Patent EP0370311A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0370311A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Chemical vapor deposition system and reactant delivery section therefor
Assignee: Applied Materials Inc
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Filing: 1989-11-08
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2009-11-08
Abstract
Abstract A chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system (100) compares the mass flow rates of a gas stream before and after reactant is transported by a carrier gas to determine the mass flow rate of reactant into a reaction chamber (102). This determination is used to control the carrier mass flow rate, which in turn permits regulation of the reactant mass flow rate. The CVD system (100) includes the reaction chamber (102), a delivery section (104) which delivers the reactant gas to the chamber (102), a heat source (106) for providing heat to the reaction chamber (102) to facilitate deposition on a wafer (99), an effluent handling system (108), which evacuates spent reactant from the reactant chamber (102), and a controller (110) which coordinates these components. Carrier gas is transported to and through an ampule (134) containing a liquid source (136) for the reactant gas, which is mixed with the carrier gas to form a combined gas. The delivery system (104) includes sensors (114, 116) to measure the mass flow rates of the carrier gas before entry into the ampule (134) and of the combined gas on route to the reaction chamber (102). The mass flow mesurements are used by the controller (110) to control a valve (118) to regulate the mass flow rate of carrier gas into the ampule (134) thus controlling the mass flow rate of reactant out of the ampule (134) and into the reaction chamber (102). The controller (110) also regulates the removal of spent gases from the reaction chamber (102) by the effluent handling system (108) so that constant pressure is maintained with the reaction chamber (102). This ensures the stability of the delivery system control loop defined above.
Inventors
- 👤 Kenneth Stuart Collins
- 👤 Tetsuya Ishikawa
- 👤 Masato Toshima
- 👤 David Cheng
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 03:16
CPC Classifications
C; C23; C23C; C23C16/00; C23C16/44; C23C16/448; C23C16/4481; C23C16/4482; C23C16/52
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 8
Claim 1
Independent Claim
400 words
A chemical vapor deposition system (100) comprising: a chamber (102) for reacting reactant gas for forming a deposition on a substrate (99) contained by said chamber (102), pressure sensor means (120) for sensing the pressure within said chamber (102), a heat source (106) for providing heat to said chamber (102) for facilitating said reacting, exhaust handling means (108) for evacuating gas from said chamber (102) at an adjustable evacuation rate, gas delivery means (104) for delivering reactant gas to said chamber (102) at a predetermined mass flow rate, said gas delivery means (104) including (a) a reactant gas source (134) for supplying reactant gas, (b) a carrier gas source (124) for supplying a carrier gas, (c) carrier conduit means for transporting said carrier gas to and through said reactant gas source (134) so as to transport said carrier gas from said reactant gas source (134) at a rate correlated with the mass rate of said carrier gas, said carrier gas mixing with said reactant gas to form a combined gas, said carrier gas having a carrier mass flow rate through said carrier conduit means, (d) reactant conduit means (126) for transporting said combined gas to said chamber (102), said reactant gas having a reactant mass flow rate through said reactant conduit means (126), said combined gas having a combined mass flow rate through said reactant conduit means, (e) carrier valve means (118) for adjusting said carrier mass flow rate, (f) carrier sensor means (116) for providing a carrier measurement of said carrier mass flow rate, (g) reactant sensor means (114) for providing a combined measurement of said combined mass flow rate, and controller means (110) for coordinating the operation of the above components, said controller means (110) being coupled to said pressure means (120) for monitoring the pressure within said chamber, said controller means (110) being coupled to said exhaust handling means (108) for controlling said evacuation rate so that the pressure in said chamber is held substantially constant, said controller means (110) being coupled to said carrier sensor means (116) for receiving said carrier measurements and coupled to said reactant sensor means (114) for receiving said combined measurements, said controller means (110) being coupled to said carrier valve means (118) for adjusting said carrier mass flow rate as a function of said combined and carrier measurements so that said predetermined reactant gas mass flow rate is attained and maintained.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
400 words
