KR101168150B1 - Thin layer deposition apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a thin film deposition apparatus, and more particularly, to a thin film deposition apparatus capable of loading or unloading a cassette while opening and closing a process chamber by integrating a door and a cassette holder for opening and closing a process chamber.
The thin film deposition apparatus according to the present invention includes an outer chamber having an opening formed at one side thereof; A process chamber provided inside the outer chamber and having an opening formed at one side thereof; A first door for opening and closing the opening of the process chamber; A cassette holder connected to the inner wall of the first door and configured to stack at least one cassette; A second door for opening and closing the opening of the outer chamber; Connecting means for connecting the first door and the second door; And moving means for reciprocating the first door and the cassette holder in a horizontal direction together with the second door.

Description

Thin Film Deposition Equipment {THIN LAYER DEPOSITION APPARATUS}

The present invention relates to a thin film deposition apparatus, and more particularly, a first door for opening and closing a process chamber installed in an outer chamber, a second door for opening and closing the outer chamber, and a cassette holder integrated with the outer chamber and the process chamber. The present invention relates to a thin film deposition apparatus capable of loading and unloading a cassette while opening and closing.

Generally, a semiconductor device, a flat panel display device, or the like goes through various manufacturing processes, among which a process of depositing a predetermined thin film on a wafer or a glass (hereinafter, referred to as a substrate) is indispensable. The thin film deposition process is mainly used for sputtering, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD) and the like.

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

Such a sputtering method can form a high purity thin film having excellent adhesion with a substrate, but in the case of depositing a highly integrated thin film having a process difference by the sputtering method, it is very difficult to secure uniformity over the entire thin film. There is a limit to the application of.

Next, chemical vapor deposition is the most widely used deposition technique, and is a method of depositing a thin film having a required thickness on a substrate using a reaction gas and a decomposition gas. For example, chemical vapor deposition first deposits a variety of gases into a reaction chamber and deposits a thin film of the required thickness on a substrate by chemically reacting gases induced by high energy such as heat, light or plasma.

In addition, the chemical vapor deposition method increases the deposition rate by controlling the reaction conditions through the ratio and amount of plasma or gases applied by the reaction energy.

However, in chemical vapor deposition, the reactions are fast, and thus, it is very difficult to control the thermodynamic stability of atoms.

Finally, atomic layer deposition is a method for depositing atomic layer unit thin films by supplying source gas (reaction gas) and purge gas alternately. The thin film formed thereby has a high aspect ratio, is uniform even at low pressure, and has electrical and physical characteristics. great.

In recent years, chemical vapor deposition is difficult to apply to the structure having a very high aspect ratio due to the limitation of step coverage. Therefore, in order to overcome the limitation of the step coverage, an atomic layer deposition method using surface reaction has been used. Is being applied.

The atomic layer deposition apparatus which performs the atomic layer deposition method includes a batch type apparatus which processes a plurality of substrates in a batch, and a sheet type type apparatus which processes a process by loading substrates one by one in a process chamber.

A general atomic layer deposition apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

As shown, a loading chamber 110 for loading a cassette on which a substrate is loaded, a process chamber 120 installed adjacent to the loading chamber, and an unloading chamber for unloading a substrate processed in the process chamber ( 130). In addition, gate valves G1 to G4 are provided in front of the loading chamber, between the loading chamber and the process chamber, between the process chamber and the unloading chamber, and behind the unloading chamber to convey the substrate while intermittently controlling the chambers. It is provided.

A gas inlet 121 through which a reaction gas (source) or a purge gas is injected is provided in the process chamber 120, and a gas supply means for supplying gas through the gas inlet is provided. Exhaust means for exhausting the process chamber is also provided.

In addition, the loading chamber and the unloading chamber are provided with separate exhaust means, respectively, and a transport means 150 for transporting the cassette on which the substrate is loaded.

The operating state of the conventional atomic layer deposition apparatus constructed as described above will be described.

First, the first gate valve G1 is opened to load a cassette into the loading chamber 110.

Next, the loading chamber 110 is exhausted in a closed state to form the same degree of vacuum as the process chamber 120.

Next, the second gate valve G2 is opened to carry the cassette into the process chamber 120 from the loading chamber 110 using the transfer means 150.

Next, the process chamber 120 is closed, and purge gas and source gas are alternately supplied while exhausting, thereby performing atomic layer deposition on the substrate.

Next, the third gate valve G3 is opened to take out the cassette to the unloading chamber 130, and the cassette is taken out to the outside from the unloading chamber to be completed.

Therefore, the conventional atomic layer deposition apparatus is complicated because the transfer means for transferring the cassette must be provided inside each chamber. In order to overcome this problem, there is a case where the cassette is directly brought into the process chamber by using a transport robot instead of having a separate transport device inside the chamber. However, the transport robot is expensive, difficult to control, and a process tag according to the carrying out of the cassette. There is a problem that the time is increased.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to integrate the door and the cassette holder for opening and closing the process chamber to open and close the process chamber and at the same time the film deposition apparatus capable of loading or unloading the cassette In providing.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the thin film deposition apparatus according to the present invention includes an outer chamber in which an opening is formed at one side; A process chamber provided inside the outer chamber and having an opening formed at one side thereof; A first door for opening and closing the opening of the process chamber; A cassette holder connected to the inner wall of the first door and configured to stack at least one cassette; A second door for opening and closing the opening of the outer chamber; Connecting means for connecting the first door and the second door; And moving means for reciprocating the first door and the cassette holder in a horizontal direction together with the second door.

In addition, the connecting means is preferably elastically stretchable.

In addition, the separation distance between the first door and the second door is preferably different from the separation distance between the opening of the process chamber and the opening of the outer chamber.

In addition, the first door or the second door is preferably provided with a sealing means.

In addition, the sealing means is preferably a mechanical seal or an O-ring.

In addition, it is preferable that a heater for heating the process chamber is further provided inside the outer chamber.

In addition, it is preferable that two or more process chambers are provided in the outer chamber in the up-down direction or the left-right direction.

The atomic layer deposition apparatus according to the present invention comprises a process chamber in which an opening is formed at one side; A door for opening and closing the opening of the process chamber; A cassette holder connected to an inner wall of the door and configured to stack at least one cassette; It is preferable to include a; moving means for reciprocating the door in the horizontal direction.

In addition, the door is preferably provided with a sealing means.

In addition, the sealing means is preferably a mechanical seal or an O-ring.

According to the present invention, there is an effect that the cassette can be loaded or unloaded at the same time as opening and closing the process chamber by integrating the door and the cassette holder for opening and closing the process chamber.

1 shows a conventional atomic layer deposition apparatus.
2 to 5 show a thin film deposition apparatus according to the present invention.
6 and 7 show the operating state of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described the configuration and operation of the embodiment according to the present invention.

2 and 3, the embodiment 1 according to the present invention includes an outer chamber 10, a process chamber 20, doors 11 and 21, a cassette holder 30, and a connecting means. 70 and a moving means 60.

The outer chamber 10 has an opening 12 formed at one side, a plurality of process chambers 20 are embedded, the opening 12 is formed at one side so that the cassette (C) can be conveyed.

The process chamber 20 accommodates a cassette C on which a substrate is loaded and performs an atomic layer deposition process on the substrate, and an opening 22 is formed at one side so that the cassette C can be conveyed. .

In addition, a first door 21 for opening and closing the opening 22 of the process chamber and a second door 11 for opening and closing the opening 12 of the outer chamber are provided. The first door 21 and the second door are provided. 11 is connected by a connecting means 70. This will be described later in detail. However, the separation distance between the first door 21 and the second door 11 is greater than the separation distance between the opening 12 of the outer chamber and the opening 22 of the process chamber (t1> t2).

In addition, the inner wall of the first door 21 is provided with a cassette holder 30 for loading a plurality of cassettes (C).

As such, the second door 11, the first door 21, and the cassette holder 30 are connected and fixed to each other, and a moving means 60 for reciprocating them in the horizontal direction is further provided.

The moving means 60 is a conventional ball screw member, a screw 61, a nut member 62 linearly reciprocating by the rotation of the screw, the nut member 62 and the second door 11 It consists of a jig 63 for connecting the drive source (not shown) for rotating the screw.

In addition, the gas supply means 40 for supplying the source gas and the purge gas through the outer chamber 10 into the process chamber 20, and the exhaust means 50 for exhausting the process chamber 20 is further It is provided.

In addition, although not shown, it is preferable that a heater is further provided between the outer chamber 10 and the process chamber 20. This is to maintain a constant temperature inside the process chamber 20.

The main part of this embodiment is demonstrated concretely with reference to FIG. As shown, in the present embodiment, the first door 21 and the second door 11 are connecting means 70 is a conventional pogo pin member elastically stretchable. That is, the large diameter portion 71 fixed to the second door 11, the small diameter portion 72 fixed to the first door 21, and the small diameter portion 72 are burned in the large diameter portion 71. A sexually supporting compression spring 73 is included. In addition, a compression spring 74 having a larger elastic modulus is further installed on an outer circumference of the pogo pin member. Accordingly, the first door 21 and the second door 11 may be approached or moved away from each other, rather than having a fixed distance from each other.

