Method of cooling a deposition source, chamber for cooling a deposition source and deposition system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11795541-B2
Application number	US-201716759696-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2017
Priority date	Nov 16, 2017
Publication date	Oct 24, 2023
Grant date	Oct 24, 2023

Abstract

A method ( 100 ) of cooling a deposition source ( 200 ) is described. The method includes stopping ( 110 ) depositing material from the deposition source, the deposition source being arranged in a deposition chamber ( 250 ), and introducing ( 120 ) a cooling gas into the deposition chamber ( 250 ), the cooling gas comprising a thermal conductivity λ of λ≥0.05 [W/(m*K)]. Further, a chamber for cooling a deposition source is described. The chamber includes a deposition source being arranged in the chamber. Further, the chamber includes a cooling gas supply system configured for providing a cooling gas into the chamber, the cooling gas comprising a thermal conductivity λ of λ≥0.05 [W/(m*K)].

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of cooling a deposition source, comprising: stopping depositing material from the deposition source, the deposition source being arranged in a deposition chamber, wherein the deposition source comprises a distribution assembly, and a shield arrangement, the shield arrangement being arranged at a distance D to the distribution assembly for providing a free space between the distribution assembly and the shield arrangement, wherein the distance D of the shield arrangement to the distribution assembly is 4 mm<D<20 mm,
introducing a cooling gas into the deposition chamber at a pressure p of 1 mbar≤p≤100 mbar, the cooling gas comprising a thermal conductivity λ of λ≥0.05 [W/(m*K)],
guiding a cooling gas through the distribution assembly, the distribution assembly comprising a first distribution assembly, a second distribution assembly, and a third distribution assembly each configured as a distribution pipe having a substantially triangular cross-section, and
providing the cooling gas into the free space between the distribution assembly and the shield arrangement.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cooling gas comprises at least 50% helium.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cooling gas comprises at least 5% hydrogen.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising cooling the shield arrangement by using a cooling system being in contact with the shield arrangement.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shield arrangement comprises a stack of shield plates.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the stack of shield plates comprises two or more shield plates which are stacked with a spacing S of 0.1 mm≤S≤1.0 mm.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the deposition source is an evaporation source configured for depositing evaporated material on a substrate.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the deposition source is an evaporation source configured for depositing evaporated organic material on a substrate.

9. A method of cooling an evaporation source provided in a deposition chamber, the method comprising:
switching off a crucible heater of a crucible configured for evaporating material; maintaining a heating of a distribution assembly of the evaporation source until material evaporation has stopped, the distribution assembly being in fluid communication with the crucible;
guiding a cooling gas through the distribution assembly, the distribution assembly comprising a first distribution assembly, a second distribution assembly, and a third distribution assembly each configured as a distribution pipe having a substantially triangular cross-section;
introducing a cooling gas into the deposition chamber at a pressure p of 1 mbar<p<100 mbar, the cooling gas comprising a thermal conductivity λ of λ>0.05 [W/(m*K)];
providing the cooling gas into a free space between the distribution assembly and a shield arrangement, the shield arrangement being arranged at a distance D to the distribution assembly for providing the free space, wherein the distance D of the shield arrangement to the distribution assembly is 4 mm<D<20 mm; and
cooling the shield arrangement by using a cooling system being in contact with the shield arrangement.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Armstrong Claire
• Schnappenberger Frank
• Deppisch Thomas

Classifications

• C23C14/54 Primary

  Controlling or regulating the coating process · CPC title

• C23C14/243

  Crucibles for source material (C23C14/28, C23C14/30 take precedence) · CPC title

• C23C14/24 Primary

  Vacuum evaporation · CPC title

• C23C14/564

  Means for minimising impurities in the coating chamber such as dust, moisture, residual gases · CPC title

• C23C14/12

  Organic material · CPC title