In-situ health check of liquid injection vaporizer
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsToan Tran, Yen-Kun Wang, Steve Ghanayem, Sean Herbert, Won B. Bang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Early detection of clogging of a liquid precursor injection valve in a gas delivery system of a semiconductor fabrication tool is allowed through monitoring pressure upstream of the injection valve. The increase in pressure associated with obstruction of the valve may trigger an alarm alerting the operator, allowing for rapid correction of the problem before substantial numbers of wafers are improperly processed utilizing the clogged valve.
Claims21
A system for providing a vaporized liquid precursor to a semiconductor processing chamber, the apparatus comprising:
- a mass flow controller in fluid communication with a pressurized carrier gas source through a carrier gas flow line;
- a liquid precursor injection valve, the liquid precursor injection valve in fluid communication with the mass flow controller through the carrier gas flow line, in fluid communication with a liquid precursor source through a first line, and in fluid communication with a processing chamber through a delivery line;
- and
- a pressure transducer in communication with the carrier gas flow line and configured to detect a pressure within the carrier gas flow line between the mass flow controller and the injection valve.
An apparatus for processing a semiconductor substrate comprising:
- a processing chamber comprising a chamber lid and walls enclosing a substrate support, a gas distributor, and a vacuum exhaust connected to a chamber outlet;
- a gas delivery system in fluid communication with the gas distributor, the gas delivery system comprising,
- a mass flow controller in fluid communication with a pressurized carrier gas source through a carrier gas flow line,
- a liquid precursor injection valve in fluid communication with the mass flow controller through the carrier gas flow line, in fluid communication with a liquid precursor source through a first line, and in fluid communication with a processing chamber through a delivery line, and
- a pressure transducer in communication with the carrier gas flow line and configured to detect a pressure within the carrier gas flow line between the mass flow controller and the injection valve;
- and
- a system controller comprising a memory and a processor, the processor in electrical communication with the pressure transducer.
A method of detecting clogging of an injection valve providing vaporized liquid precursor material to a semiconductor processing chamber, the method comprising:
- detecting a pressure at a point between the injection valve and a mass flow controller providing a carrier gas to the injection valve.
A vaporizing system comprising:
- a liquid injection valve having first and second inlets and an outlet, the injection valve capable of receiving a carrier gas at the first inlet, receiving a liquid precursor at the second inlet, and delivering a mixture of vaporized liquid precursor and carrier gas through the outlet;
- a carrier gas source;
- a first gas line that couples the carrier gas source to the first inlet;
- a liquid precursor source;
- a second gas line that couples the liquid precursor source to the second inlet;
- a mass flow controller operatively coupled to the first gas line;
- and
- a pressure transducer coupled to the first gas line between the mass flow controller and the first inlet.
A method of delivering vaporized liquid to a processing chamber, the method comprising:
- separately flowing a carrier gas and a liquid to an injection valve;
- vaporizing liquid with the injection valve and combining the vaporized liquid with the carrier gas;
- detecting pressure of the carrier gas upstream of the injection valve;
- and
- comparing detected pressure versus a setpoint pressure value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.