Showerhead With Interlaced Gas Feed And Removal And Methods Of Use

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022051910-A1
Application number	US-202117513871-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 28, 2021
Priority date	Apr 8, 2018
Publication date	Feb 17, 2022
Grant date	—

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 processing method comprising:
flowing a reactant to a process region, the reactant flowing from a gas source through an inlet connected to an upper plenum to the process region, the upper plenum connected to the process region through a plurality of upper passages extending from the upper plenum through a lower plenum and a bottom of a 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 drawing exhaust from the process region, the exhaust flowing through the lower plenum connected to an outlet to a vacuum source, the lower plenum connected to the process region through a plurality of lower passages extending through the bottom to form a plurality of lower openings.

2 . The method 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.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of upper openings is arranged in circular zones alternating with circular zones of the plurality of lower openings.

4 . The method 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.

5 . The method of claim 1 , 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 from the plurality of upper openings into multiple flows.

6 . The method of claim 5 , 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 gas through the apertures.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising flowing a second reactant to the process region, the second reactant flowing from a second gas source through a second inlet connected to the upper plenum.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the upper plenum further comprises one or more divider to split the upper plenum into a first upper plenum and a second upper plenum.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a plasma in the process region by energizing the bottom with an RF feed line.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a plasma in the upper plenum by energizing a top of the upper plenum or a partition dividing the upper plenum and the lower plenum with an RF feed line.

11 . A processing method comprising:
flowing a reactant to a process region, the reactant flowing from a gas source through an inlet connected to a lower plenum to the process region, the lower plenum connected to the process region through a plurality of lower passages extending through a bottom of the lower plenum to form a plurality of lower openings; and drawing exhaust from the process region, the exhaust flowing through an upper plenum connected to an outlet to a vacuum source, the upper plenum connected to the process region through a plurality of upper passages extending from the upper plenum through the lower plenum and the bottom of the lower plenum to form a plurality of upper openings in the bottom, the upper passages separated from the lower plenum by an upper passage wall.

12 . The method of claim 11 , 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.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of upper openings is arranged in circular zones alternating with circular zones of the plurality of lower openings.

14 . The method of claim 11 , 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.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of lower openings has a diffusion plate at the bottom, the diffusion plate having a plurality of apertures separating a flow of gas from the plurality of lower openings into multiple flows.

16 . The method of claim 15 , 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 gas through the apertures.

17 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising flowing a second reactant to the process region, the second reactant flowing from a second gas source through a second inlet connected to the lower plenum.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the lower plenum further comprises one or more divider to split the upper plenum into a first lower plenum and a second lower plenum.

19 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising generating a plasma in the process region by energizing the bottom with an RF feed line.

20 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a plasma in the lower plenum by energizing a partition dividing the upper plenum and the lower plenum or the bottom with an RF feed line.

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

• H01J37/3244 Primary

  Gas supply means · CPC title

• H05H1/46

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

• H01J37/32174

  Circuits specially adapted for controlling the RF discharge · CPC title

• H01L21/67017 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic