KR101412034B1 - Gas injection assembly and thin film deposition apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a thin film deposition apparatus and a gas injection assembly used therefor. A thin film deposition apparatus according to the present invention includes a reactor for forming a reaction space therein, a substrate support part provided inside the reactor so as to be relatively rotatable with the top lid and having a plurality of substrate mounting parts on which the substrate is mounted, Assembly.

The gas injection assembly according to the present invention comprises a top lead for sealing a reactor in which a substrate is mounted and a plurality of gas introduction holes arranged in the circumferential direction of the top lead and connected to the top leads, A showerhead having a gas diffusion space through which the gas is diffused and a plurality of gas injection holes through which gas diffused in the gas diffusion space is injected into the substrate, And heating means for independently controlling the temperature of at least two regions partitioned from each other in the entire region where the showerhead is disposed.

According to the present invention, the temperature of the gas flowing into each showerhead can be independently controlled, and the stability of the facility can be improved by preventing the generation of particles in the showerhead or inside the reactor.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a gas injection assembly and a thin film deposition apparatus using the same,

The present invention relates to a gas injection assembly for maintaining a constant temperature of a supplied gas while supplying a gas to a substrate placed in a reactor and a thin film deposition apparatus equipped with such a gas injection assembly, To a gas injection assembly and a thin film deposition apparatus which are used for causing a plurality of substrates to be processed together in a reactor of a plasma reactor.

As the scale of a semiconductor device is gradually reduced, a demand for a polar thin film is increasing, and an atomic layer deposition (ALD) method is attracting attention as a thin film deposition method. The atomic layer deposition method is a method in which a thin film is formed by separately supplying the respective source gases to a substrate to thereby saturate the surface of the source gases. A thin film deposition apparatus for realizing the above-described method is shown in Fig. In particular, the conventional thin film deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is capable of atomic layer deposition of a plurality of substrates simultaneously in one reactor.

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional thin film deposition apparatus 9 includes a reactor 1 and a top lead 2 for opening and closing an internal space of the reactor 1. A circular rotating plate 3 is installed in the inner space of the reactor 1 so as to be rotatable and liftable. A plurality of wafers (w) are arranged in the circumferential direction on the upper portion of the rotary plate (3). A plurality of shower heads 4 are provided in a lower portion of the top lead 2. [ The gas introduced from the outside is supplied to the substrate w through the shower head 4. [ For example, the showerhead 4 can supply the first raw material gas, the purge gas, the second raw material gas, and the purge gas, respectively. When the rotary plate 3 is rotated, the substrate W deposited on the rotary plate 3 is atomically deposited while sequentially receiving the first source gas, the purge gas, the second source gas, and the purge gas.

On the other hand, a heater 5 is disposed on the top of the top lid 2. The heater 5 has a heat generating region capable of heating the entire area of the plurality of shower heads 4, So that a great deal of problems arise. Hereinafter, a detailed description will be given.

In order to smoothly deposit the thin film, the raw material gas heated to the vaporization temperature by the external vaporizer and introduced into the showerhead 4 in the gaseous state is maintained in the vaporized state in the showerhead 4, And then decomposed by heating and deposited on the substrate w. For example, the source gas SiH ₄ containing the Si raw material is vaporized and flows into the showerhead 4, is maintained in the state of gas in the showerhead 4, is supplied into the reactor 1 and is heated to the decomposition temperature, (w) and decomposed into Si and H ₄ , Si is deposited on the substrate and H ₄ is discharged from the reactor (1). In order to prevent the temperature of the showerhead 4 from being lowered to the vaporization temperature or lower, the raw material gas is condensed or heated above the decomposition temperature to decompose the raw material gas, the inside of the showerhead 4 should be maintained at a proper temperature, The heater 5 thus acts to keep the gas in the shower head 4 at an appropriate temperature.

