KR101485580B1 - Atomic layer deposition apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

And an air flow forming section for forming an air flow for forcedly flowing the deposition gas to the susceptor and the substrate by rotation of the susceptor. The atomic layer deposition apparatus includes a process chamber, a susceptor provided in the process chamber and rotated by placing a plurality of substrates thereon, a showerhead provided on the susceptor for spraying a deposition gas for depositing a thin film on the plurality of substrates, And a gas flow forming unit provided on the surface of the susceptor for lowering the deposition gas injected from the showerhead toward the susceptor and forcedly flowing toward the substrate. Therefore, the airflow forming portion generates a suction force by high-speed rotation of the susceptor, and effectively provides the deposited deposition gas to the susceptor and the substrate. In addition, it is possible to improve the deposition efficiency and the quality of the thin film and to reduce the consumption amount of the deposition gas.

Atomic Layer Deposition Devices, ALD, Susceptors, Airflow Formation

Description

[0001] ATOMIC LAYER DEPOSITION APPARATUS [0002]

The present invention relates to an atomic layer deposition apparatus, and more particularly, to an atomic layer deposition apparatus capable of preventing generation of particles and improving deposition quality by uniformly maintaining exhaust gas and improving exhaust efficiency in a thin film deposition apparatus.

In general, in order to deposit a thin film having a predetermined thickness on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate, physical vapor deposition (PVD) using physical collision such as sputtering and chemical vapor deposition (chemical vapor deposition), or the like.

Examples of the chemical vapor deposition method include atmospheric pressure CVD (APCVD), low pressure CVD (LPCVD), and plasma enhanced CVD (PECVD). Among them, low temperature Plasma organic chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is widely used because of its ability to deposit and its rapid deposition rate.

However, as the design rule of the semiconductor device is drastically reduced, a thin film of a fine pattern is required and a step of a region where the thin film is formed is also very large. As a result, the use of atomic layer deposition (ALD), which is capable of forming fine atomic layer fine patterns very uniformly as well as having excellent step coverage, is increasing.

The atomic layer deposition method (ALD) is similar to the general chemical vapor deposition method in that it utilizes a chemical reaction between gas molecules. However, the conventional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method injects a plurality of gas molecules simultaneously into the process chamber to deposit reaction products generated above the substrate on the substrate. Alternatively, In that the gas is injected into the chamber and then purged to leave only the physically adsorbed gas on the heated substrate and then the other gas material is injected to deposit chemical reaction products generated only on the upper surface of the substrate .

The thin film implemented by such an atomic layer deposition method has a wide step coverage characteristic and has the advantage of being able to realize a pure thin film having a low impurity content, and is widely popular today.

Typically, in an atomic layer deposition apparatus, a showerhead or a susceptor rotates at a high speed, different kinds of source gases are injected, and a substrate sequentially passes through a source gas to form a thin film on the substrate surface. In addition, in the conventional atomic layer deposition apparatus, a substrate is loaded into a process chamber and loaded on a susceptor, a thin film is formed while the susceptor is rotated at a high speed while the susceptor is elevated to a certain height, So that the substrate is unloaded.

On the other hand, in the conventional atomic layer deposition apparatus, due to the high rotation of the susceptor, a boundary layer and a predetermined ascending air flow are formed on the surface of the susceptor and the substrate. As a result, there is a problem that the deposition gas injected from the showerhead is difficult to reach the substrate due to the influence of the air current formed on the surface of the susceptor.

Further, in the conventional atomic layer deposition apparatus, an exhaust line for discharging the exhaust gas in the process chamber may be provided in the shower head. In this case, the amount of the deposition gas that is sucked into the exhaust line and reaches the substrate is further reduced due to the suction force formed in the exhaust line at a position near the exhaust line. There is a problem in that the deposition efficiency and the quality of the formed thin film are deteriorated due to the difference in the amount of the deposition gas reaching the substrate depending on the distance in the exhaust line.

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 plasma processing apparatus and a plasma processing method capable of preventing atoms of a deposition gas from reaching a substrate surface sufficiently due to the influence of a susceptor generated by high- Layer deposition apparatus.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an atomic layer deposition apparatus which prevents the deposition amount of the deposition gas to be sucked into the exhaust line by the exhaust line to reach the substrate, which is reduced and nonuniform.

