Atomic layer deposition head

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9783888-B2
Application number	US-201514957273-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 2, 2015
Priority date	Oct 16, 2010
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

Abstract

An ALD coating method to provide a coating surface on a substrate is provided. The ALD coating method comprises: providing a deposition heading including a unit cell having a first precursor nozzle assembly and a second precursor nozzle assembly; emitting a first precursor from the first precursor nozzle assembly into chamber under atmospheric conditions in a direction substantially normal to the coating surface; emitting a second precursor from the first precursor nozzle assembly into chamber under atmospheric conditions in a direction substantially normal to the coating surface; removing moving the substrate under the deposition head such that the first precursor is directed onto a first area of the coating surface prior to the second precursor being directed onto the first area of the coating surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A deposition head comprising:
a number of parallel vertical walls defining successive parallel channels therebetween, each of the parallel vertical walls having a bottom surface, the bottom surfaces being coplanar and defining a base surface, every alternate channel of the successive parallel channels being an inert gas channel, the remaining channels of the successive parallel channels being precursor channels, wherein each of the parallel channels is characterized by a same length;
a base wall disposed within every inert gas channel, each base wall spanning a width between the opposing parallel vertical walls defining that inert gas channel, each base wall including an inert gas orifice disposed therethrough, and each base wall being disposed part way along the length of that inert gas channel such that the base wall is recessed from the base surface by a first separation distance that is less than the length of the parallel channels;
a plurality of first precursor nozzle assemblies each recessed from the base surface by a second separation distance, the plurality of first precursor nozzle assemblies being disposed within a first half of the precursor channels;
a plurality of second precursor nozzle assemblies each recessed from the base surface by a third separation distance, the plurality of second precursor nozzle assemblies being disposed within a second half of the precursor channels such that the first and second precursor nozzle assemblies are interleaved.

2. The deposition head of claim 1 further comprising
a plurality of first exhaust channels disposed between the first precursor nozzle assemblies and the two opposing parallel vertical walls on either side thereof, and
a plurality of second exhaust channels disposed between the second precursor nozzle assemblies and the two opposing parallel vertical walls on either side thereof.

3. The deposition head of claim 2 further comprising
a first precursor delivery system for delivering a first precursor to each of the plurality of first precursor nozzle assemblies;
a second precursor delivery system for delivering a second precursor to each of the plurality of second precursor nozzles;
an inert gas delivery system for delivering inert gas to each of the inert gas channels.

4. The deposition head of claim 3 further comprising an exhaust gas removal system for drawing exhaust gas through each of the first exhaust channels and each of the second exhaust channels.

5. The deposition head of claim 4 , wherein the exhaust gas removal system keeps separate the exhaust gas drawn from the first exhaust channels from the exhaust gas drawn from the second exhaust channels.

6. The deposition head of claim 1 wherein the first precursor nozzle assemblies each include circular orifices, each orifice having a same diameter, the diameter being in a range from 0.0165 to 0.127 mm.

7. The deposition head of claim 6 wherein the diameter is in a range from 0.025 to 0.064 mm.

8. The deposition head of claim 6 wherein the orifices are spaced apart with a center to center distance of 0.25 to 10 mm.

9. The deposition head of claim 8 wherein the center to center distance is about 3 mm.

10. The deposition head unit cell of claim 1 wherein the first separation distance is in the range of 8 mm to 2 mm.

11. The deposition head of claim 1 wherein the second separation distance is in the range of 9.5 mm to 1 mm.

12. The deposition head of claim 1 wherein the first and second separation distances are the same.

13. A deposition head unit cell comprising:
five parallel walls, each of the walls having a bottom surface, the five bottom surfaces being coplanar and defining a base surface;
a first precursor deposition channel defined between the first and second of the five parallel walls;
a first purge channel defined between the second and third of the five parallel walls;
a second precursor deposition channel defined between the third and fourth of the five parallel walls;
a second purge channel defined between the fourth and fifth of the five parallel walls;
a first precursor nozzle assembly disposed within the first precursor deposition channel and a second precursor nozzle assembly disposed within the second precursor deposition channel, each precursor nozzle assembly having
two parallel side walls defining a gas flow channel therebetween and disposed parallel to the five parallel walls, and
an orifice plate disposed between the two parallel side walls, a bottom surface of the orifice plate defining a plane parallel to a base plane and recessed therefrom by a first separation distance, the orifice plate having a number of orifices defined therethrough;

a first base wall disposed within the first purge channel and a second base wall disposed within the second purge channel, each base wall including a plurality of apertures disposed therethrough, each base wall having a bottom surface defining a plane parallel to the base plane and recessed therefrom by a second separation distance; and
a first exhaust channel defined between the first nozzle assembly and the first of the five parallel walls, a second exhaust channel defined between the first nozzle assembly and the second of the five parallel walls, a third exhaust channel defined between the second nozzle assembly and the third of the five parallel walls, and a fourth exhaust channel defined between the second nozzle assembly and the fourth of the five parallel walls.

14. The deposition head unit cell of claim 13 wherein the first separation distance is in the range of 9.5 mm to 1 mm.

15. The deposition head unit cell of claim 13 wherein the second separation distance is in the range of 8 mm to 2 mm.

Assignees

• Ultratech Inc

Inventors

• Sershen Michael J
• Sundaram Ganesh M
• Coutu Roger R
• Becker Jill Svenja
• Dalberth Mark J

Classifications

• C23C16/45574 Primary

  Nozzles for more than one gas · CPC title

• C23C16/545

  for coating elongated substrates · CPC title

• C23C16/45551 Primary

  for relative movement of the substrate and the gas injectors or half-reaction reactor compartments · CPC title

• C23C16/45557

  Pulsed pressure or control pressure · CPC title

• C23C16/453

  passing the reaction gases through burners or torches, e.g. atmospheric pressure CVD (C23C16/513 takes precedence; for flame or plasma spraying of coating material in the molten state C23C4/00) · CPC title