In a conventional thin film deposition apparatus in which a plurality of substrates are simultaneously processed, a plurality of different kinds of source gases are used. Since the vaporization temperature and the decomposition temperature are different for each source gas, a plurality of shower heads 4 When controlled at the same temperature, condensation or decomposition may occur in the showerhead depending on the raw material gas. For example, when different types of raw material 1 and raw material 2 are used for thin film deposition, the vaporization temperature of raw material 1 is 100 占 폚, the decomposition temperature is 150 占 폚, the vaporization temperature of raw material 2 is 200 占 폚 and the decomposition temperature is 300 / RTI > When the plurality of showerheads 4 are heated to 130 캜 by the heater 5, the raw material 1 can maintain the gaseous state in the showerhead 4, but it is heated and vaporized at 200 캜 or higher, ) Is cooled to a temperature below the vaporization temperature in the showerhead and condensed to generate particles. Conversely, when the temperature in the showerhead 4 is maintained at 200 ° C or higher, the raw material 1 is decomposed in the showerhead to generate particles.

In the conventional thin film deposition apparatus 9, as described above, since the entire heating region (a plurality of shower heads) is controlled by the single heater 5 at the same temperature, problems such as contamination due to particles have occurred. If the inside of the thin film deposition apparatus 9 is contaminated by particles, the quality of the deposited thin film is deteriorated and the facility stability can not be guaranteed.

Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem [8] Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a gas injection assembly and a thin film deposition apparatus using the gas injection assembly.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gas injection assembly comprising: a top lead for sealing a reactor in which a substrate is mounted; a plurality of gas discharge assemblies arranged in a circumferential direction of the top lead, A showerhead having a gas diffusion hole through which gas introduced into the gas inlet hole is diffused and a plurality of gas injection holes through which gas diffused in the gas diffusion space is injected into the substrate, And heating means for independently controlling the temperature of at least two regions partitioned from each other in the entire region where the plurality of shower heads are arranged.

According to the present invention, it is preferable that the heating means is a heater which is disposed above the at least two showerheads of the plurality of showerheads, heats the gas flowing into the showerhead, and can control the temperature independently of each other.

According to the present invention, it is preferable that an insulator is disposed above the heater to prevent heat loss of the heater. In order to prevent heat generated from the heater from being transmitted through the top lead, Is more preferably interposed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thin film deposition apparatus including: a reactor for forming a reaction space therein; a plurality of substrate seats installed inside the reactor so as to be rotatable relative to the tower lead, And a gas injection assembly having the above-described configuration.

In the gas injection assembly and the thin film deposition apparatus using the gas injection assembly according to the present invention, a plurality of heaters operating independently of each other can be provided to individually control the temperature of the gas, so that generation of particles due to condensation or decomposition of gas can be suppressed As a result, there is an advantage that the quality of the thin film to be deposited is improved and the facility stability is improved.

In addition, the gas injection assembly and the thin film deposition apparatus using the gas injection assembly according to the present invention are advantageous in that the heat of the heater is prevented from being lost and the thermal efficiency is increased.

Hereinafter, a gas injection assembly 80 and a thin film deposition apparatus 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Since the gas injection assembly 80 according to the present invention is included in the thin film deposition apparatus 100, the gas deposition assembly 80 will be described together with the thin film deposition apparatus 100.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a thin film deposition apparatus 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a main portion of the thin film deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 2, 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is a schematic sectional view of Fig. 2 taken along line V-V.

2 to 5, a thin film deposition apparatus 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a reactor 10, a substrate support 20, and a gas injection assembly 80.

The reactor (10) has a bottom (11) and an outer wall (12). The bottom part 11 is formed in the shape of a circular plate and the outer wall part 12 is formed to extend vertically upward from the edge of the bottom part 111 to have a closed curved surface shape. A gate valve (not shown) is formed in the outer wall portion 12 to allow the substrate w to go in and out. When a gas injection assembly 80 to be described later is coupled to the upper portion of the reactor 10, a reaction space 16 is formed inside the reactor 10 and thin film deposition is performed on the substrate w in the reaction space 16 . An O-ring (not shown) is provided between the lower surface of the gas injection assembly 80 and the upper surface of the reactor 10 to prevent air from entering from the outside, since the reaction space 16 must be maintained in a vacuum. And the like.

