Delivery of solid chemical precursors
OwnerGurtej S. Sandhuinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for delivering solid precursors in deposition processes. A flow monitor is used to measure and regulate the flow of vaporized solid precursor material from a vaporization chamber to a deposition chamber. The flow monitor chokes the supply of vapor into the deposition chamber to regulate vapor flow. To avoid condensation of the solid precursor material in the delivery lines or flow monitor, a controller is placed in a feed back loop to monitor the flow rate and make adjustments to the amount of vapor available at the inlet of the flow monitor.
Claims19
A method of controlling the vapor flow of a solid precursor in a vapor delivery system, said method comprising:
- applying a temperature to a solid precursor material to deliver said solid precursor material as a vapor to a delivery line;
- measuring the vapor flow in said delivery line;
- comparing the measured vapor flow to a desired vapor flow;
- and
- lowering said temperature if the measured vapor flow exceeds said desired vapor flow, or raising said temperature if the measured vapor flow is less than said desired vapor flow.
A method of controlling the vapor flow of a solid precursor in a vapor delivery system, said method comprising:
- applying a temperature to a solid precursor material to deliver said solid precursor material as a vapor to a delivery line;
- measuring the vapor flow in said delivery line;
- comparing the measured vapor flow to a desired vapor flow;
- and
- bleeding off a portion of said vapor if the measured vapor flow exceeds said desired vapor flow.
A method of controlling the vapor flow of a solid precursor in a vapor delivery system comprising:
- applying a temperature to a solid precursor material to deliver said solid precursor material as a vapor to a delivery line;
- measuring the vapor flow in said delivery line;
- comparing the measured vapor flow to a desired vapor flow;
- and
- raising the temperature if the measured vapor flow is less than said desired vapor flow, or bleeding off a portion of said vapor if the measured vapor flow exceeds said desired vapor flow.
A method of delivering a solid precursor to a deposition chamber, said method comprising:
- positioning a solid precursor material on a surface of a vaporization chamber;
- heating said solid precursor material at a first temperature sufficient to vaporize said solid precursor material;
- transferring said vaporized solid precursor material to said deposition chamber through a delivery line;
- monitoring the flow of said vapor in said delivery line;
- comparing the monitored flow of said vapor to a desired flow rate;
- and
- increasing the temperature applied to said solid precursor material if said monitored flow is less than said desired flow rate.
A method of delivering a solid precursor to a deposition chamber comprising:
- positioning a solid precursor material on a surface of a vaporization chamber;
- heating said solid precursor material at a first temperature sufficient to vaporize said solid precursor material;
- transferring said vaporized solid precursor material to said deposition chamber through a delivery line;
- monitoring the flow rate of said vapor in said delivery line;
- comparing the monitored flow rate of said vapor to a desired flow rate;
- increasing the temperature applied to said solid precursor material if the monitored flow rate is less than said desired flow rate;
- and,
- reducing the temperature applied to said solid precursor material and simultaneously bleeding off a portion of said vapor upstream of the monitoring of the vapor flow rate if the monitored flow rate is greater than said desired flow.
A method of delivering a solid precursor to a deposition chamber comprising:
- positioning a solid precursor material on a surface of a vaporization chamber;
- heating said solid precursor material at a first temperature sufficient to vaporize said solid precursor material;
- transferring said vaporized solid precursor material to said deposition chamber through a delivery line;
- monitoring the flow rate of said vapor in said delivery line;
- comparing the monitored flow rate of said vapor to a desired flow rate;
- and at least one of
- increasing the temperature applied to said solid precursor material if the monitored flow rate is less than said desired flow rate, reducing the temperature applied to said solid precursor material if the monitored flow rate is greater than said desired flow rate and a coarse adjustment is required to reduce the monitored flow rate to the desired flow rate, or bleeding off a portion of said vapor upstream of the monitoring of said vapor flow if the monitored flow rate is greater than said desired flow rate and a fine adjustment is required to reduce the monitored flow rate to said desired flow rate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.