Veeco Instruments Inc.

Alex Gurary

Bojan Mitrovic

Eric Armour

Vadim Boguslavskiy

Mikhail Belousov

William E Quinn

Keng Moy

Richard A Stall

Richard Hoffman

Scott Elman

Jonathan Cruel

Wafer treatment process and apparatus is provided with a wafer carrier arranged to hold wafers and to inject a fill gas into gaps between the wafers and the wafer carrier. The apparatus is arranged to vary the composition, flow rate, or both of the fill gas so as to counteract undesired patterns of temperature non-uniformity of the wafers.

Processing methods and apparatus with temperature distribution control

An MOCVD reactor such as a rotating disc reactor () is equipped with a gas injector head having diffusers () disposed between adjacent gas inlets. The diffusers taper in the downstream direction. The injector head desirably has inlets () for a first gas such as a metal alkyl disposed in radial rows which terminate radially inward from the reactor wall to minimize deposition of the reactants on the reactor wall. The injector head desirably also has inlets () for a second gas such as ammonia arranged in a field between the rows of first gas inlets, and additionally has a center inlet () for the second gas coaxial with the axis of rotation.

Gas treatment systems

In a rotating disk reactor for growing epitaxial layers on substrate or other CVD reactor system, gas directed toward the substrates at gas inlets at different radial distances from the axis of rotation of the disk has both substantially the same gas flow rate/velocity and substantially the same gas density at each inlet. The gas directed toward portions of the disk remote from the axis may include a higher concentration of a reactant gas than the gas directed toward portions of the disk close to the axis, so that portions of the substrate surfaces at different distances from the axis receive substantially the same amount of reactant gas per unit area, and a combination of carrier gases with different relative molecular weights at different radial distances from the axis of rotation are employed to substantially make equal the gas density in each region of the reactor. The system may be applied with a combination or carrier gases at multiple gas inlets, a combination of carrier and reactant gases at multiple inlets, and may be used with an arbitrarily large number of gases, when at least two gases of different molecular weights are provided. A linear flow pattern is achieved within the reactor, avoiding laminar recirculation areas, and permitting uniform deposition and growth of epitaxial layers on the substrate.

Density-matching alkyl push flow for vertical flow rotating disk reactors

A chemical vapor deposition reactor and method. Reactive gases, such as gases including a Group III metal source and a Group V metal source, are introduced into the chamber () of a rotating-disc reactor and directed downwardly onto a wafer carrier () and substrates () which are maintained at an elevated substrate temperature, typically above about 400&#xb0; C. and normally about 700-1100&#xb0; C. to deposit a compound such as a III-V semiconductor. The gases are introduced into the reactor at an inlet temperature desirably above about 75&#xb0; C. and most preferably about 100&#xb0;-350&#xb0; C. The walls of the reactor may be at a temperature close to the inlet temperature. Use of an elevated inlet temperature allows the use of a lower rate of rotation of the wafer carrier, a higher operating pressure, lower flow rate, or some combination of these.

Chemical vapor deposition with elevated temperature gas injection

A chemical vapor deposition reactor and method. Reactive gases, such as gases including a Group III metal source and a Group V metal source, are introduced into a rotating-disc reactor and directed downwardly onto a wafer carrier and substrates which are maintained at an elevated substrate temperature, typically above about 400&#xb0; C. and normally about 700-1100&#xb0; C. to deposit a compound such as a III-V semiconductor. The gases are introduced into the reactor at an inlet temperature desirably above about 75&#xb0; C. and most preferably about 100&#xb0;-250&#xb0; C. The walls of the reactor may be at a temperature close to the inlet temperature. Use of an elevated inlet temperature allows the use of a lower rate of rotation of the wafer carrier, a higher operating pressure, lower flow rate, or some combination of these.

A system and method for evenly heating a substrate placed in a wafer carrier used in wafer treatment systems such as chemical vapor deposition reactors, wherein a first pattern of wafer compartments is provided on the top of the wafer carrier, such as one or more rings of wafer carriers, and a second pattern of inlaid material dissimilar to the wafer carrier material is inlaid on the bottom of the wafer carrier, and the second pattern of inlaid material is substantially the opposite of the first pattern of wafer compartments, such that there are at least as many material interfaces in intermediate regions without wafer compartments as there are in wafer carrying regions with wafers and wafer compartments.

System and method for varying wafer surface temperature via wafer-carrier temperature offset

A chemical vapor deposition reactor and a method of wafer processing are provided. The reactor includes a reaction chamber having an interior, a gas inlet manifold communicating with the interior of the chamber, an exhaust system including an exhaust manifold having a passage and one or more ports, and one or more cleaning elements mounted within the chamber. The gas inlet manifold can admit process gasses to form a deposit on substrates held within the interior. The passage can communicate with the interior of the chamber through the one or more ports. The one or more cleaning elements are movable between (i) a run position in which the cleaning elements are remote from the one or more ports and (ii) a cleaning position in which the one or more cleaning elements are engaged in the one or more ports.

Exhaust for CVD reactor

A shutter assembly for a reactor includes a cylindrical shutter for selectively closing a passthrough opening of the reactor, the shutter forming a closed loop and including an internal cavity adapted to receive a cooling fluid, tubing connected with the cylindrical shutter for supplying the cooling fluid to the internal cavity, and an actuator connected with the tubing for moving the tubing and the cylindrical shutter. The cylindrical shutter is movable between a first substantially closed position and a second substantially open position.

Reactor having a movable shutter

A wafer carrier for growing wafers includes a plate having a first surface and a second surface, a plurality of openings extending from the first surface to the second surface of the plate, and a porous element disposed in each of the plurality of openings, each porous element being adapted to support one or more wafers. The wafer carrier also has a blind central opening extending from the second surface toward the first surface of the plate, and a plurality of shafts extending outwardly from the blind central opening. Each shaft has a first end in communication with the blind central opening and a second end in communication with one of the porous elements for providing fluid communication between the blind central opening and one of the porous elements. Suction is formed at a surface of each porous element by drawing vacuum through the blind central opening and the shafts.

Growing community of inventors

Bridgewater, NJ, United States of America

Alex Gurary