An exhaust means for exhausting unnecessary gases and particles remaining in the reactor 10 is provided in the reactor 10. An annular exhaust duct (not shown) is interposed between the substrate supporting portion 20 to be described later and the inner surface of the outer wall portion of the reactor Is preferably provided. The exhaust duct (not shown) is connected to an exhaust pump (not shown) through an exhaust port to forcibly exhaust unnecessary gas in the reactor 10.

The substrate support 20 is for supporting and rotating the substrate w in the reactor 10 and is installed in the reaction space 16 inside and includes the susceptor 21, the substrate mount 22, the shaft 23 And heating means (not shown).

The susceptor 21 is rotatably disposed in the reactor 10 in the form of a disk. The susceptor 21 is provided with a plurality of substrate seating portions 22 concaved for seating the substrate w, and in particular, six substrate seating portions 22 are provided in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, the substrate seating portions 22 are spaced apart from each other at predetermined angular intervals along the circumferential direction of the upper surface of the substrate supporting portion 20. One end of the shaft 23 is coupled to the lower surface of the susceptor 21 and the other end is connected to a rotating means (not shown) such as a motor through the reactor 10. Therefore, when the shaft 23 rotates, the susceptor 21 rotates about the rotation center axis A. Further, the shaft 23 is connected to a lifting means such as a motor and a ball screw assembly (not shown) or the like, so that the susceptor 21 also ascends and descends when the shaft 23 is lifted or lowered. A heating means (not shown) for heating the substrate w is embedded in the lower portion of the susceptor 21.

The gas injection assembly 80 includes a top lead 30, a plurality of showerheads 40, and at least two heaters 50.

The top lid 30 serves to open or close the inside of the reactor 10 or the reaction space 16 and serves as a top plate. When the top lid 30 closes the reaction space 16, do. The top leads 30 are coupled to the top of the reactor 10 and may be coupled in a detachable manner, but are hingedly coupled in this embodiment. The top leads 30 are formed in a substantially circular shape so as to correspond to the shape of the reactor 10.

A plurality of mounting holes 31 are radially disposed in the top lead 30 along the circumferential direction with respect to the center point thereof. The mounting hole 31 is formed to pass through between the upper surface and the lower surface of the top lead 30. The mounting hole 31 is formed in a substantially arc shape in which a showerhead 40 to be described later is installed. In the present embodiment, eight mounting holes 31 are arranged at a constant angular interval. Further, a mounting hole (not shown) may be formed when it is necessary to mount a shower head (for example, a shower head using a purge gas distribution showerhead) in the central portion of the top lead 30, do. In addition, the size of the mounting holes may be different according to the deposition process, and the number of the mounting holes may be different. That is, the size and number of mounting holes may be different depending on which film is deposited.

The showerhead 40 is installed in each of the mounting holes 31 provided in the top lead 30 for introducing gas from the outside and injecting gas onto the substrate w mounted in the reactor 10 . The gas introduced into the showerhead 40 can be variously combined according to the application process such as a raw material gas, a reactive gas, a purge gas, and an etching gas.

A gas inflow hole 42 for introducing various gases into the showerhead 40 is formed in the upper portion of the showerhead 40. The gas inflow hole 42 is formed in an outer And is connected to a feeding device (not shown). In particular, a vaporizing device for phase-changing the raw material to a gaseous state is generally interposed between the raw material supply device for supplying the raw material and the gas inflow hole 42.

On the other hand, it is preferable that the gas is uniformly introduced into the entire region of the substrate w when the gas is supplied to the substrate w through the showerhead 40, Which is undesirable. A gas diffusion space 41 and a plurality of gas injection holes 43 are formed in the showerhead 40 so that the gas can be uniformly introduced into the entire region of the substrate w. That is, the gas introduced through the gas inflow hole 42 is diffused widely throughout the showerhead 40 through the gas diffusion space 41, and the gas thus diffused is spread over the entire area of the lower surface of the showerhead 40 And is evenly injected into the entire region of the substrate w through the uniformly formed gas injection holes 43. In the present embodiment, eight mounting holes 31 are provided and eight showerheads 40 are provided. However, the present invention is not limited to the eight showerheads 40, .

