US 2002/0170598 A1Published application

Process gas supply mechanism for ALCVD systems

AssigneeL'Air Liquide, Societe Anonyme a Directoire et Conseil de Surveillance pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude

InventorsJean-Marc Girard, Takako Kimura

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

patentgrep

Loading patent…

Abstract

To provide a process gas supply mechanism for ALCVD systems that enables the high speed switching of process gases without accompanying particulate contamination of the treatment substrate. The ALCVD system is provided with a CVD treatment section 10 and a process gas supply section 20. The process gas supply section 20 contains a reactant gas line 24 and a carrier gas line 28; these are combined to form a joint flow line 32. A vent line 34 is connected to the reactant gas line 24 upstream from the joint flow position. A stop valve SV and a needle valve NV are disposed in the vent line 34. This needle valve NV functions as a setting means in order to set the flow rate of the gas flowing in the vent line 34. The stop valve SV is driven through repetitive switching operations by a drive control element 38, thereby effecting supply and nonsupply of the reactant gas.

Claims16

Dependent claims

Process gas supply mechanism for ALCVD systems, wherein the ALCVD system is provided with a gastight treatment compartment that holds the treatment substrate and with a vacuum exhaust section that can exhaust said treatment compartment and is connected to the treatment compartment through an exhaust line, and wherein the process gas supply mechanism is connected to the treatment compartment in order to feed process gas into the treatment compartment, said process gas supply mechanism being characteristically provided with a first reactant gas line that can supply a flow rate-regulated first reactant gas;

a first auxiliary gas line that can supply a flow rate-regulated first auxiliary gas;
a first vent line, which is connected to the first reactant gas line upstream from a first position at which the first reactant gas flow is combined with the first auxiliary gas flow;
a first vent setting means that is disposed in the first vent line and that can set the flow rate vf1 of the gas flowing in the first vent line so as to satisfy the condition mf1<vf1<sf1+mf1 wherein mf1 is the flow rate of the first reactant gas supplied from the first reactant gas line and sf1 is the flow rate of the first auxiliary gas supplied from the first auxiliary gas line;
a first vent switching means that is disposed in the first vent line and that can open and close the first vent line;
and a first drive control means that drives the first vent switching means in such a manner that the first vent switching means carries out its switching operation repetitively.

2 more elements

Process gas supply mechanism for ALCVD systems, wherein the ALCVD system is provided with a gastight treatment compartment that holds the treatment substrate and with a vacuum exhaust section that exhausts said treatment compartment and is connected to the treatment compartment through an exhaust line, and wherein the process gas supply mechanism is connected to the treatment compartment in order to feed process gas into the treatment compartment, said process gas supply mechanism being characteristically provided with a first reactant gas line that can supply a flow rate-regulated first reactant gas;

a first auxiliary gas line that can supply a flow rate-regulated first auxiliary gas;
a first joint flow line that supplies gas to the treatment compartment and is formed by the combination at a first position of the first reactant gas line and the first auxiliary gas line;
a first reactant gas vent line, which is connected to the first reactant gas line upstream from the first position;
a first auxiliary gas vent line, which is connected to the first auxiliary gas line upstream from the first position;
a first reactant gas vent setting means that is disposed in the first reactant gas vent line and that can set the flow rate vf1m of the gas flowing in the first reactant gas vent line so as to satisfy the condition mf1<vf1m<mf1+sf1 wherein mf1 is the flow rate of the first reactant gas supplied from the first reactant gas line and sf1 is the flow rate of the first auxiliary gas supplied from the first auxiliary gas line;
a first auxiliary gas vent setting means that is disposed in the first auxiliary gas vent line and that can set the flow rate vf1s of the gas flowing in the first auxiliary gas vent line so as to satisfy the condition sf1<vf1s<sf1+mf1;
a first reactant gas vent switching means that is disposed in the first reactant gas vent line and that can open and close the first reactant gas vent line;
a first auxiliary gas vent switching means that is disposed in the first auxiliary gas vent line and that can open and close the first auxiliary gas vent line;
and a first drive control means that drives the first reactant gas vent switching means and the first auxiliary gas vent switching means, in such a manner that the first reactant gas vent switching means and the first auxiliary gas vent switching means carry out their switching operations repetitively in a regime synchronized to each other that provides opposite switched states for the two means.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 10/147,062Filed 17 May 2002
Priority: JP 2001-14929218 May 2001
Published: 21 Nov 2002
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

C23C 16/45525
Pulsed gas flow or change of composition over time: atomic layer deposition [ALD]
C03B 37/01413
Made entirely or partially by chemical means , e.g. vapour phase deposition of bulk porous glass either by outside vapour deposition [OVD], or…
C23C 16/45561
Characterised by the method used for introducing gases into reaction chamber or for modifying gas flows in reaction chamber: gas plumbing upstream…
C30B 25/14
Epitaxial-layer growth: feed and outlet means for the gases; Modifying the flow of the reactive gases