Gas-phase chemical reactor and method of using same
AssigneeASM IP Holding B.V.
InventorAntti Juhani Niskanen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A gas-phase chemical reactor, a system including the reactor, and methods of using the reactor and system are disclosed. An exemplary reactor includes a reaction chamber and is configured to provide a precursor within the reaction chamber for a soak period—e.g., a period wherein a supply of the precursor to the reaction chamber is ceased and before purging of the reaction chamber begins. This allows relatively high residence times, relatively high partial pressures of the precursor(s) and/or a relatively high absolute pressure to be obtained within the reaction chamber during substrate processing.
Claims15
A gas-phase chemical reactor comprising:
- a reaction chamber for processing a substrate;
- a load/unload chamber comprising an opening to receive the substrate;
- a valve actuatable to seal the opening;
- a susceptor having a top surface to receive the substrate, wherein the susceptor is moveable within the load/unload chamber, and wherein a top surface of the susceptor defines at least a portion of a bottom section of the reaction chamber when the substrate is in a processing position;
- and,
- a vacuum source for evacuating the load/unload chamber;
- wherein the reactor comprises a controller for controlling a precursor delivery process and an evacuation process, the controller comprising a memory being programmed to enable the controller to execute the following steps:
- while the susceptor is in the processing position, providing a precursor to the reaction chamber, ceasing the flow of the precursor to the reaction chamber, and retaining the precursor within the reaction chamber for a soak period where the reaction chamber is not directly purged during the soak period, while evacuating the load/unload chamber with the vacuum source, whereby a pressure within the reaction chamber is greater than a pressure within the load/unload chamber during the soak period, wherein an amount of the precursor continues to rise for a period of time and then remains substantially constant during the soak period, and
- after the soak period, evacuating the reaction chamber by moving the susceptor into the load/unload chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.