The heater 50 is disposed above the showerhead 40 in order to heat the gas in the showerhead 40, particularly, the raw material gas so that these gases can be maintained at a predetermined temperature. In the present invention, Are provided. The two heaters 50 are temperature controlled independently of each other. In this embodiment, two independent heaters are provided. However, the heat generating regions may be divided into at least two heat generating regions in one heater to independently control the heat generating amounts. That is, the heater in the present invention is merely an example of a heating unit that divides an area in which a plurality of showerheads are arranged into at least two areas, and can heat the divided areas differently to independently control the temperature, Other means than providing a plurality of heaters can also be employed as the heating means of the present invention if they function to perform independent temperature control of the divided regions as described above.

In the conventional thin film deposition apparatus, since all showerheads are heated using one heater, all the showerheads are formed at the same temperature, so that some of the gases are condensed or decomposed in the showerhead depending on the type of gas In the present invention, a separate heater 50 is provided for each showerhead 40 into which the raw material gas flows, thereby enabling temperature control independently for each raw material gas. As a result, particles such as particles are generated in the shower head as in the conventional thin film deposition apparatus, and the problem of contamination of the apparatus does not occur. The number of heaters 50 may vary depending on the number and type of gases used in the process, more precisely depending on the vaporization temperature and decomposition temperature of the gases.

On the other hand, it is necessary to prevent the heat generated from the heater 50 from being discharged to the outside without being used for heating the gas, thereby lowering the thermal efficiency. Accordingly, the gas injection assembly 80 according to the present invention includes two insulators 61 and 62. That is, the upper portion of the heater 50 is surrounded by the first insulator 61 to prevent heat from being emitted to the upper side of the heater 50. A second insulator 62 is also interposed between the heater 50 and the top lead 30 to prevent the heater 50 from being transferred from the heater 50 to the top lead 30. [ More precisely, a second insulator 62 (not shown) is interposed between the top lead 30 and the shower head 40 to prevent the heat transferred from the heater 50 to the shower head 40 from being transmitted to the top lead 30. [ . Since the top lead 30 is generally made of a metal material having a good heat transfer coefficient, the thermal efficiency of the heater 50 can be increased by providing the second insulator 62.

Hereinafter, use examples and operations of the thin film deposition apparatus 100 having the above-described structure will be described. This use example is an example in which the substrate w is used for depositing a SrTiO ₃ film. In order to form the above film, eight showerheads 40 are arranged. Of the eight showerheads, the first raw material gas containing Sr, the O ₃ reaction gas, the second raw material gas containing Ti, and the O ₃ reaction gas are arranged so as to be spaced apart from each other and N ₂ and Ar And four showerheads to which purge gas is supplied.

The first source gas containing Sr may be in various forms, but in this use example, the stable temperature for maintaining the vaporized state is 250 ° C to 300 ° C. The second raw material gas containing Ti has a temperature at which the temperature of 150 ° C to 200 ° C is maintained in the vaporized state, and the decomposition temperature is approximately 250 ° C. In the case of O ₃ , which is a reaction gas, when the temperature rises, it is reduced to O 2 and the reactivity is lowered.

Depending on the characteristics of the raw material gas, the showerhead into which the first raw material gas flows and the showerhead into which the second raw material gas flows must be temperature-controlled independently from each other, and independently operated heaters are disposed on each showerhead . However, since the showerhead into which the reactive gas flows does not require heating, it is not necessary to dispose the heater, and it is not necessary to dispose the heater in the showerhead into which the purge gas is introduced. In this example, two heaters are used.

