Canister, precursor transfer system having the same and method for measuring precursor remaining amount thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12590366-B2
Application number	US-202318133909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 12, 2023
Priority date	Oct 6, 2022
Publication date	Mar 31, 2026
Grant date	Mar 31, 2026

Abstract

A canister supplying a precursor to a processing chamber includes a body, a first valve introducing a carrier gas into the body, a second valve discharging a sublimated gas of a solid precursor into a processing chamber, a precursor accommodating tray accommodating the solid precursor, and at least one piezoelectric transducer at least one of vibrating the precursor accommodating tray or measuring a resonance frequency.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of forming a precursor transfer system, the method comprising:
providing a processing chamber; and forming a canister configured to supply a sublimated gas of a solid precursor to the processing chamber, wherein the precursor transfer system comprises:
a carrier gas supply device configured to discharge a carrier gas;
the canister configured to receive the carrier gas through a first pipe and to discharge a mixed gas comprising the sublimated gas of the solid precursor through a second pipe;
a reaction gas supply device configured to discharge at least one reaction gas through a third pipe; and
the processing chamber configured to provide the mixed gas and the at least one reaction gas to a substrate on a chuck,
wherein the canister comprises:
a body;
a first valve configured to introduce the carrier gas into the body;
a second valve configured to discharge the sublimated gas of the solid precursor into the processing chamber;
a precursor accommodating tray configured to accommodate the solid precursor; and
at least one piezoelectric transducer configured to at least one of vibrate the precursor accommodating tray or measure a resonance frequency of the canister.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the canister further comprises a controller configured to control the at least one piezoelectric transducer.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to calculate a change in mass of the solid precursor using the resonance frequency measured by the at least one piezoelectric transducer.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to release vapor trapped between particles of the solid precursor at least in part by controlling the at least one piezoelectric transducer.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one piezoelectric transducer is configured to vibrate the precursor accommodating tray at the measured resonance frequency.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the solid precursor comprises at least one of MoO 2 Cl 2 or MoCl 5 .

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the body comprises a heating unit.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the heating unit is on an outer circumferential surface of the body.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one piezoelectric transducer is inside the precursor accommodating tray.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the canister further comprises a monitor configured to calculate a remaining amount of the solid precursor based at least in part on the resonance frequency and to monitor the remaining amount of the solid precursor.

11 . A method of forming a precursor transfer system, the method comprising:
providing a processing chamber; and forming a canister configured to supply a sublimated gas of a solid precursor to the processing chamber, wherein the precursor transfer system comprises:
a carrier gas supply device configured to discharge a carrier gas;
the canister configured to receive the carrier gas through a first pipe and to discharge a mixed gas comprising the sublimated gas of the solid precursor through a second pipe;
a reaction gas supply device configured to discharge at least one reaction gas through a third pipe; and
the processing chamber configured to provide the mixed gas and the at least one reaction gas to a substrate on a chuck, and
wherein the canister comprises a piezoelectric transducer configured to vibrate a precursor accommodating tray to accommodate the solid precursor or measure a resonance frequency of the canister.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the precursor transfer system further comprises:
a controller configured to control the piezoelectric transducer.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the controller is configured to measure the resonance frequency at least in part by controlling the piezoelectric transducer, and wherein the controller is configured to calculate a remaining amount of the solid precursor in the canister using the measured resonance frequency.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the controller is configured to vibrate the canister using the resonance frequency as a vibration frequency at least in part by controlling the piezoelectric transducer.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the canister comprises the precursor accommodating tray configured to accommodate the solid precursor, and the precursor accommodating tray is configured to stack a plurality of support vessels.

16 . A method of operating a precursor transfer system configured to accommodate a solid precursor, the method comprising:
detecting a resonance frequency of a canister using a piezoelectric transducer; and calculating a remaining amount of the solid precursor based at least in part on the detected resonance frequency, wherein the piezoelectric transducer is configured to vibrate a precursor accommodating tray or measure the resonance frequency of the canister.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising vibrating the canister at the measured resonance frequency.

18 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising introducing a carrier gas from a carrier gas supply device.

19 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising heating the solid precursor to sublimate the solid precursor.

20 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising displaying the remaining amount of the solid precursor calculated in the calculating.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Kyungrim
• Kim Dowon
• Kim Sunja
• Kim Youngeun

Classifications

• C23C16/45544

  characterized by the apparatus · CPC title

• C23C16/45527

  characterized by the ALD cycle, e.g. different flows or temperatures during half-reactions, unusual pulsing sequence, use of precursor mixtures or auxiliary reactants or activations · CPC title

• C23C16/52

  Controlling or regulating the coating process {(C23C16/45557, C23C16/279 take precedence)} · CPC title

• C23C16/45553

  characterized by the use of precursors specially adapted for ALD · CPC title

• G01F23/2961

  for discrete levels (G01F23/2962 - G01F23/2968 take precedence) · CPC title