substrate, and There is no known problem of obscuring the target by obscuring the baffle to improve the utilization of the target.

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3, an embodiment of the novel sputtering apparatus is suitable for sputtering a substrate 900, comprising a reaction chamber 1, a target 2, and a gas passage device 3. .

The reaction chamber 1 defines a reaction chamber 11 into which the substrate 900 and the target 2 are placed. In practice, the sputtering apparatus is used to sputter a plurality of the substrates 900 and sequentially The substrates 900 are transferred into the reaction chamber 11 for sputtering. The reaction chamber 1 is provided with a negative electrode 13 adjacent to the target 2, and a positive electrode 12 adjacent to the substrate 900. When sputtering, a voltage is applied between the positive electrode 12 and the negative electrode 13 to A potential field is generated between the material 900 and the target 2. If the voltage between the positive electrode 12 and the negative electrode 13 is a direct current voltage, the sputtering device can perform sputtering on the substrate 900 by DC sputtering; if the positive electrode 12 and the negative electrode 13 When the voltage between the voltages is an intermediate frequency alternating voltage, the sputtering apparatus can sputter the substrate 900 by means of a medium frequency sputtering (method); if the voltage between the positive electrode 12 and the negative electrode 13 is high In the case of a frequency alternating voltage, the sputtering apparatus can be sputtered by radio frequency sputtering (Radio Frequency Sputtering), and the implementation is not limited to the above.

The target 2 is a flat planar target and is disposed in the reaction chamber 1 and spaced apart in front of the substrate 900, and defines a straight line extending forward and backward through the substrate 900 and the target 2 L. Since the sputtering apparatus of the embodiment is an upright sputtering, the substrate 900 is subjected to surface coating in an upright state. Therefore, the target 2 and the substrate 900 are spaced back and forth, and the straight line L is front and rear. Extending, but in practice, if the sputtering apparatus is flat-sputtering, the target 2 is spaced above the substrate 900, and the straight line L extends up and down, which is not limited to the embodiment.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the negative electrode 13 is disposed on one side of the target 2 away from the substrate 900, and the positive electrode 12 is disposed on a side of the substrate 900 away from the target 2, but In practice, if the target 2 and the substrate 900 are both conductive materials, the negative electrode 13 can be electrically connected to the target 2, and the positive electrode 12 can be electrically connected to the substrate 900, or the positive electrode 12 can be electrically connected. The method of connecting the positive electrode 12 and the negative electrode 13 of the sputtering apparatus to the reaction chamber 1 is a conventional technique, and is not the focus of the present invention, and therefore will not be described herein.

The gas inlet device 3 is disposed in the reaction chamber 1 and includes a gas pipe 31 containing a process gas, an inlet port 32 connecting the gas pipe 31 and feeding the process gas into the gas pipe 31, and a setting The air flow adjusting unit 33 of the air pipe 31. The process gas is usually argon gas, a mixed gas of argon gas and oxygen gas or a mixed gas of argon gas and hydrogen gas, and the gas pipe 31 is rectangularly closed around the straight line L, and defines a substrate 900 and the target material around the substrate. Between 2 and surrounding the gas field region 310 of the target 2 . The air tube 31 includes an inner side 311 facing the gas field region 310, an outer side 312 facing away from the gas field region 310, and a plurality of spaced apart sides 312 extending from the inner side 311 for the process gas to pass into the gas field region 310. Air hole 313.

The spacing between the air holes 313 is the same, and the aperture of each of the air holes 313 is the same, between 0.2 mm and 0.5 mm. Since the holes 313 have the same aperture, the gas field 310 can be separately accessed. The same air flow. The gas field region 310 is configured to uniformly distribute the process gas through the gas holes 313.

The air flow adjusting unit 33 includes a plurality of plugs 331 each of which is detachably plugged into each of the air holes 313 to limit the flow of air introduced by the air holes 313. The plugs 331 can be respectively inserted into the air holes 313 of the user, so that the air holes 313 cannot pass into the process gas, thereby changing the process gas distribution of the gas field region 310. Of course, in the implementation, the through holes of the air holes 313 can be opened on the plugs 331 to reduce the air flow. Even the through holes of the plugs 331 can be different, so that the user can The plugs 331 having the appropriate through hole diameters are respectively inserted into the air holes 313. In addition, the air flow adjusting unit 33 may include only one plug 331 or other components that can close the air holes 313, such as a cover. , sealing tape, etc., are not limited to this embodiment.

Prior to sputtering, the prior art sputtering apparatus allows the user to plug the plugs 331 into the appropriate air holes 313 based on previous sputtering experience. For example, according to previous experience, the film thickness of the central portion of the substrate 900 is relatively thick, and the plugs 331 can be plugged in the air holes 313 near the center of the gas field region 310.

