The present disclosure generally relates to gas-phase reactor systems. More particularly, the disclosure relates to cooling systems suitable for use with gas-phase reactor systems.
Gas-phase reactors, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactors and the like, can be used for a variety of applications, including depositing and etching materials on a substrate surface, and cleaning of a surface of the substrate. For example, gas-phase reactors can be used to deposit layers on a substrate to form devices, such as semiconductor devices, flat panel display devices, photovoltaic devices, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and the like.
During the manufacture of devices, it is often desirable to heat a substrate to facilitate a surface reaction thereon and to cool a portion of the gas phase reactor system to obtain desired deposition and/or etch rates, while mitigating non-uniformity of the deposited and/or etched material on the substrate surface. Cooling a portion of the reactor system may also mitigate undesired reactions with surfaces of or within the reaction chamber.
Some cooling systems utilize cooling plates to cool a portion of the gas phase reactor system. Such cooling systems can be susceptible to galvanic and pitting corrosion of a cooling plate, which can lead to increased non-uniformity of cooling of the portion of the gas phase reactor system, which, in turn, can lead to increased non-uniformity of deposition, etch, or cleaning processes within the gas-phase reactor system. Further, because of the deficiencies with typical cooling systems, a duty cycle of a typical cooling system may be relatively low and/or vary between reaction chambers—e.g., reaction chambers within the same reactor system. It is generally desirable to use a cooling system that can mitigate thermal non-uniformity during operation. Additionally or alternatively, it is desirable to have relatively high duty cycles of the cooling systems. Further, it is generally desirable to have consistency between cooling systems.
Any discussion, including discussion of problems and solutions, set forth in this section, has been included in this disclosure solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present disclosure, and should not be taken as an admission that any or all of the discussion was known at the time the invention was made or otherwise constitutes prior art.
In accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure, cooling systems for a gas phase reactor are provided. An exemplary cooling system can include a first plate comprising a first surface, a first width and a first thickness, and a second plate comprising a second surface, a second width and a second thickness. A groove can be formed within the first plate and extend to the first surface of the first plate. The first plate and the second plate can be coupled together at the first surface and the second surface to form a conduit comprising the groove enclosed by a portion of the second surface. In accordance with examples of embodiments, a metal tube can be disposed within the conduit; the metal tube can comprise a cooling fluid inlet at a first end of the metal tube and a cooling fluid outlet at a second end of the metal tube.
In accordance with examples of embodiments, the first plate and the second plate can comprise or be formed of aluminum. Additionally, the first plate and the second plate can be brazed together at the first surface and the second surface. In accordance with examples of embodiments, the metal tube can comprise or be formed of stainless steel.
In accordance with examples of embodiments, the first plate and the second plate each can form a partial annular structure. The second plate can comprise an inner diameter and an outer diameter. The groove can comprise an arcuate shape comprising a groove diameter that is greater than the inner diameter and less than the outer diameter.
In accordance with examples of embodiments, the first plate and the second plate can each form an annular structure, where the first plate comprises an inner diameter and an outer diameter. The groove can be continuous and can comprise a plurality of concentric arcuate shaped sections.
In accordance with additional embodiments of the disclosure, another exemplary cooling system is provided. The cooling system can include a first plate and a second plate, wherein the first plate and the second plate can be coupled using one or more of a weld and a brazing material. The first plate can comprise a first surface, a first thickness and a first width. A groove can be formed within the first plate. The groove can extend to the first surface of the first plate. The second plate can comprise a first layer and a second layer. The second plate can comprise a second thickness and a second width. The first plate and the second plate can be coupled using the one or more of a weld and the brazing material at the first surface and the first layer. The first layer and the first surface can form a conduit comprising the groove enclosed by a portion of the first layer. The cooling system can also comprise a cooling fluid inlet and a cooling fluid outlet. The cooling fluid inlet and the cooling fluid outlet are fluidly connected to the conduit.
In accordance with examples of embodiments, the second layer can be formed of a second metal. The first layer can comprise or be formed of stainless steel. The first plate can comprise or be formed of stainless steel. The weld can be directly in contact with the first layer of the second plate and the first surface of the first plate.
