Solid precursor delivery assemblies and related methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9297071-B2
Application number	US-201013504838-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 21, 2010
Priority date	Nov 2, 2009
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

A solid precursor delivery assembly generally includes a container having upper and lower portions and chambers defined within the container, including an inlet chamber, an outlet chamber, and first and second precursor chambers. The first and second precursor chambers are configured for holding precursor material within the container. Sintered frits are fixedly coupled and sealed to an interior portion of the container, and define at least part of the chambers within the container. At least one of the sintered frits is configured for retaining precursor material thereon within the first precursor chamber, and at least one of the sintered frits is configured for retaining precursor material thereon within the second precursor chamber. An inlet is coupled to the container for delivering carrier gas into the container, and an outlet is coupled to the container for use in removing vaporized precursor material and carrier gas from the container.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A solid precursor delivery assembly comprising:
a container;
at least two chambers defined within the container and configured to hold precursor material within each of the respective at least two chambers;
at least two porous dividers fixedly coupled to the container and defining at least part of the at least two chambers configured to hold precursor material;
an inlet coupled to the container for delivering carrier gas into the container; and
an outlet coupled to the container for removing vapor product from the container comprising vaporized precursor material and carrier gas;
wherein at least one of the at least two porous dividers is configured to resist flow of carrier gas therethrough to allow a pressure differential of about 0.5 percent to about 50 percent of the average pressure in the chamber upstream of the at least one of the at least two porous dividers to establish across said at least one of the at least two porous dividers.

2. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least two porous dividers is configured to resist flow of carrier gas therethrough until a pressure differential of about 0.5 percent to about 50 percent of the average pressure in the chamber upstream of said porous divider is established thereacross.

3. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the porous dividers is a metal frit, and wherein the metal frit is welded to an interior surface of the container.

4. The assembly of claim 1 , comprising at least three chambers defined within the container, and at least three porous dividers defining at least part of the at least three chambers.

5. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the at least two chambers include four chambers defined within the container and wherein the at least two porous dividers includes three porous dividers fixedly coupled to the container and defining at least part of the four chambers.

6. The assembly of claim 5 , wherein the four chambers include an inlet chamber adjacent where the inlet delivers carrier gas into the container, an outlet chamber adjacent where the outlet removes carrier gas from the container, and first and second precursor chambers disposed between the inlet chamber and the outlet chamber, and wherein the first and second precursor chambers are configured to hold precursor material within the container.

7. The assembly of claim 6 , wherein the three porous dividers include a first porous divider disposed between the inlet chamber and the first precursor chamber, a second porous divider disposed between the first precursor chamber and the second precursor chamber, and a third porous divider disposed between the second precursor chamber and the outlet chamber, and wherein the second and third porous dividers are each configured to retain precursor material thereon, and whereby carrier gas flows through the container from the inlet to the inlet chamber, through the first porous divider, through the first precursor chamber, through the second porous divider, through the second precursor chamber, through the third porous divider, and through the outlet chamber to the outlet.

8. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the container includes an upper portion, the inlet being coupled to the upper portion of the container.

9. The assembly of claim 8 , wherein the container includes a lower portion, the outlet being coupled to the lower portion of the container.

10. The assembly of claim 9 , wherein the outlet includes a tube disposed generally outside the container and extending along at least part of a length of the container, the tube coupling the outlet to the lower portion of the container.

11. The assembly of claim 1 , further including at least two fill ports for use in filling and/or refilling the container with precursor material.

12. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the precursor material is trimethylindium.

13. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the at least two chambers include a first precursor chamber and a second precursor chamber each configured to hold precursor material therein, and wherein a volume of the first precursor chamber is greater than a volume of the second precursor chamber.

14. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the at least two porous dividers have pore sizes of less than 25 microns.

15. A solid precursor delivery assembly comprising:
a container having upper and lower portions;
four chambers defined within the container including an inlet chamber, an outlet chamber, and first and second precursor chambers, the first and second precursor chambers configured for holding precursor material within the container;
three sintered frits fixedly coupled and sealed to an interior portion of the container, the three sintered frits defining at least part of the four chambers within the container, at least one of the sintered frits configured for retaining precursor material thereon within the first precursor chamber, and at least one of the sintered frits configured for retaining precursor material thereon within the second precursor chamber;
an inlet coupled to the upper portion of the container for delivering carrier gas into the container; and
an outlet coupled to the lower portion of the container for use in removing vapor product from the container comprising vaporized precursor material and carrier gas;
wherein a volume of the first precursor chamber is greater than a volume of the second precursor chamber.

16. The assembly of claim 15 , wherein the three sintered frits are each configured to resist flow of carrier gas through the sintered frits until a desired pressure differential is established thereacross.

17. The assembly of claim 15 , wherein the outlet includes a tube disposed generally outside the container and extending along at least part of a length of the container, the tube coupling the outlet to the lower portion of the container.

18. The assembly of claim 15 , wherein the container is a metal container, and wherein each of the three sintered frits are welded to an interior portion of the metal container.

19. The assembly of claim 15 , wherein each of the three sintered frits includes pore sizes of less than 25 microns.

20. A method of recovering vaporized precursor material with a carrier gas in a multi-chamber solid precursor delivery assembly, the method comprising:
delivering carrier gas to a multi-chamber solid precursor delivery assembly;
retaining carrier gas within headspace of a first precursor chamber of the multi-chamber solid precursor delivery assembly generally above precursor material disposed within the first precursor chamber until a pressure differential of about 0.5 percent to about 50 percent of the average pressure in the first precursor chamber exists across a first sintered frit of the multi-chamber solid precursor delivery assembly separating the first precursor chamber from a second precursor chamber, at which time the carrier gas and vaporized precursor material recovered by the carrier gas flows through the first sintered frit to the second precursor chamber;
retaining the carrier gas within headspace of the second precursor chamber of the multi-chamber solid precursor delivery assembly generally above precursor material disposed within the second precursor chamber until a pressure differential of about 0.5 percent to about 50 percent of the average pressure in the second precursor chamber exists across a second sintered frit of the multi-chamber solid precursor delivery assembly separating the second precursor chamber from a third chamber, at which time the

Assignees

• Kanjolia Ravi
• Platts Chris
• Nguyen Nam
• Wilkinson Mark
• Sigma Aldrich Co Llc

Inventors

• Kanjolia Ravi
• Platts Chris
• Nguyen Nam
• Wilkinson Mark

Classifications

• C23C16/4481 Primary

  by evaporation using carrier gas in contact with the source material (C23C16/4486 takes precedence) · CPC title

• Y10T137/4891

  With holder for solid, flaky or pulverized material to be dissolved or entrained · CPC title

• Y10T137/8622

  Plural top-to-bottom connected tanks · CPC title

• C23C14/243

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

• Y10T137/8122

  Planar strainer normal to flow path · CPC title