Lam Research Corporation

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.

Mark A Logan

Joseph R Monkowski

Justice N Carman

Gregory C Hoffman

Lloyd F Wright

A wafer support platen heating system for low pressure chemical vapor deposition of apparatus includes multiple resistance heaters for individual heating of multiple portions of the platen to provide a predetermined uniform or non-uniform temperature gradient/profile across the platen. The multiple graphite resistance heaters of the preferred embodiment include a spiral shaped main resistance heater and two single turn edge loss graphite resistance heaters located within the inner diameter and along the periphery of the outer diameter respectively of the main spiral shaped resistance heater.

CVD platen heater system utilizing concentric electric heating elements

A glass deposition viscoelastic flow process for forming planar and semi-planar insulator structures on semiconductor devices, which comprises feeding vaporized reactants into a reaction chamber at a reaction temperature between 750.degree.-950.degree. C. and subjecting the surface of the semiconductor devices to a high reactant velocity. The high reactant velocity allows the formation of a high quality, uniform glass layer at temperatures compatible with the fusion temperature, so that deposition occurs simultaneously with the viscoelastic flow of the glass. The simultaneous deposition and flow provides for topographical planarization substantially free of voids and other layer inconsistencies.

Simultaneous glass deposition and viscoelastic flow process

A CVD process for the deposition of at least one layer of material on a wafer substrate is disclosed, which comprises the steps of : (a) positioning at least one wafer substrate horizontally within a generally circular wafer deposition zone; (b) passing a reactive gas radially through the zone and across the surface of the wafer substrate in a single pass and preventing the recirculation of any reactive gas or gaseous reaction products over any wafer substrate or through any part of the reaction chamber which affects the wafer substrate; (c) heating the wafer substrate to a point at which the desired deposition material will be formed from the reactive gas by reaction on the surface of the heated wafer substrate and will subsequently bond with the surface; and (d) causing the deposition of material on the surface to be substantially uniform by maintaining the radial flow of the gas at a flow rate to produce a predetermined residence time of the gas over each such wafer substrate sufficiently short to prevent significant lateral diffusion or depletion of the gas across the wafer substrate.

Chemical vapor deposition method

A chemical vapor deposition (CVD) recstor is described which comprises an annular reaction zone with means for one or more reactive gases to be passed in single pass radial flow in which there is little lateral diffusion, means for preventing recirculation of reactive gases or reaction products from occurring at any point in the reaction chamber, and means in the reaction chamber for maintaining a laminar gas flow. rotational means permit the wafer support plates and wafers to be rotated around the central axis of the reaction zone and different gases may be passed over the wafers at different points in the reaction zone such that two or more materials can be deposited on the wafers during a single reactor run. Rotation through alternating deposition zones can also be done repeatedly such that a series of alternating layers of two different deposited materials is built up. This allows for the formation of polymetallic layers by CVD alone or in combination with other deposition processes such as sputtering, plasma or evaporation deposition.

Chemical vapor deposition reactor and method of use thereof

The present invention involves apparatus and methods for introducing ion source material into an ion implant system for use in connection with Freeman type sources. A vaporizer unit which is removable from the system is prepared for insertion into the ion implant equipment outside the system. It is cleaned, a new vial of ion source material is introduced and it may be pre-heated to degas it or to prepare it for use in the system. The vaporizer unit which is currently in use is removed, to be cleaned and recharged, and the previously prepared vaporizer unit is inserted, sealed in place and the vacuum established. The ion implant system is, then, ready to resume operation with minimal down time. The vaporizer unit comprises a vaporizer block of high heat conductive material such as copper which includes three cavities or wells. One cavity contains a heater, one a gas flow path for heating and/or cooling, and one contains a sealed vial of semiconductor dopant. Wells for temperature sensors are also provided, as are means for breaking or puncturing the vial once the ion implant system is ready for operation. The evaporator block is mounted, when in use, in the vacuum chamber of the ion implant device, and is connected through gas-tight seals with a face plate which forms a seal closing the vacuum chamber and supporting the vaporizer block. An external operator is provided for transmitting movement into the system for breaking the vial at the desired time.

Growing community of inventors

Carlsbad, CA, United States of America

Mark A Logan