Spatial gas injection for gas depletion and gas concentration adjustability, and related processing chambers, apparatus, and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2026068578-A1
Application number	US-202519048207-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 7, 2025
Priority date	Aug 30, 2024
Publication date	Mar 5, 2026
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to gas injection for gas depletion and gas concentration adjustability, and related chamber kits, methods, and processing chambers. In one or more embodiments, a substrate processing chamber includes a chamber body at least partially defining an internal volume. A substrate support is disposed in the internal volume. The processing chamber further includes an injector operable to provide one or more process gases into a processing volume of the internal volume and a spatial injector operable to provide one or more first supplemental gases into the processing volume at a location radially inwardly of an outer edge of the substrate support.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A substrate processing chamber, comprising:
a chamber body at least partially defining an internal volume; a substrate support disposed in the internal volume; an injector operable to provide one or more process gases into a processing volume of the internal volume; and a spatial injector operable to provide one or more first supplemental gases into the processing volume at a location radially inwardly of an outer edge of the substrate support.

2 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 1 , wherein the spatial injector comprises one or more tube sections.

3 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 1 , wherein the spatial injector comprises one or more curved sections.

4 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 1 , wherein the spatial injector comprises one or more mesh sections.

5 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 1 , further comprising a second spatial injector operable to provide one or more second supplemental gases into the processing volume at a second location radially inward of an outer edge of the substrate support.

6 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 5 , wherein the second spatial injector is offset from the spatial injector along a radial direction of the substrate support.

7 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 5 , wherein the spatial injector and the second spatial injector are oriented to intersect each other.

8 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 5 , wherein the spatial injector and the second spatial injector comprises one or more lower openings and one or more upper openings.

9 . A substrate processing chamber, comprising:
a chamber body at least partially defining an internal volume; a substrate support disposed in the internal volume; an injector operable to provide one or more process gases into a processing volume of the internal volume; and a plate injector disposed between the substrate support and a lid of the substrate processing chamber, the plate injector comprising one or more openings operable to provide one or more supplemental gases into the processing volume at one or more locations disposed radially inwardly of an outer edge of the substrate support.

10 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 9 , wherein the plate injector comprises:
a first face having the one or more openings; a second face; and one or more channels disposed between the first face and the second face, the one or more channels in fluid communication with the one or more openings.

11 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 9 , wherein the one or more openings of the plate injector include a plurality of openings disposed between a center of the plate injector and an outer edge of the plate injector, the plurality of openings are disposed on one side of the center of the plate injector, the plurality of openings have a size that is a ratio of a thickness of the plate injector, and the ratio is 0.3 or less.

12 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 10 , wherein the plate injector comprises:
a first plate including the one or more openings, the first plate comprising an extension extending relative to the first face; and a second plate covering the first plate to define the one or more channels between the first plate and the second plate.

13 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 10 , wherein the plate injector comprises:
a first plate including the one or more openings, the first plate supported by one or more first ledges of the chamber body; and a second plate spaced from the first plate to define the one or more channels between the first plate and the second plate, the second plate supported by one or more second ledges of the chamber body.

14 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 13 , wherein:
the chamber body comprises a plurality of first tab extensions extending radially inwardly and into openings formed in an outer edge of the first plate; and the second plate comprises a plurality of second tab extensions extending radially outwardly and into the chamber body.

15 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 10 , wherein the plate injector comprises:
a plate including the one or more openings; and a bar frame covering the one or more openings of the plate to define the one or more channels between the plate and the bar frame, the bar frame having a width that is less than a diameter of the plate, wherein the bar frame and a tab extension of the plate extend into an opening of the chamber body.

16 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 9 , wherein the plate injector is disposed to separate the processing volume from a remote volume of the internal volume, and the remote volume is disposed between the plate injector and a window.

17 . The substrate processing chamber of claim 9 , wherein the one or more openings of the plate injector are disposed at a non-zero angle relative to a flow opening of the injector.

18 . A method of substrate processing comprising:
heating a substrate positioned on a substrate support within an internal volume; flowing one or more process gases into a processing volume at a first location; flowing one or more supplemental gases into the processing volume at one or more second locations radially inwardly of the first location; and flowing the one or more process gases across the substrate; and flowing the one or more supplemental gases over the substrate.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the one or more process gases and the one or more supplemental gases are the same in composition.

20 . The method claim 18 , wherein the one or more process gases and the one or more supplemental gases are different from one another in composition.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Lau Shu-Kwan
• Patil Aniketnitin
• Salinas Martin Jeffrey
• Dhamodharan Raja Murali
• Moradian Ala
• Cong Zhepeng

Classifications

• C23C16/45508

  Radial flow · CPC title

• C23C16/45578

  Elongated nozzles, tubes with holes · CPC title

• C23C16/46

  characterised by the method used for heating the substrate (C23C16/48, C23C16/50 take precedence) · CPC title

• C23C16/45504

  Laminar flow · CPC title

• C23C16/45565

  Shower nozzles · CPC title