The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 19, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 17, 1997
Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Yen-Kun Wang, Fremont, CA (US);
Fong Chang, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Thanh Pham, San Jose, CA (US);
Jeff Plante, Pleasanton, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for in-situ control of the flow of a liquid precursor into a deposition chamber comprises a liquid injection system having a liquid injection outlet connected to a chamber inlet line upstream of the deposition chamber. The liquid injection system includes a liquid precursor supply, a carrier gas supply, a vaporizer, and a controller managing flows of the liquid precursor and carrier gas to the chamber. A bypass line is connected to the chamber inlet line and includes a bypass valve, a sonic orifice, and a pressure gauge upstream of the sonic orifice. To calibrate the flow of the liquid precursor, a flow of carrier gas is directed into the bypass line at a carrier gas sonic flow rate. A first steady state pressure is measured with the pressure gauge. The liquid precursor is vaporized and directed to the flow of carrier gas into the bypass line. A second steady state pressure is measured with the pressure gauge. Calibration information is computed using the first steady state pressure and second steady state pressure based on sonic flow theory. The calibration information is used to calibrate the controller to correct deviations in the liquid flow rate and achieve a target liquid precursor flow rate for improving wafer uniformity.