Apparatus for producing silicon nanoparticle using inductive coupled plasma

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9802826-B2
Application number	US-201315039206-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 25, 2013
Priority date	Nov 25, 2013
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

An apparatus for producing silicon nanoparticles using ICP includes a gas supply part in which first and second pipes for introducing a respective first and second gas into the plasma reactor therethrough are arranged alternately, the first pipes extending from an inlet of the reactor to a plasma initiation region; a plasma reaction part having an ICP coil wound therearound in which the particles are formed as the gases introduced through the respective pipes undergo a plasma reaction; and a collection part for collecting the particles. The apparatus can fully mix the gases introduced through the first gas supply pipes, thus allowing for uniform plasma reaction between the first and second gas, minimizing plasma expansion to increase plasma density within short retention time, easily controlling the size distribution by quenching and capturing nanoparticles, and improving the production yield by preventing the secondary aggregation of particles with cooling gas.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for producing silicon nanoparticles, comprising:
a plasma reactor including a gas supply part in which a plurality of first gas pipes for introducing a first gas into the plasma reactor therethrough and a plurality of second gas pipes for introducing a second gas into the plasma reactor therethrough are arranged in an alternative pattern, wherein the first gas supply pipes are extended from an inlet of the reactor to a plasma initiation region within the plasma reactor and the second gas supply pipes are not extended to the plasma initiation region, and a plasma reaction part having an ICP coil wound around an outer wall thereof in which the silicon particles are formed as the gases introduced through the respective pipes are subjected to a plasma reaction; and
a collection part for collecting the silicon particles,
wherein the plurality of first gas pipes and the plurality of second gas pipes are arranged in an alternative pattern, the plurality of second gas pipes are displaced in parallel with the plurality of first gas pipes, the plurality of second gas pipes are shorter than the plurality of first gas pipes so that a plasma reaction between the first and the second gas occurs uniformly at a high density.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first gas supply pipes and the second gas supply pipes are arranged in the alternative pattern in such a way that one of the second gas supply pipes is located at each of left, right, upper and lower positions of one of the first gas supply pipes while one of the first gas supply pipes is located at each of left, right, upper and lower positions of one of the second gas supply pipes.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first gas supply pipes and the second gas supply pipes are arranged at regular spaces in a matrix pattern of N×N (N≧3) within a regular rectangle occupying a central point of the gas supply part.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the plasma is formed under the following condition:
about 0≦L/W≦0.3
Wherein
L is a distance from the inlet of the first gas supply pipe to the IPC coil; and
W is the width of the coil in an axial direction.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the plasma formation in the plasma reaction part is carried out at a pressure about of 0.1-10 torr with a radio frequency (RF) of 13.56 MHz applied the ICP coil.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the first gas supply pipes and the second gas supply pipes are of tube type with a cross section selected from among a circle, a rectangle, and a triangle.

7. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the reactor further include a cooling part beneath of the plasma reaction part, the cooling part being configured to introduce external inert gas through a plurality of cooling nozzles that are provided radially along an outer circumference of the reactor.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the cooling part is located on the collection part for collecting the silicon particles, the collection part being equipped with a mesh filter at a lower portion thereof and cooling and capturing the silicon particles produced by a plasma reaction between the first gas and the second gas.

9. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the first gas includes silane (SiH4) and an inert gas.

10. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the second gas includes hydrogen (H2) and an inert gas.

11. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the first gas and the second gas further include either or both of B2H6 and PH3 for doping.

12. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the plasma reactor further includes a cooling part beneath of the plasma reaction part, wherein the cooling part is configured to introduce external inert gas through a plurality of cooling nozzles that are provided radially along an outer circumference of the reactor, and wherein the collection part for collecting the silicon particles is located beneath the cooling part, and equipped with a mesh filter at a lower portion thereof and functions to cool and capture the silicon particles produced by a plasma reaction between the first gas and the second gas.

13. A silicon nanoparticle, produced by the apparatus of claim 1 , ranging in diameter from 7 nm to 100 nm.

Assignees

• Korea Energy Research Inst

Inventors

• Jang Bo-Yun
• Kim Joon-Soo
• Song Hee-Eun

Classifications

• C01B33/021

  Preparation (chemical coating from the vapour phase C23C16/00) · CPC title

• B01J19/088

  giving rise to electric discharges (for heating purposes H05B7/00; for the production of ozone C01B13/11, H01T19/00) · CPC title

• B01J2219/1203

  Incoherent waves · CPC title

• B01J2219/0869

  Feeding or evacuating the reactor · CPC title

• B01J2219/0871

  Heating or cooling of the reactor · CPC title