In accordance with examples of embodiments, the cooling system can comprise a metal tube. The metal tube can be disposed within the conduit. Additionally, the groove can comprise a serpentine path between the cooling fluid inlet and the cooling fluid outlet. The groove can also comprise a continuous serpentine path between the cooling fluid inlet and the cooling fluid outlet.
Exemplary cooling systems can further comprise a coupling assembly for connecting a cooling fluid inlet and a cooling fluid outlet to a cooling fluid source.
In accordance with additional embodiments of the disclosure, a gas phase reactor including a cooling system is provided. The gas phase reactor can comprise a reaction chamber comprising an upper region and a lower region. A showerhead can be disposed within the upper region. A first cooling system can be disposed below the lower region. The first cooling system can be a cooling system described herein. Additionally or alternatively, the gas-phase reactor includes a second cooling system, such as a cooling system described herein. The second cooling system can be disposed above the showerhead. Exemplary gas-phase reactor systems can include one or more cooling systems.
These and other embodiments will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of certain embodiments having reference to the attached figures; the invention not being limited to any particular embodiment(s) disclosed.
A more complete understanding of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure can be derived by referring to the detailed description and claims when considered in connection with the following illustrative figures.
It will be appreciated that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures can be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of illustrated embodiments of the present disclosure.
Although certain embodiments and examples are disclosed below, it will be understood by those in the art that the invention extends beyond the specifically disclosed embodiments and/or uses of the invention and obvious modifications and equivalents thereof. Thus, it is intended that the scope of the invention disclosed should not be limited by the particular disclosed embodiments described below.
The present disclosure generally relates to cooling systems for cooling a portion of gas phase reactor system using one or more cooling plates. By way of examples, the cooling systems can include a bi-metal cooling system or a brazed cooling system. Exemplary cooling systems can be used to cool various parts or portions of a gas-phase reactor system, such as a gas distribution device (e.g., a showerhead) and/or a lower chamber of a reactor. Exemplary gas-phase reactor systems can include various combinations of the cooling systems.
Exemplary cooling systems can comprise a first plate and a second plate. In accordance with examples of these embodiments, the first plate can comprise a groove and the second plate can comprise a second surface coupled to a first surface of the first plate, such that the second surface and the groove can form a conduit. The conduit can be used as a cooling channel to circulate a coolant to the cooling system. In accordance with examples of the disclosure, a metal tube can be disposed within the conduit.
In this disclosure, any two numbers of a variable can constitute a workable range of the variable, and any ranges indicated can include or exclude the endpoints. Additionally, any values of variables indicated (regardless of whether they are indicated with “about” or not) can refer to precise values or approximate values and include equivalents, and can refer to average, median, representative, majority, etc. in some embodiments. Further, in this disclosure, the terms “including,” “constituted by” and “having” can refer independently to “typically or broadly comprising,” “comprising,” “consisting essentially of,” or “consisting of” in some embodiments. In this disclosure, any defined meanings do not necessarily exclude ordinary and customary meanings in some embodiments.
Turning now to the figures,
In accordance with examples of the disclosure, the first width 106 is greater than the second width 114. The second thickness 116 can be greater than the first thickness 108. The first thickness 108 can be 1 centimeter to 10 centimeters, 2 centimeters to 8 centimeters, or 4 centimeters to 6 centimeters. The second thickness 116 can be 2 centimeters to 15 centimeters, 4 centimeters to 12 centimeters, or 6 centimeters to 10 centimeters. The first width 106 can be 140 millimeters to 420 millimeters. The second width 114 can be 25 millimeters to 290 millimeters.
Further referencing
With reference to
With continued reference to
The cooling system 200 can comprise a cooling fluid assembly, which comprises a cooling fluid inlet 218 and a cooling fluid outlet 220. The cooling fluid assembly can connect to a cooling fluid source (not shown) such that the cooling fluid inlet 218 can receive coolant from the cooling fluid source and the cooling fluid outlet 220 can recycle coolant to the cooling fluid source. The coolant can be a coolant as described above.
With reference to
With reference to
The first plate 502 can have a groove 528 which extends from inside the first plate 502 to the top surface 504 of the first plate 502. The groove 528 can be as described above in connection with grooves 128 and 228. The groove 528 can be covered or sealed by the second plate 510 to form a conduit 532. The conduit 532 can be used as a coolant channel to deliver or circulate cooling fluid through the cooling system. In some cases, a metal tube 530 can be disposed within the conduit 532 to deliver the cooling fluid to the cooling system. The metal tube 530 can be as described above in connection with
The second plate 610 is a bi-metal plate comprising a second layer 606 and a first layer 608, wherein the second plate 610 comprises a second thickness and second width (similar to second plates 110 and 210). The second layer 606 and the first layer 608 can be coupled together by brazing or welding. The first layer 608 can comprise or be formed of stainless steel. The second layer 606 can comprise or be formed of a second metal such as aluminum, stainless steel, aluminum alloy, passivated nickel, Hastelloy, or the like.
The first plate 602 can be formed of a metal, such as, for example, stainless steel. The first plate 602 and the first layer 608 can be formed of the same material or different materials. The first plate 602 and the second plate 610 can be coupled together by using a fill layer 634 to braze or weld the plates together. The weld can be directly in contact with the first layer 608 of the second plate 610 and the first surface 640 of the first plate 602. The fill layer 634 can be a brazing material or a welding material to couple the first plate 602 and the second plate 610. The brazing material can be nickel, zinc, steel or any other suitable metal. The welding material can be tungsten, or any other suitable metal.
The first plate 602 may comprise the groove 628, which extends into the first plate 602 from the first surface 640 of the first plate 602. The groove 628 can be the same shape as grooves 128 and/or 228, described above. The groove 628 can be covered or sealed by the second plate 610 using one or more of a weld and a brazing material at the first surface 640 and the first layer 608 to form a conduit 632 comprising the groove 628 enclosed by a portion of the first layer 608. A cooling fluid inlet, such as cooling fluid inlets 118 and 218, and a cooling fluid outlet, such as cooling fluid outlets 120 and 220, can be fluidly connected to the conduit 632. The conduit 632 can be used as a coolant channel to deliver cooling fluid to the cooling system through a cooling fluid inlet and through a cooling fluid outlet, as described above. In some cases, a metal tube 630 can be disposed within the conduit 632 to deliver the cooling fluid to the cooling system. The metal tube 630 can be formed of stainless steel, aluminum, aluminum alloy, passivated nickel, Hastelloy, or the like. The cooling systems described herein can be utilized in conjunction with a gas phase reactor system for a multitude of processes, including but not limited to, ALD, CVD, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), physical vapor deposition (PVD), plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), cleaning, and etching.
The gas phase reactor system 700 also includes an interface plate assembly 760 that is adapted to mate with the susceptor 740 to define lower region 714 and upper region 715. The body 712 of the reaction chamber 710 has a bottom surface 720.
To control temperatures of the plate 770 and/or the lower region 714, it is desirable to provide a cooling system. With this in mind, a first cooling system 780 can be coupled to the bottom surface 720 of plate 770. The first cooling system can be either cooling system 500 or 600 as described previously. As shown in
It is also desirable to control temperatures of the showerhead 725 and the showerhead lid 730. With this in mind, a second cooling system 790 can be coupled to the upper surface of the showerhead lid 730 of the reaction chamber 710. The second cooling system 790 is not shown in
The gas phase reactor system 700 may be configured for a relatively high upper temperature limit, such as 450° C. The components of the gas phase reactor system 700 may be fabricated of a variety of materials for use in such a higher temperature application. For example, but not as a limitation, the susceptor 740 may be formed of C22, the interface plate assembly 760 may be formed of stainless steel (e.g., 316 SS or the like), and the reaction chamber 710 may be formed of aluminum (e.g., 6061 Al or the like).
The example embodiments of the disclosure described above do not limit the scope of the invention, since these embodiments are merely examples of the embodiments of the invention. Any equivalent embodiments are intended to be within the scope of this invention. Indeed, various modifications of the disclosure, in addition to those shown and described herein, such as alternative useful combinations of the elements described, can become apparent to those skilled in the art from the description. Such modifications and embodiments are also intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims.
This application is a nonprovisional of, and claims priority to and the benefit of, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/307,860, filed Feb. 8, 2022 and entitled “REACTOR COOLING SYSTEM,” which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63307860 | Feb 2022 | US |