Showerhead with interlaced gas feed and removal and methods of use

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11189502-B2
Application number	US-201916376367-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 5, 2019
Priority date	Apr 8, 2018
Publication date	Nov 30, 2021
Grant date	Nov 30, 2021

Abstract

Gas distribution modules comprising a housing with an upper plenum and a lower plenum are described. One of the upper plenum and lower plenum is in fluid communication with an inlet and the other is in fluid communication with an outlet. A plurality of upper passages connects the upper plenum to the bottom of the housing to allow a flow of gas to pass through and be isolated from the first plenum.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A gas distribution module comprising:
a housing having at least one side, a top, a bottom and a partition between the top and the bottom, an upper plenum defined by the at least one side, the partition and the top, and a lower plenum defined by the at least one side, the partition and the bottom;
a gas source connected to an inlet connected to one of the upper plenum or the lower plenum to provide a flow of gas through the upper plenum or the lower plenum to a process region;
a vacuum source connected to an outlet connected to the other of the upper plenum or the lower plenum to provide a vacuum stream to draw gases from the process region through the other of the upper plenum or the lower plenum;
a plurality of upper passages extending from the upper plenum, through the lower plenum and extending through the bottom of the housing to form a plurality of upper openings in the bottom, the upper passages separated from the lower plenum by an upper passage wall and providing fluid communication between the upper plenum and the process region; and
a plurality of lower passages extending through the bottom of the housing to form a plurality of lower openings in the bottom, the plurality of lower passages providing fluid communication between the lower plenum and the process region.

2. The gas distribution module of claim 1 , wherein the inlet is connected to the lower plenum and the outlet is connected to the upper plenum.

3. The gas distribution module of claim 1 , wherein the inlet is connected to the upper plenum and the outlet is connected to the lower plenum.

4. The gas distribution module of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of upper openings in the bottom is surrounded by three or more of the plurality of lower openings in the bottom and each of the plurality of lower openings in the bottom is surrounded by three or more of the plurality of upper openings.

5. The gas distribution module of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of upper openings is arranged in circular zones alternating with circular zones of the plurality of lower openings.

6. The gas distribution module of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of lower openings or at least one of the plurality of upper openings surrounds the other of the plurality of lower openings or the plurality of upper openings to form ring shaped openings.

7. The gas distribution module of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of upper openings or the plurality of lower openings connected, respectively, to the upper plenum or lower plenum connected to the inlet are surrounded by the other of the plurality of upper openings or the plurality of lower openings connected to the plenum connected to the outlet.

8. The gas distribution module of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of upper openings or the plurality of lower openings connected, respectively, to the upper plenum or lower plenum connected to the inlet have a diffusion plate at the bottom of the housing the diffusion plate having a plurality of apertures separating a flow of gas in the plurality of upper openings or the plurality of lower openings into multiple flows.

9. The gas distribution module of claim 8 , wherein the diffusion plate comprises at least one aperture oriented at an angle to at least one other aperture to provide non-parallel flows of gases through apertures.

10. The gas distribution module of claim 1 , further comprising a second inlet connected to a second gas source.

11. The gas distribution module of claim 10 , wherein the second inlet is connected to the same plenum as that of the inlet.

12. The gas distribution module of claim 10 , wherein the second inlet is connected to a different plenum than that of the inlet.

13. The gas distribution module of claim 10 , wherein the upper plenum or the lower plenum that the second inlet is connected to further comprises one or more divider to split the upper plenum or the lower plenum into a first upper plenum or first lower plenum and a second upper plenum or second lower plenum.

14. The gas distribution module of claim 1 , wherein the partition is in electrical connection with an RF feed line and the bottom is electrically grounded to generate a plasma in the lower plenum.

15. The gas distribution module of claim 1 , wherein the bottom of the housing is in electrical connection with an RF feed line to generate a plasma in the process region.

16. The gas distribution module of claim 1 , wherein the top of the housing is in electrical connection with an RF feed line to generate a plasma in the upper plenum.

17. A gas distribution module comprising:
a housing having at least one side, a top, a bottom and a partition between the top and the bottom, the at least one side, an upper plenum defined by the partition and the top defining, and a lower plenum defined by the at least one side, the partition and the bottom;
at least one inlet connected to the upper plenum and configured to be connected to a gas source to provide a flow of gas through the upper plenum to a process region;
at least one outlet connected to the lower plenum and a vacuum source to provide a vacuum stream to draw gases from the process region through the lower plenum;
a plurality of upper passages extending from the upper plenum, through the lower plenum and extending through the bottom of the housing to form a plurality of upper openings in the bottom, the upper passages separated from the lower plenum by an upper passage wall and providing fluid communication between the upper plenum and the process region; and
a plurality of lower passages extending through the bottom of the housing to form a plurality of lower openings in the bottom, the plurality of lower passages providing fluid communication between the lower plenum and the process region, the plurality of lower openings arranged so that there are three or more of the plurality of lower openings around each of the plurality of upper openings.

18. The gas distribution module of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of upper openings have a diffusion plate at the bottom of the housing, the diffusion plate having a plurality of apertures separating a flow of gas in the plurality of upper openings into multiple flows.

19. The gas distribution module of claim 18 , wherein the diffusion plate comprises at least one aperture oriented at an angle to at least one other aperture to provide non-parallel flows of gases through apertures.

20. A gas distribution module comprising:
a housing having at least one side, a top, a bottom and a partition between the top and the bottom, the at least one side, an upper plenum defined by the partition and the top, and a lower plenum defined by the at least one side, the partition and the bottom;
at least one inlet connected to one of the upper plenum or the lower plenum and a gas source to provide a flow of gas through the upper plenum or the lower plenum to a process region;
at least one outlet connected to the other of the upper plenum or the lower plenum and a vacuum source to provide a vacuum stream to draw gases from the process region through the other of the upper plenum or the lower plenum;
a plurality of upper passages extending from the upper plenum, through the lower plenum and extending through the bottom of the housing to form a plurality of upper openings in the bottom, the upper passages separated from the lower plenum by an upper passage wall and providing fluid communication between the upper plenum and the process region;
a plurality of lower passages extending through t

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Bera Kallol
• Rauf Shahid
• Carducci James
• Knyazik Vladimir
• Subramani Anantha K

Classifications

• H10P72/0402 Primary

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

• H05H1/46

  using applied electromagnetic fields, e.g. high frequency or microwave energy (H05H1/26 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01J37/3244 Primary

  Gas supply means · CPC title

• H01J37/32174

  Circuits specially adapted for controlling the RF discharge · CPC title

• H01L21/67017 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic