Ribbon beam plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system for anisotropic deposition of thin films

A ribbon beam plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system comprising:

• a process chamber containing a platen for supporting a substrate;
• and
• a plasma source disposed adjacent the process chamber and adapted to produce free radicals from a gaseous species supplied to a plasma chamber, the plasma chamber having an aperture associated therewith for allowing a beam of the free radicals to exit the plasma chamber, wherein the aperture is defined by a radially-elongated nozzle extending directly from the plasma chamber away from the plasma chamber and having a depth in a range of 7 millimeters to 20 millimeters for collimating the beam of free radicals exiting the plasma chamber, wherein at least a portion of the nozzle is located entirely outside of the plasma chamber, and wherein the nozzle is separate from, is attached to, and extends at least partially into, a sidewall of the plasma chamber;
• wherein the process chamber is maintained at a first pressure in a range of 10-6 torr to 10-2 torr, and the plasma chamber is maintained as a second pressure in a range of 1 millitorr to 1 torr for driving the free radicals from the plasma chamber into the process chamber and onto the substrate;
• and
• wherein at least one of the platen and the plasma chamber is at least one of movable and rotatable for directing the beam toward the platen at an oblique angle relative to a surface of the platen;
• wherein an entirety of the plasma chamber, including the nozzle, is rotatable for directing the beam toward the platen at an oblique angle relative to a surface of the platen.

A method of operating a ribbon beam plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system including a process chamber containing a platen for supporting a substrate, and a plasma source disposed adjacent the process chamber, the method comprising:

• supplying a gaseous species to a plasma chamber of the plasma source from a gas source;
• igniting the gaseous species to produce an energetic plasma in the plasma chamber;
• establishing a pressure differential between the plasma chamber and the process chamber to extract a collimated ribbon beam containing free radicals of the plasma through an aperture associated with the plasma chamber for driving the free radicals from the plasma chamber into the process chamber and onto the substrate, and wherein the aperture is defined by a radially-elongated nozzle extending directly from the plasma chamber away from the plasma chamber and having a depth in a range of 7 millimeters to 20 millimeters, wherein at least a portion of the nozzle is located entirely outside of the plasma chamber, and wherein the nozzle is separate from, is attached to, and extends at least partially into, a sidewall of the plasma chamber;
• and
• rotating an entirety of the plasma chamber, including the nozzle, for directing the beam toward the substrate at an oblique angle relative to a surface of the substrate.