A chemical vapor deposition system (100) comprising: a chamber (102) for reacting reactant gas for forming a deposition on a substrate (99) contained by said chamber (102), pressure sensor means (120) for sensing the pressure within said chamber (102), a heat source (106) for providing heat to said chamber (102) for facilitating said reacting, exhaust handling means (108) for evacuating gas from said chamber (102) at an adjustable evacuation rate, gas delivery means (104) for delivering reactant gas to said chamber (102) at a predetermined mass flow rate, said gas delivery means (104) including (a) a reactant gas source (134) for supplying reactant gas, (b) a carrier gas source (124) for supplying a carrier gas, (c) carrier conduit means for transporting said carrier gas to and through said reactant gas source (134) so as to transport said carrier gas from said reactant gas source (134) at a rate correlated with the mass rate of said carrier gas, said carrier gas mixing with said reactant gas to form a combined gas, said carrier gas having a carrier mass flow rate through said carrier conduit means, (d) reactant conduit means (126) for transporting said combined gas to said chamber (102), said reactant gas having a reactant mass flow rate through said reactant conduit means (126), said combined gas having a combined mass flow rate through said reactant conduit means, (e) carrier valve means (118) for adjusting said carrier mass flow rate, (f) carrier sensor means (116) for providing a carrier measurement of said carrier mass flow rate, (g) reactant sensor means (114) for providing a combined measurement of said combined mass flow rate, and controller means (110) for coordinating the operation of the above components, said controller means (110) being coupled to said pressure means (120) for monitoring the pressure within said chamber, said controller means (110) being coupled to said exhaust handling means (108) for controlling said evacuation rate so that the pressure in said chamber is held substantially constant, said controller means (110) being coupled to said carrier sensor means (116) for receiving said carrier measurements and coupled to said reactant sensor means (114) for receiving said combined measurements, said controller means (110) being coupled to said carrier valve means (118) for adjusting said carrier mass flow rate as a function of said combined and carrier measurements so that said predetermined reactant gas mass flow rate is attained and maintained.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system of Claim 1 wherein said reactant gas source includes a liquid phase (136) which vaporizes to provide said reactant gas.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
245 words
A reactant delivery system, preferably for a chemical vapour deposition system (100) of one of the preceding claims comprising: a reactant source (136) for producing reactant gas upon vaporization, a carrier gas source (124) for supplying carrier gas, carrier conduit means for transporting said carrier gas to and through said liquid source (136) so that said carrier gas mixes with said reactant gas so as to constitute a combined gas, said carrier gas having a carrier mass flow rate through said carrier conduit means, reactant conduit means (124) for transporting said combined gas to a destination (102) said reactant gas having a reactant mass flow rate through said reactant conduit means, said combined gas having a combined mass flow rate through said reactant conduit means, reactant rate means (118) for adjusting said reactant mass flow rate, reactant sensor means (114) for providing combined measurements of said combined mass flow rate, carrier sensor means (116) for providing carrier measurements of said carrier mass flow rate, controller means (110) for regulating said reactant mass flow rate, said controller means (110) being coupled to said reactant sensor means (114) for receiving said combined measurements, said controller means (110) being coupled to said carrier sensor (116) for receiving said carrier measurements, said controller means (110) being coupled to said reactant rate means (118), for adjusting the same as a function of said carrier and combined measurements so that said reactant mass flow rate is maintained at a predetermined level.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
37 words
The reactant delivery system of claim 3, wherein said reactant rate means includes a carrier flow valve (118) for adjusting said carrier mass flow rate so as to regulate the mass flow rate of said reactant gas.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
31 words
The reactant delivery system of claim 3 or 4 further comprising a chamber (102) enclosing said destination and pressure means for maintaining the interior of said chamber at substantially constant pressure.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
37 words
The reactant delivery system of claim 5 wherein said reactant rate means includes a carrier flow valve (118) for adjusting the mass flow rate of said carrier gas so as to regulate said reactant mass flow rate.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
26 words
The reactant delivery system of one of the preceding claims wherein said reactant source includes a liquid phase (136) which vaporizes to yield said reactant gas.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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