Liquid precursor vapor pressure control
AssigneeASM IP Holding B.V.
InventorMichael Schmotzer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A source vessel for use in a semiconductor processing system to supply precursor materials by providing enhanced control over vapor pressures. The source vessel includes a housing or vessel defining a chamber for holding a volume of precursor in a liquid state. The source vessel further includes a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of a surface of the liquid-state precursor that is presently contained within the chamber of the housing. The temperature sensor may take the form of a temperature measurement device such as a thermocouple on a float or a non-contact temperature measurement device such as an infrared (IR) temperature sensor with a line-of-sight to the liquid's surface.
Claims20
A source vessel for a semiconductor processing system, the source vessel comprising:
- a housing defining a chamber for holding a liquid-state precursor;
- and
- a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of a surface of the liquid-state precursor contained within the chamber of the housing.
A source vessel for a semiconductor processing system, the source vessel comprising:
- a housing defining a chamber for holding a liquid-state precursor;
- a liquid-level sensing system configured to detect a level of the liquid-state precursor within the chamber;
- and
- a plurality of temperature sensors distributed vertically within the chamber.
A semiconductor processing system comprising:
- a source vessel comprising a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of a surface of a liquid-state precursor contained within the source vessel;
- a heating jacket disposed around the source vessel;
- and
- a controller comprising a processor, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with a tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon, that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the semiconductor processing system to perform various operations, wherein the various operations comprise:
- receiving, by the processor, temperature data from the temperature sensor indicative of the temperature of the surface of the liquid-state precursor;
- based on the temperature data, controlling, by the processor, the heating jacket to heat the liquid-state precursor to impart a desired vapor pressure to the liquid-state precursor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.