Combination CVD/ALD method and source
AssigneeASM International N.V.
InventorTom E Blomberg
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Abstract
The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for the controlled growing of material on substrates. According to embodiments of the present invention, a precursor fed is split in to two paths from a precursor source. One of the paths is restricted in a continuous manner. The other path is restricted in a periodic manner. The output of the two paths converges at a point prior to entry of the reactor. Therefore, a single precursor source is able to fed precursor in to a reactor under two different conditions, one which can be seen as mimicking ALD conditions and one which can be seen as mimicking CVD conditions. This allows for an otherwise single mode reactor to be operated in a plurality of modes including one or more ALD/CVD combination modes.
Claims17
A method of operating a system having a reactor configured to deposit thin films, said method comprising the steps of;
- dividing a flow of a reactant from a reactant source vessel in to two separate paths,
- partially restricting the flow of a first of the two separate paths in a continuous manner,
- substantially restricting the flow of the second path in a periodic manner, and
- combining the flows from the first and second paths at a point after restriction and prior to entry of a reaction space, wherein a combined flow comprising at least a portion from each path is fed to the reaction space during at least one period of time during operation of the system.
A method of operating a system configured to deposit thin films comprising a reactor, at least two reactant source vessels, at least two different reactants comprising the steps of:
- dividing the flow of a first reactant from its reactant source vessel in to two separate paths,
- providing a means for partially restricting the flow of a first of the two separate paths of the first reactant in a continuous manner,
- providing a means for substantially restricting the flow of the second path of the first reactant in a periodic manner, and
- selectively controlling the restricting means of both the first and second paths of said first reactant and the flow of the additional reactants in a plurality of operation modes, and
- combining the first reactant flows from the first and second paths at a point after restriction and prior to entry of a reaction space, where a combined flow comprising at least a portion from each path is fed to the reaction space during at least one period of time during operation of the system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.