According to embodiments of the present invention, an atomic layer deposition apparatus includes an air flow forming unit for forcedly flowing a deposition gas to a substrate by rotation of a susceptor. The atomic layer deposition apparatus includes a process chamber, a susceptor provided in the process chamber and rotated by placing a plurality of substrates thereon, a showerhead provided on the susceptor for spraying a deposition gas for depositing a thin film on the plurality of substrates, And a gas flow forming unit provided on the surface of the susceptor for lowering the deposition gas injected from the showerhead toward the susceptor and forcedly flowing toward the substrate.

In the embodiment, the airflow forming portion is a groove recessed from the surface of the susceptor and elongated along the radial direction of the susceptor. For example, the airflow forming portion is disposed between the plurality of substrates and arranged radially with respect to the center of the susceptor.

In the embodiment, the airflow forming portion has a streamlined curve shape in which one side is convex toward the substrate. Further, the airflow forming portion has a first end in the form of a streamline curve and a second end in a straight line shape.

In the embodiment, the airflow forming portion is formed deeper at the second end than at the first end. Further, the airflow forming portion has a curved surface shape in which the surface near the second end has a certain curvature.

According to the present invention, first, a plurality of grooves are formed between the susceptor surface and the substrate to form a gas flow which forces the deposition gas to flow to the susceptor and the substrate by rotation of the susceptor.

Second, since the influence of the boundary layer formed on the surface of the susceptor and the surface ascending airflow can be canceled by the high-speed rotation of the susceptor, the deposition gas can be effectively supplied to the substrate.

Thirdly, since the airflow generating unit is disposed at a position corresponding to the space between the substrates and the exhaust line, it is possible to prevent the deposition gas injected by the suction force formed on the exhaust line from being sucked into the exhaust line and effectively increase the deposition gas reaching the substrate have.

Further, since the amount of the deposition gas reaching the substrate increases, the deposition efficiency and the quality of the thin film can be improved, and the consumption amount of the deposition gas in the deposition process can be reduced.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to or limited by the embodiments.

1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an atomic layer deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a showerhead in the atomic layer deposition apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a susceptor in the atomic layer deposition apparatus of FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the operation of the airflow forming unit in the atomic layer deposition apparatus of FIG. 1; FIG.

Hereinafter, an atomic layer deposition apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG.

1, an atomic layer deposition apparatus 100 includes a process chamber 110, a susceptor 120, a showerhead 130, and a deposition gas jetted from the showerhead 130, And an air flow forming unit 150 that forms a flow of air to flow.

The process chamber 110 receives the substrate W and provides a space in which the deposition process is performed.

Here, the substrate W may be a silicon wafer. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the substrate W may be a transparent substrate including a glass used for a flat panel display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a plasma display panel (PDP). Further, the shape and size of the substrate W are not limited to those shown in the drawings, and may have substantially various shapes and sizes such as circular and rectangular plates.

The showerhead 130 is provided on the process chamber 110 to provide a deposition gas to the surface of the substrate W supported by the susceptor 120.

The deposition gas includes a source gas containing a material constituting the thin film to be formed on the surface of the substrate W and a purge gas for purging the source gas. According to the present embodiment, two kinds of gases which react with each other as a source gas to form a thin film material are used. As the purge gas, the source gas and the thin film formed on the substrate W and the substrate W And a stable gas which does not chemically react with the gas is used.

The shower head 130 is provided with a plurality of spray holes 132 for spraying the deposition gas onto which the deposition gas is sprayed and a plurality of spray holes 132 for spraying the same deposition gas in a region corresponding to the substrate W A plurality of ejection regions 131 are formed. 2, the injection region 131 includes a first source region 311 and a second source region 312 in which two kinds of different source gases are respectively injected, and a second source region 312 in which purge gas is injected And the purge regions 313 and 314 are disposed between the first and second source regions 311 and 312, respectively.

Here, the size, number, and arrangement of the injection holes 132 are not limited to those shown in the drawings, but may be arranged in various forms so as to uniformly spray the deposition gas on the substrate W. [ The injection hole 132 may have a circular hole or a slit shape.

The shower head 130 is formed with an exhaust line 140 for exhausting exhaust gas containing unreacted deposition gas and residual deposition gas in the process chamber 110 through the showerhead 130. For example, the exhaust line 140 is formed by arranging a plurality of exhaust holes 142 having two 'V' shapes so as to divide the injection region 131, V 'type vertexes facing each other are present in the central portion of the shower head 130. As shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, the exhaust line 140 has a V shape, but the shapes of the exhaust line 140 and the injection region 131 are not limited by the drawings. It is also possible that the exhaust gas is exhausted through the side or bottom of the process chamber 110 without the exhaust line 140.

