Particle Coating Methods and Apparatus
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsKaushal Gangakhedkar, Jonathan Frankel, Colin C. Neikirk, Pravin K. Narwankar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A reactor for coating particles includes a vacuum chamber configured to hold particles to be coated, a vacuum port to exhaust gas from the vacuum chamber via the outlet of the vacuum chamber, a chemical delivery system configured to flow a process gas into the particles via a gas inlet on the vacuum chamber, one or more vibrational actuators located on a first mounting surface of the vacuum chamber, and a controller configured to cause the one or more vibrational actuators to generate a vibrational motion in the vacuum chamber sufficient to induce a vibrational motion in the particles held within the vacuum chamber.
Claims12
A method for coating particles, comprising:
- dispensing a plurality of particles into a processing volume of a vacuum chamber, wherein the processing volume is defined by one or more sidewalls of the vacuum chamber, a first filter, and a second filter;
- evacuating the processing volume through a vacuum port on the vacuum chamber;
- agitating the plurality of particles disposed in the processing volume of the vacuum chamber by vibrating the vacuum chamber at a frequency between 30 Hz and 300 Hz;
- flowing a first precursor into the processing volume through a gas inlet on the vacuum chamber and through the first filter and reacting the particle surfaces of the plurality of particles with the first precursor as the particles are agitated to form a first layer;
- and
- flowing a second precursor into the processing volume via the gas inlet and reacting the first layer with the second precursor as the particles are agitated to form a thin film.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.