Nozzle for remote plasma cleaning of process chambers
AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorJeremy Jerome Pool
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Nozzles for providing gas into a semiconductor wafer process chamber are disclosed. The nozzles may include a deflector structure that has a surface facing the nozzle outlet so as to redirect gas as it enters a chamber. The nozzles may also have a cooling system to remove heat provided to the deflector structure through the flow of plasma through the nozzle. The deflector structure may be used to distribute the plasma flowed therethrough in a more evenly distributed manner, thereby protecting hardware within the process chamber from potential hotspots. This has the further effect of redirecting gases more efficiently throughout the chamber.
Claims20
An apparatus comprising:
- a nozzle body having a nozzle outlet;
- a deflector structure;
- and
- one or more elongate supports, wherein:
- the one or more elongate supports support the deflector structure relative to the nozzle body,
- the deflector structure has a deflection surface facing the nozzle outlet,
- a center axis of the nozzle outlet intersects with the deflection surface,
- a first cooling passage extends through at least one of the one or more elongate supports,
- a second cooling passage extends through at least one of the one or more elongate supports,
- the deflector structure has one or more hollow interior regions that are fluidically connected with, and fluidically interposed between, the first cooling passage and the second cooling passage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.