When the sputtering is performed, since the gas hole 313 of the plug head 331 cannot be injected into the gas, the distribution density of the process gas in the center of the gas field region 310 is relatively small, and when the target 2 is further bombarded, the middle of the target 2 is The portion does not dissipate too much target atoms, so that a film of uniform thickness can be deposited on the surface of the substrate 900.

Of course, there are many other factors that affect the thickness of the film. The film thickness distribution of the substrate may vary from case to case, and therefore may be thicker in other portions, not limited to the above examples. The user can improve the thickness uniformity of the film by inserting the plug 331 at the position of the corresponding air hole 313 during sputtering in the future according to the film thickness distribution of the substrate 900 after sputtering.

Referring to FIG. 4, in the process of specifically fabricating a CIGS thin film solar cell, a copper gallium alloy (CuGa) is used as the target 2 for DC sputtering, and when the novel is used for sputtering, the unplugged from FIG. 4 is used. It can be clearly seen from the hole and the plug hole mode that the substrate 900 can achieve a better film thickness uniformity through the plug hole. In addition, it can be clearly seen from the plug hole mode 1 and the plug hole mode 2 of FIG. The proper plugging method can achieve a relatively uniform thickness, and even the thickness uniformity of the film can be made 2.5% or less by using the plugging method, so that the effect of optimizing the uniformity of the film thickness can be achieved.

In summary, the novel sputtering apparatus, through the matching design of the airflow adjusting unit 33 and the air pipe 31, can control the distribution of the process gas in the gas field region 310 through the plug hole to be in the substrate 900. The deposition of a film having a uniform thickness can improve the uniformity of the thickness of the film, and there is no known problem that the target 2 is wasted by shielding the baffle to improve the utilization of the target 2, so Achieve the purpose of this new type.

However, the above is only the embodiment of the present invention, and when it is not possible to limit the scope of the present invention, all the simple equivalent changes and modifications according to the scope of the patent application and the contents of the patent specification are still This new patent covers the scope.

1‧‧‧Reaction chamber
11‧‧‧Reaction room
12‧‧‧ positive
13‧‧‧negative
2‧‧‧ Target
3‧‧‧ gas access device
31‧‧‧ trachea
310‧‧‧ gas field area
311‧‧‧ inside
312‧‧‧ outside
313‧‧‧ vent
32‧‧‧Intake joint
33‧‧‧Airflow adjustment unit
331‧‧‧ 塞头
900‧‧‧Substrate
L‧‧‧ Straight line

Other features and effects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the drawings, wherein: FIG. 1 is a perspective exploded view showing a gas inlet device of one embodiment of the novel sputtering apparatus; 2 is a side view showing the configuration of the embodiment; FIG. 3 is an incomplete cross-sectional side view showing a plug of the embodiment plugged in a hole; and FIG. 4 is a thickness profile showing The thickness distribution of the film sputtered by the embodiment through different plugging methods and without plugging holes.

3‧‧‧ gas access device

31‧‧‧ trachea

310‧‧‧ gas field area

311‧‧‧ inside

312‧‧‧ outside

313‧‧‧ vent

32‧‧‧Intake joint

33‧‧‧Airflow adjustment unit

331‧‧‧ 塞头

Claims (8)

A gas inlet device adapted to be disposed in a reaction chamber having a substrate disposed therein and a target spaced from the substrate and defining a passage through the substrate and the target In a straight line, the gas passage means comprises: a gas pipe containing a process gas, and surrounding the line defining a gas field region between the substrate and the target, the gas pipe comprising a plurality of spaced apart from each other And respectively, the process gas is introduced into the air hole of the gas field region; and an air flow adjusting unit is disposed in the air pipe and used to adjust the air flow of one of the air holes. The gas inlet device of claim 1, wherein the airflow adjusting unit comprises a plurality of plugs, each plug being detachably plugged into each of the air holes to limit the flow of air introduced by the air holes. The gas inlet device of claim 1, wherein the gas pipe further comprises an inner side facing the gas field region, and an outer side facing away from the gas field region, the inner side opening the gas holes. The gas inlet device of claim 3, wherein the gas pipe is enclosed around the gas field region. A sputtering apparatus for sputtering a substrate, comprising: a reaction chamber defining a reaction chamber into which the substrate can be placed; a target disposed in the reaction chamber, and And a gas passing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, disposed in the reaction chamber. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 5 is a sputtering apparatus capable of performing DC sputtering on the substrate. The sputtering apparatus of claim 5 is a sputtering apparatus capable of performing intermediate frequency sputtering on the substrate. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 5 is a sputtering apparatus capable of performing RF sputtering on the substrate.