The susceptor 120 is provided in the process chamber 110 and supports the plurality of substrates W. The susceptor 120 is rotated to revolve the substrate W about the center point of the susceptor 120 and a rotation axis 125 for rotating the susceptor 120 is provided below the susceptor 120. [ Respectively.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the susceptor 120 is a semi-batch type having excellent throughput so that a plurality of substrates W are supported on one plane on the same plane. And disposed radially along the circumferential direction at the surface of the susceptor 120. [

On the other hand, at the surface of the susceptor 120 rotating at a high speed, a boundary layer is formed due to friction between the surface of the susceptor 120 and the atmosphere, or a predetermined upward flow is generated. Therefore, it is difficult for the deposition gas injected from the showerhead 130 to sufficiently reach the substrate W due to the boundary layer and the upward flow of the surface of the susceptor 120.

Since the exhaust line 140 is provided on the showerhead 130, the deposition gas injected from the showerhead 130 is affected by the suction force acting on the exhaust line 140, There is a problem in that it can not be sufficiently reached.

 However, in this embodiment, by forming the air flow forming unit 150 that forcibly lowers the deposition gas to the surface of the susceptor 120 and forms an airflow for forced flow to the substrate W, the surface of the susceptor 120 The deposition gas can be effectively supplied to the substrate W by canceling the boundary layer and the upward flow of the deposition gas and offsetting the suction force by the exhaust line 140.

Hereinafter, an example of the airflow forming unit 150 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG.

The airflow forming unit 150 has a groove shape formed on the surface of the susceptor 120 so that an airflow toward the susceptor 120 is formed by the rotation of the susceptor 120.

As shown in FIG. 3, the airflow forming part 150 is formed so that airflow having a predetermined directionality can be formed by the rotation of the susceptor 120. For example, the airflow forming part 150 is formed long along the radial direction of the susceptor 120. The airflow forming part 150 has a first end 151 and a second end 152 with respect to the rotating direction of the susceptor 120. The first end 151 has a streamlined curve shape, The second end 152 may have a straight line shape.

The airflow forming part 150 is a groove recessed at a predetermined depth from the surface of the susceptor 120. The first end portion 151 has the largest surface area corresponding to the center of the substrate W so that the deposition gas can be effectively forced to flow toward the substrate W and the center of the susceptor 120 And an edge portion, that is, a curved shape in which the surface area becomes smaller toward both ends of the airflow forming portion 150.

4, the airflow forming part 150 is a groove recessed to a predetermined depth from the surface of the susceptor 120, and the surface of the airflow forming part 150 is similar to the surface of the fan blades Shaped shape. That is, the airflow forming part 150 has a shape in which the second end part 152 is recessed more than the first end part 151, and the first end part 151 and the second end part 152, The surface near the first end 151 is formed as a curved surface having a predetermined radius of curvature.

The airflow forming part 150 is provided with a plurality of grooves between the plurality of substrates W so that the deposition gas can flow effectively to the substrate W. The airflows formed in the grooves cancel each other, The airflow forming part 150 is disposed radially with respect to the center of the susceptor 120 so that the first end 151 faces in one direction.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art, It will be understood that the present invention can be changed.

1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an atomic layer deposition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of a showerhead in the atomic layer deposition apparatus of FIG. 1; FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example of a susceptor in the atomic layer deposition apparatus of FIG. 1; FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an atomic layer deposition apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

Description of the Related Art

100: atomic layer deposition apparatus 110: process chamber

120: susceptor 125:

130: Shower head

131, 311, 312, 313, 314: jetting area 132: jetting hole

140: exhaust line 142: exhaust hole

150, 151, 152 airflow forming portion W: substrate

Claims (7)

A process chamber; A susceptor provided in the process chamber to rotate a plurality of substrates; A showerhead provided on the susceptor for spraying a deposition gas for depositing a thin film on the plurality of substrates; And An air flow forming part formed in the susceptor so as to define a groove formed therein and forming a gas flow for forcedly flowing the deposition gas injected from the shower head to the substrate; Lt; / RTI > Wherein the airflow forming portion is formed to be long along the radial direction of the susceptor and is arranged radially with respect to the center of the susceptor and is disposed between the plurality of substrates. delete delete The method according to claim 1, Wherein the airflow forming portion has a streamlined curve shape in which one side is convex toward the substrate. 5. The method of claim 4, Wherein the airflow forming portion has a streamlined curved first end and a straight second end. 6. The method of claim 5, Wherein the airflow forming portion is formed so that the depth of the second end portion is deeper than that of the first end portion. 6. The method of claim 5, Wherein the air flow forming portion has a curved surface shape having a predetermined curvature on a surface near the second end portion.

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