When the apparatus constructed as described above operates, the eight showerheads supply gas continuously, and the susceptor 31 rotates with the plurality of substrates w mounted thereon. The upper surface of the substrate w is thin-film deposited while being exposed to the first source gas, the reactive gas, the second source gas, and the reactive gas. The heater disposed above the showerhead to which the first source gas is supplied is heated to maintain the temperature of 250 ° C to 300 ° C and the heater disposed above the showerhead to which the second source gas is supplied is heated to 150 ° C to 200 ° C Is maintained. Accordingly, the first raw material gas, the second raw material gas, and the reactive gas can stably maintain the vaporized state without being condensed or decomposed in the showerhead.

Although the mounting hole 31 is formed in the gas injection assembly 80 and the shower head 40 is inserted into the mounting hole 31, the shape of the gas injection assembly 80 is not limited to the above The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but various modifications are possible. This modified embodiment is shown in Fig. 6 is a schematic view for explaining a gas injection assembly according to another embodiment of the present invention.

6, a mounting hole is not formed in the top lead 30, and the first mounting portion 35 is concave on the bottom surface of the top lead 30. The top lead 30 The second mounting portion 36 is formed in a concave shape. The first and second mounting portions 35 and 36 are arranged radially from the central portion of the top lead 30 in the circumferential direction. The showerhead 40 is installed in the first mounting portion 36 and the heater 50 and the first insulator 61 are installed in the second mounting portion 35. A gas introduction path is formed through the first insulator 61, the heater 50 and the top lead 30 in order to introduce the gas into the gas inflow hole 42 of the shower head 40, Is in communication with the gas inflow hole (42). 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals in the above-described embodiments, and the description thereof will be omitted.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, You will understand. Accordingly, the true scope of protection of the present invention should be determined only by the appended claims.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining a conventional thin film deposition apparatus.

2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a thin film deposition apparatus 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a main part of the thin film deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 2. FIG.

4 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in Fig.

5 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line V-V in Fig.

6 is a schematic view for explaining a gas injection assembly according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Description of the Related Art

100 ... Thin Film Deposition Apparatus 10 ... Reactor

20: substrate supporting part 21: susceptor

30 ... Top Lead 40 ... Shower Head

50 ... heater 61 ... first insulator

62 ... second insulator 80 ... gas injection assembly

w ... substrate

Claims (7)

A top lead for sealing a reactor in which a substrate is mounted; A plurality of gas diffusion holes arranged in a circumferential direction of the top leads and coupled to the top leads, the gas diffusion holes being formed in a gas inflow hole into which the gas flows, a gas diffusion space in which the gas introduced into the gas inflow hole is diffused, A shower head having a plurality of gas injection holes formed therein for injecting the gas into the substrate; And Heating means for heating the gas introduced into the showerhead so that at least two regions partitioned among the entire region in which the plurality of showerheads are arranged are temperature-controlled independently; Wherein the heating means comprises: Wherein the heater is a heater which is installed on at least two showerheads of the plurality of showerheads so as to heat the gas introduced into the showerhead and can control temperature independently of each other. delete The method according to claim 1, Further comprising an insulator provided on the heater to prevent heat loss of the heater.  The method according to claim 1, Further comprising an insulator interposed between the heater and the top lead so that heat generated from the heater is not transmitted through the top lead. The method according to claim 1, Wherein a plurality of mounting holes extending radially from the top surface to the top surface of the top lead are radially provided, the showerhead is inserted into the mounting hole, the heater is disposed on the top surface of the showerhead, Wherein an insulator is provided between the showerhead and the top lead and above the heater to prevent heat loss of the heater. The method according to claim 1, Wherein a plurality of recessed first mounting portions are radially arranged on a lower surface of the top lead, the shower head is fitted in the first mounting portion, Wherein a plurality of concave second mounting portions are radially disposed on the top surface of the top lead, the heater is fitted in the first mounting portion, and an insulator is provided on the heater to prevent heat loss of the heater Lt; / RTI > A reactor for forming a reaction space therein; A substrate supporting part installed in the reactor so as to be rotatable relative to the top lid and having a plurality of substrate seating parts on which the substrates are mounted, And A thin film deposition apparatus comprising: a gas injection assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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