In addition, the first door 21 and the second door 11 are provided with sealing means (11a, 21b), respectively, the sealing means is a mechanical seal (O-ring) or the like, and other known Means may be applied. Preferably, the sealing means 21a of the first door 21 is a mechanical seal, and the sealing means 11a of the second door is provided with an O-ring.

5 shows a cassette C loaded in the process chamber 20. As shown, it can be seen that a plurality of substrates are loaded in a standing (tilted angle at a predetermined angle from vertical or vertical).

Hereinafter, the operating state of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 6 and 7.

First, a plurality of cassettes C on which a substrate is loaded are mounted in the cassette holder 30 connected to one side of the first door 21 in a state where the first door 21 and the second door 11 are opened (Fig. 3).

Next, when the driving source is primarily driven to rotate the screw 61, the nut member 62 makes a linear motion. As a result, the first door connected to the second door 11 and the second door 11 is rotated. The 21 is moved so that the first door 21 closes the opening 22 of the process chamber. At the same time, since the cassette holder 30 enters the process chamber 20, the cassette C is carried into the process chamber 20. However, in this state, the second door 11 is not in contact with the side wall of the outer chamber 10 (see FIG. 6).

Next, when the screw 61 is rotated by driving the drive source secondarily, the second door 11 is linearly moved by the above mechanism, so that the second door 11 is opened in the opening 12 of the outer chamber 10. Will be closed. However, the first door 21 and the cassette holder 30 are in the same state as in FIG. 6, except that the connecting means 70 connecting the first door 21 and the second door 11 is a compression spring 73, 74. The pogo pin member contracts as this contracts (see FIG. 7).

As such, the cassette C is introduced into the process chamber 20, and source gas and purge gas are alternately injected while the outer chamber 10 and the process chamber 20 are closed, thereby depositing atomic layers on the substrate. To do.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the cassette (or substrate) loading operation and the sealing operation of the outer chamber and the process chamber are simultaneously performed.

The above description is merely an embodiment according to the present invention, and various modifications and variations are possible. For example, the separation distance between the first door and the second door may be smaller than the separation distance between the opening of the process chamber and the opening of the outer chamber. In this case, first driving of the driving source may first seal the opening of the outer chamber, and then the first door may secondly seal the process chamber.

In addition, unlike the present embodiment, an embodiment without an external chamber is possible. In this case, the second door for opening and closing the outer chamber and the connecting means for connecting the second door and the first door are unnecessary, and the moving means will be directly connected to the first door. However, even in this case, the cassette holder is connected to the inside of FIG. Therefore, if the process chamber is sealed in the first door, the cassette can be brought into the process chamber together. Therefore, even in this embodiment, the cassette (or substrate) loading operation and the process chamber closing operation are simultaneously performed.

It is also possible to use an air cylinder in addition to the ball screw as the moving means. Naturally, such various modifications and variations belong to the claims of the present invention.

1: thin film deposition apparatus 10: outer chamber
20: process chamber 11, 21: door
11a and 21a sealing means 12 and 22 openings
30: cassette holder 40: gas supply means
50: exhaust means 60: moving means
61: screw 62: nut member

Claims (7)

An outer chamber having an opening formed at one side thereof;
A process chamber provided inside the outer chamber and having an opening formed at one side thereof;
A first door for opening and closing the opening of the process chamber;
A cassette holder connected to the inner wall of the first door and configured to stack at least one cassette;
A second door for opening and closing the opening of the outer chamber;
Connecting means for connecting the first door and the second door; And
And moving means for reciprocating the first door and the cassette holder in a horizontal direction together with the second door.
And the separation distance between the first door and the second door is greater than the separation distance between the opening of the process chamber and the opening of the outer chamber.
According to claim 1, The connecting means,
Thin film deposition apparatus, characterized in that the elastic pressing means for elastically pressing the first door toward the process chamber.
The method of claim 2, wherein the elastic pressing means,
Thin film deposition apparatus, characterized in that the spring or air cylinder.
delete The method of claim 1,
The first door is sealed in a mechanical seal manner with the process chamber when closing the opening of the process chamber,
The second door has an O-ring to seal the opening of the outer chamber.
The method of claim 1,
Thin film deposition apparatus, characterized in that the inside of the outer chamber is further provided with a heater for heating the process chamber.
The method of claim 1,
Thin film deposition apparatus, characterized in that the inside of the outer chamber is provided with at least two process chambers in the vertical direction or left and right directions.

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