Apparatus for forming a metal thin film utilizing temperature controlling means

Claim 1

A film forming apparatus comprising: a processing chamber capable of maintaining a vacuum condition therein; a substrate holder mounted within said processing chamber for holding a substrate; a first temperature adjusting mechanism for adjusting the temperature of said substrate via said substrate holder, said first temperature adjusting mechanism being isolated from the vacuum condition by said substrate holder; a gas conducting mechanism for conducting a predetermined gas into said processing chamber; exhaust means communicating with said processing chamber for regulating the vacuum condition in said processing chamber; distributing plate means provided within said processing chamber in opposing relationship to said substrate holder, said distributing plate means being formed by a material having good heat transfer characteristics and comprising a plurality of plate members, each plate member having provided therethrough openings which are different in size than openings in respective other plate members and being sequentially overlapped in such a manner that the closer to said substrate holder a plate member is, the smaller in size the openings of said plate member are, said plate members uniformly heating said predetermined gas as said gas passes therethrough and supplied onto the surface of said substrate; and a second temperature adjusting mechanism including: heating means exposed to atmospheric pressure and isolated from the vacuum condition for heating said distributing plate means; and temperature monitor means exposed to said atmospheric pressure in communication with said distributing plate means for monitoring the temperature of said distributing plate means, the monitored temperature being fed back to said heating means for controlling the temperature at which said heating means heats said distributing plate means.