Differentially pumped reactive gas injector

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9837254-B2
Application number	US-201414458161-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 12, 2014
Priority date	Aug 12, 2014
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

Abstract

One process that may be used to remove material from a surface is ion etching. In certain cases, ion etching involves delivery of both ions and a reactive gas to a substrate. The disclosed embodiments permit local high pressure delivery of reactive gas to a substrate while maintaining a much lower pressure on portions of the substrate that are outside of the local high pressure delivery area. The low pressure is achieved by confining the high pressure reactant delivery to a small area and vacuuming away excess reactants and byproducts as they leave this small area and before they enter the larger substrate processing region. The disclosed techniques may be used to increase throughput while minimizing deleterious collisions between ions and other species present in the substrate processing region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for removing material from a semiconductor substrate, the apparatus comprising:
a reaction chamber;
a substrate support for supporting the substrate in the reaction chamber;
an ion or plasma source configured to deliver ions toward the substrate support;
an injection head for providing reactants to a surface of the substrate when the substrate is positioned on the substrate support, the injection head comprising: a substrate-facing region comprising (i) a reactant outlet region of a reactant delivery conduit, and (ii) a suction region coupled to a vacuum conduit, wherein the ion or plasma source is positioned above the injection head such that ions from the ion or plasma source impinge downward upon an upper surface of the injection head; and
a movement mechanism for moving the injection head or the substrate support with respect to one another.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the substrate-facing region comprises a terminus of the reactant delivery conduit and a terminus of the vacuum conduit, and wherein the termini are substantially coplanar.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the substrate support, injection head, and/or movement mechanism are configured to maintain a separation distance between the injection head and the surface of the substrate when the substrate is positioned on the substrate support, wherein the separation distance is about 1 cm or less.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the separation distance is about 2 mm or less.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the separation distance is actively controlled through feedback from a distance sensor.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the suction region substantially surrounds the reactant outlet region.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising one or more additional suction regions coupled to one or more vacuum conduits, wherein the additional suction regions substantially surround the suction region.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a length of the reactant outlet region is at least about equal to or greater than a diameter of a substrate to be processed in the apparatus.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the reactant outlet region has a width in a direction parallel to the substrate support, the width being between about 0.5 mm to 10 cm.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the reactant outlet region is separated from the suction region by a divider having a width between about 0.5 mm-2 cm, the width of the divider separating the reactant outlet region from the suction region.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the suction region has a width between about 1 mm-5 cm.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the injection head further comprises a housing covering the reactant delivery conduit and the vacuum conduit.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the upper surface of the injection head is coated with a sputter-resistant material.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the injection head is configured to locally deliver two or more separate reactants that substantially do not mix with one another before delivery.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising additional injection heads for providing additional reactant gases.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of a sensor, sensor head, detector, or detector head is mounted on, adjacent to, or integrated within the injection head.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein one or more of the sensors and/or detectors are configured to monitor at least one of (i) the reactants, (ii) one or more reactant byproducts, and/or (iii) the substrate.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a rotation mechanism configured to rotate the substrate under the injection head.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the injection head is divided into segments, the segments being configured to receive or experience (i) different reactants, (ii) different reactant flowrates, and/or (iii) different vacuum conductances.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , further comprising one or more of fixed orifices, variable orifices, or mass flow controllers for independently controlling the flowrate of reactant or vacuum conductance supplied or applied to each segment.

21. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a heating element and/or cooling element for heating and/or cooling the injection head.

22. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the injection head is configured to move within a plane parallel to the substrate support.

23. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a controller having instructions to deliver the reactant to the surface of the substrate in the reactant outlet region at a first pressure while simultaneously removing the reactant from the suction region.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the controller further has instructions to move the injection head with respect to the substrate or the substrate with respect to the injection head.

25. An apparatus for removing material from a semiconductor substrate, the apparatus comprising:
a reaction chamber;
a substrate support for supporting the substrate in the reaction chamber;
an ion or plasma source configured to deliver ions toward the substrate support;
an injection head for providing reactants to a surface of the substrate when the substrate is positioned on the substrate support, the injection head comprising: a substrate-facing region including (i) a reactant outlet region of a reactant delivery conduit, and (ii) a suction region coupled to a vacuum conduit that is configured to remove excess reactants at a periphery of the substrate, wherein the ion or plasma source is positioned above the injection head such that ions from the ion or plasma source impinge downward upon an upper surface of the injection head; and
a movement mechanism for moving the injection head or the substrate support with respect to one another.

Assignees

• Lam Res Corp

Inventors

• Berry Iii Ivan L
• Lill Thorsten
• Reynolds Kenneth Reese

Classifications

• H10P70/12

  by dry cleaning only (H10P70/52 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H10P72/0402 Primary

  Apparatus for fluid treatment (H10P72/0441, H10P72/0448 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01J37/32816

  Pressure · CPC title

• C23F4/00

  Processes for removing metallic material from surfaces, not provided for in group C23F1/00 or C23F3/00 · CPC title

• H01J37/32834

  Exhausting · CPC title