Coating apparatus – Gas or vapor deposition
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-28
2003-12-02
Smith, Matthew (Department: 2825)
Coating apparatus
Gas or vapor deposition
C438S622000, C438S623000, C438S780000, C438S781000, C438S790000, C438S782000, C427S240000, C427S255360, C427S255290, C118S503000, C118S7230ER, C118S730000, C118S724000, C428S131000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06656284
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus and a thin film deposition method using the same, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus in which a rotational gas injector is provided to permit deposition of a thin film having a very high uniformity, and a thin film deposition method using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the wafer size increases, it becomes difficult to deposit thin films at a uniform thickness. When several wafers are loaded in a single reaction chamber to deposit a thin film on these wafers, it is very difficult to allow the thin films deposited on all of the wafers to have the same thickness. This is because source gases are not uniformly distributed within the reaction chamber.
Although the above deposition method in which several wafers are loaded in the single reaction chamber and the thin films are simultaneously deposited on the loaded wafers, increases the production yield, this trial is being hoarded owing to the above reason.
FIG. 1
is a schematic view for illustrating a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus in accordance with the conventional art. Referring to
FIG. 1
, a reaction space shielded from the outside is formed in a reaction chamber
100
including a lower chamber
110
a
and an upper chamber
110
b
. Source gases for forming a thin film are supplied onto a wafer
130
loaded in the reaction chamber
100
through a gas supply inlet
140
formed at a side portion of the reaction chamber
100
with a horizontal flow, and are exhausted through a gas-exhausting outlet
150
formed at a side portion of the reaction chamber
100
.
When a semiconductor process of a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is carried out using the aforementioned semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus, source gases horizontally flow and pass through the wafer
130
. To this end, amount of gases adsorbed on the surface of the wafer
130
near the gas supply inlet
140
becomes different from that adsorbed on the surface of the wafer
130
near the gas-exhausting outlet opposite to the gas supply inlet, so that thickness of a thin film deposited on the wafer
130
becomes non-uniform. This phenomenon becomes more conspicuous as the wafer size increases. Also, since the thin film deposition is performed by the horizontal flow of the source gases, adsorption rate of the source gases to the wafer
130
is lowered, so that deposition rate of the thin film is also lowered.
For mass production, in case that multiple wafers are loaded in the reaction chamber
100
, the thin film is non-uniformly deposited with respect to the plural wafers as well as one wafer. Moreover, in order to load several sheets of wafers into the reaction chamber
100
, it is requested to increase the volume of the reaction chamber
100
, so that the aforementioned non-uniformity problem becomes more seriously conspicuous.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been devised to solve the foregoing problems and it is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus provided with a rotational gas injector, thereby capable of allowing a deposition of a thin film having avery high uniformity.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method for depositing a thin film having a high uniformity using a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus obtained by accomplishing the above object.
To accomplish the object and other advantages, there is provided a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus comprising: a reaction chamber provided with a gas-exhausting outlet for exhausting an inner gas; a susceptor supporting die horizontally arranged within the reaction chamber; at least one susceptor installed on the susceptor supporting die, on which a wafer is mounted; a cylinder vertically coupled to an upper outer wall of the reaction chamber, the cylinder having a plurality of ring-shaped grooves formed along an inner wall thereof, each of the ring-shaped grooves being connected to a plurality of gas injection holes formed so as to penetrate a side wall of the cylinder; a rotational shaft closely contacted with the inner wall of the cylinder, rotatably inserted in the cylinder, vertically inserted within the reaction chamber, having multiple gas supply tubes arranged parallel to a length direction thereof, one end of each of the gas supply tubes communicating with the ring-shaped groove; and a propeller type gas injector having horizontally radially branched tubes connected with the gas supply tubes at an insertion end of the rotational shaft, the branched tubes each having multiple injection holes, the propeller type gas injector being horizontally rotated by a rotational movement of the rotational shaft.
Here, the gas-exhausting outlet is preferably formed in the reaction chamber so as to be disposed below the susceptor.
The injection hole is preferably directed toward a direction between a lower direction of the branched tubes and a rotational direction of the propeller type gas injector.
Preferably, the above apparatus further includes a water-cooling tube equipped in the wall of the cylinder, and heating means installed within the susceptor-supporting die.
Also, the susceptor supporting die is preferably installed so as to be horizontally rotatable and movable upward and downward.
The propeller type gas injector is preferably made of metal, and is electrically connected with an RF power supply source. The rotational shaft and the cylinder are closely contacted with each other through a magnetic sealing. The susceptor-supporting die has at least one penetration hole connected with the gas-exhausting outlet at a place where the susceptor is not positioned.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a thin film deposition method using the above apparatus. The method includes the steps of: mounting a wafer on the susceptor; and rotating the rotational shaft while injecting a gas through the multiple gas injection holes.
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Hwang Chul Ju
Park Chang Soo
Shim Kyung Sik
Jusung Engineering Co. Ltd.
Marger & Johnson & McCollom, P.C.
Smith Matthew
Yevsikov V.
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