Vapor delivery container with flow distributor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11166441-B2
Application number	US-201916456279-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 28, 2019
Priority date	Jul 13, 2018
Publication date	Nov 9, 2021
Grant date	Nov 9, 2021

Abstract

A chemical precursor container is disclosed. The container includes a vessel and a lid that define an interior volume, an inlet conduit, an outlet conduit, and a flow distributor positioned inside the vessel and in fluid flow communication with the inlet conduit. The flow distributor has an annular shape and includes a distributor floor having a plurality of apertures formed therein for expelling carrier gas therethrough. The flow distributor includes an inner annular wall that defines a porthole in the flow distributor that allows fluid to pass through the flow distributor from the interior volume of the vessel to the outlet conduit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A container for delivering a chemical precursor to a process tool, comprising:
a vessel including a vessel floor, a vessel sidewall extending from the vessel floor to an upper vessel edge, and a lid that spans a radial distance from a center axis of the vessel to the upper vessel edge, the vessel floor, the vessel sidewall, and the lid of the vessel defining an interior volume in the vessel, the vessel having an exterior surface and an interior surface;
an inlet conduit extending through the vessel from the exterior surface of the vessel to the interior surface of the vessel;
a flow distributor positioned inside the vessel and in fluid flow communication with the inlet conduit, the flow distributor including at least one conduit having a plurality of apertures formed therein for expelling gas from the inlet conduit into the vessel; and
an outlet conduit in fluid flow communication with the interior volume of the vessel,
wherein the flow distributor includes a distributor floor, a distributor ceiling, an outer distributor sidewall that extends from an outer perimeter of the distributor floor to an outer perimeter of the distributor ceiling, and an inner distributor sidewall that extends from an inner perimeter of the distributor floor to an inner perimeter of the distributor ceiling, the distributor floor and distributor ceiling spanning from the inner perimeters thereof, respectively, to the outer perimeters thereof, respectfully; and
wherein the inner distributor side wall defines a porthole in the flow distributor that allows fluid to pass through the flow distributor from the interior volume of the vessel to the outlet conduit.

2. The container of claim 1 , wherein the flow distributor has an annular shape; and the plurality of apertures are formed in the distributor floor of the flow distributor and are arranged in a plurality of concentric annular arrays of apertures that include an inner array of apertures and an outer array of apertures, wherein a radius of the inner array of apertures is shorter than a radius of the outer array of apertures; wherein the inner array of apertures are either radially offset or radically non-offset from the outer array of apertures.

3. The container of claim 2 , wherein the flow distributor and the vessel are in axial alignment, the vessel has an interior vessel radius, and the outer array of apertures is positioned radially between 65% and 85% of the interior vessel radius.

4. The container of claim 2 , wherein (1) each of the inner array of apertures is substantially equidistant from its neighboring apertures in the inner array of apertures; (2) each of the outer array of apertures is substantially equidistant from its neighboring apertures in the outer array of apertures; or a combination of (1) and (2).

5. The container of claim 4 , wherein a distance between two apertures in the inner array of apertures is substantially equal to the radius of the inner array of apertures.

6. The container of claim 2 , wherein a ratio of outer apertures of the outer array of apertures to inner apertures of the inner array of apertures is between 1.5:1 and 3:1.

7. The container of claim 1 , wherein the porthole of the flow distributor and the vessel are in axial alignment, the vessel has an interior vessel radius, and the porthole has a radius that is between 25% and 35% of the interior vessel radius.

8. The container of claim 1 , wherein the output conduit is offset from a center of the porthole of the flow distributor.

9. The container of claim 1 , wherein the vessel has an upper section and a lower section, the upper section being located between the lid and the distributor ceiling, and the lower section being located between distributor floor and the vessel floor; and wherein the outlet conduit is in fluid flow communication with the upper section of the vessel.

10. The container of claim 1 , wherein the apertures in the flow distributor have an equivalent diameter >0.001 inches (0.0025 cm) and <0.50 inches (1.27 cm).

Assignees

• Versum Mat Us Llc

Inventors

• Birtcher Charles Michael
• Eschbach Robert
• Sheehy William Jon
• Nehlsen James Patrick

Classifications

• B65D2251/20

  Sealing means · CPC title

• B01J4/001

  Feed or outlet devices as such, e.g. feeding tubes · CPC title

• C23C16/4481 Primary

  by evaporation using carrier gas in contact with the source material (C23C16/4486 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B65D25/38

  Devices for discharging contents ({containers formed by folding or erecting paper blanks B65D5/72} ; incorporated in removable or non-permanently secured closure members B65D47/00; for discharging thin flat articles B65D83/08) · CPC title

• B65D51/24

  combined {or co-operating} with auxiliary devices for non-closing purposes · CPC title