Liquid delivery and vaporization apparatus and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11162174-B2
Application number	US-201816136870-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 20, 2018
Priority date	Sep 20, 2018
Publication date	Nov 2, 2021
Grant date	Nov 2, 2021

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and a method of delivering a liquid to a downstream process. The apparatus can include a vessel configured to retain a liquid, a bellow in fluid communication with the vessel to receive the liquid from the vessel and in fluid communication with the downstream process to deliver the liquid. The bellow can be exposed to a constant external pressure and configured to deliver the liquid under the constant external pressure when the bellow stops receiving the liquid from the vessel. In some embodiments, the constant external pressure is atmospheric pressure. The bellow can include a pressure deformable material. The apparatus can further include a vaporizer configured to receive the liquid and to produce a vapor, one or more chemical vapor deposition chambers configured to receive the vapor and to hold a substrate for deposition of a component of the vapor on a substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A semiconductor manufacturing system, comprising:
a vessel configured to retain a liquid;
a bellow in fluid communication with the vessel to receive the liquid from the vessel and in fluid communication with a downstream process to deliver the liquid, wherein the liquid flows in and through the bellow and wherein the bellow is exposed to a constant external pressure and is configured to deliver the liquid in the bellow under the constant external pressure when the bellow stops receiving the liquid from the vessel;
a vaporizer configured to receive the liquid and to produce a vapor;
one or more chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chambers configured to receive the vapor and to hold a substrate for deposition of a component of the vapor on the substrate, and
one or more pipes configured to connect the vessel, the bellow, the vaporizer, and the one or more CVD chambers.

2. The semiconductor manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein an internal volume of the bellow decreases when an internal pressure of the bellow is less than the constant external pressure.

3. The semiconductor manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the constant external pressure is atmospheric pressure.

4. The semiconductor manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more CVD chambers comprise a dielectric deposition chamber, an n-type work function layer deposition chamber, a p-type work function layer deposition chamber, or a combination thereof.

5. The semiconductor manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more CVD chambers comprise at least one ALD chamber.

6. The semiconductor manufacturing system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more load lock chambers and one or more degassing chambers.

7. A system for delivering a liquid to a deposition chamber, comprising:
a vessel configured to retain the liquid; and
a bellow fluidly coupled to the vessel to receive the liquid from the vessel and fluidly coupled to the deposition chamber to deliver the liquid to the deposition chamber, wherein the liquid flows in and through the bellow and wherein the bellow is exposed to an external pressure and is configured to deliver the liquid in the bellow under the external pressure in response to the bellow ceasing to receive the liquid from the vessel.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the external pressure is atmospheric pressure.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the bellow comprises a pressure deformable material.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the pressure deformable material comprises stainless steel.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the pressure deformable material is fluid-impermeable.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein an internal volume of the bellow decreases in response to an internal pressure of the bellow being less than the external pressure.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein a decrease of the internal volume is greater than a volume of the liquid for a single process run of the deposition chamber.

14. The system of claim 7 , wherein the bellow comprises a fixed first end and a flexible second end.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the flexible second end moves towards the fixed first end in response to the internal pressure being less than constant external pressure.

16. The system of claim 7 , further comprising a liquid flow control device configured to regulate a flow rate of the liquid discharged from the bellow.

17. The system of claim 7 , further comprising a vaporizer configured to receive and vaporize the liquid to produce a vapor for the deposition chamber.

18. A system for delivering and vaporizing a liquid, comprising:
a vessel configured to retain the liquid;
a bellow fluidly coupled to the vessel to receive the liquid from the vessel and fluidly coupled to a downstream process chamber to deliver the liquid, wherein the liquid flows in and through the bellow and wherein the bellow is exposed to a constant external pressure and is configured to deliver the liquid in the bellow under the constant external pressure in response to the bellow ceasing to receive the liquid from the vessel; and
a vaporizer configured to receive the liquid from the bellow and to produce a vapor.

19. The system of claim 18 , further comprising a chemical vapor deposition (CND) chamber fluidly coupled to the vaporizer and configured to receive the vapor from the vaporizer.

20. The system of claim 18 , further comprising at least one valve, between the bellow and the vaporizer, configured to control the fluid transfer from the bellow and the vaporizer.

Assignees

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yang Hsin-Lung
• Peng Chui-Ya
• Kuan Chih-Ta

Classifications

• H10P72/0468

  comprising a chamber adapted to a particular process · CPC title

• H10P72/0466

  characterised by the construction of the load-lock chamber · CPC title

• H10P72/0454

  surrounding a central transfer chamber · CPC title

• H10P72/0402 Primary

  Apparatus for fluid treatment (H10P72/0441, H10P72/0448 take precedence) · CPC title

• C23C16/45544 Primary

  characterized by the apparatus · CPC title