Applied Materisls, Inc.

Alan Ferris Morrison

Michio Aruga

Akihiko Saito

Kenichi Taguchi

Kenji Suzuki

Dale Robert DuBois

Atsunobu Ohkura

In CVD processes susceptors can be made of a thermally conductive ceramic such as aluminum nitride which has superior durability with respect to fluorine plasma. Such aluminum nitride susceptors can include an embedded heater element and/or embedded ground or RF electrodes which as a result of their embedment are protected from the deleterious effects of the processing chamber environment. The conductors leading to these elements are protected from exposure to the process chamber environment by passing through a cylindrical member filled with inert gas supporting the wafer support plate of said susceptor. Alternately, the conductors leading to these elements can be run through passages in a hermetically sealed stem supporting the susceptor wafer support plate. The stem passes through the wall of the processing chamber so that connections to the susceptor wafer support plate can be made outside the processing chamber. Such a stem supporting the susceptor support plate can also provide passages for passing vacuum and purge gas to the back of the wafer support plate. Vacuum and purge gas can then be distributed through passages in the wafer support plate as appropriate to its top surface for a vacuum chuck and perimeter purge gas flow.

Growing community of inventors

Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Alan Ferris Morrison