Patent Application
20150159272
The present invention relates to a process chamber including a substrate heating device, and more particularly, to a substrate heating device for heating a substrate when a process is performed and a process chamber to which the substrate heating device is applied.
As semiconductor devices gradually decrease in scale, demand for ultra-thin films increases. In addition, as a contact hole is reduced in size, limitations in step coverage are increasing more and more.
In general, when semiconductor devices are manufactured in a semiconductor apparatus, a sputtering, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), or atomic layer deposition (ALD) method may be used for uniformly depositing a thin film. In case of the CVD or ALD, a process gas may be injected in a showerhead or nozzle manner.
The showerhead-type atomic layer deposition device includes a process chamber 2 having a reaction space in which a reaction gas and purge gas are successively supplied to deposit an atomic layer on a substrate 3, a substrate support 4 disposed in a lower portion of the process chamber 2 to seat the substrate 3 thereon, a showerhead 5 disposed to face the substrate support 4 to inject a gas into a reaction space 1, and a valve 6 disposed in a supply path that extends to the showerhead 5 to open or close the gas supply. Here, the process chamber 2 is connected to a pumping unit for discharging the gas supplied into the reaction space 1 to the outside. As described above, the atomic layer deposition according to the related art includes the process chamber 2 having a relatively small volume to quickly supply and remove the gas in the reaction space 1 so as to expose the substrate to the reaction gas and purge gas at a uniform density.
In the case of the CVD or ALD device, substrate processing and production capabilities may not be superior. This is done for a reason in which it is difficult to process a large number of substrates at the same time because the number of substrates mounted on the substrate support is limited even though the CVD or ALD process is performed in a state where a plurality of substrates are placed on the substrate support. Thus, a process chamber that is capable of processing a large amount of substrates is required. In this case, to improve substrate processing capacity, it is necessary to effectively provide a unit for supplying heat energy to the substrate.
(PRIOR PATENT DOCUMENT) Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2005-0080433
The technical subject of the present invention is to provide a substrate heating device for improving substrate processing capacity in a process chamber in which a substrate processing process such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or atomic layer deposition (ALD) is performed. Also, the technical subject of the present invention is to improve uniformity in thin film that is deposited on a substrate. Also, the technical subject of the present invention is to provide a process chamber including a substrate heating device.
A substrate heating device according to an embodiment of the present invention including a boat in which a plurality of substrates are stacked to be spaced apart from each other and a chamber housing in which the boat is disposed in an inner space thereof to inject a process gas between substrates that are stacked to be spaced apart from each other in the boat through an injection hole defined in an inner sidewall thereof, the substrate heating device includes a first heater configured to generate heat in a lower portion of the boat to heat the substrates. Also, the boat may include an upper plate, a lower plate, a plurality of support bars connecting the upper plate to the lower plate, and a plurality of substrate seat grooves defined in sidewalls of the support bars.
Also, the first heater may be disposed on a top surface of the lower plate or a bottom surface of the upper plate, or the first heater may be buried in the lower plate or the upper plate.
Also, a boat elevation unit may include a boat support configured to support the lower plate and an elevation rotation driving shaft passing through a bottom surface of the lower chamber housing to elevate the boat support.
Also, the first heater may include a support shaft connecting the lower plate to the boat support in a state where the lower plate and the boat support are spaced apart from each other and a heating plate fixed to the support shaft, the heating plate being horizontally disposed in a space defined between the lower plate and the boat support.
Also, a process chamber includes a boat in which a plurality of substrates are stacked to be spaced apart from each other, a chamber housing configured to lift the boat, thereby allowing the boat to be disposed in an inner space thereof, the chamber housing being configured to horizontally inject a process gas from a sidewall thereof, thereby allowing the process gas to flow between the substrates stacked to be apart from each other and discharge the process gas to the outside, a boat elevation unit configured to elevate the boat into the chamber housing, a substrate transfer gate passing through one sidewall of the chamber housing, and a heating unit disposed in the boat within the inner space of the chamber housing to heat the substrates that are stacked to be spaced apart from each other.
Also, the chamber housing may include a lower chamber housing having a first inner space that is an inner space thereof, an upper chamber housing disposed above the lower chamber housing and having a second inner space that is an inner space thereof, the upper chamber housing being configured to horizontally inject the process gas from one side inner wall thereof, thereby allowing the process gas to flow between the substrates stacked to be spaced apart from each other and discharge the process gas to the outside.
According to the embodiments of the present invention, when the substrate processing processes such as the CVD and ALD are performed, the substrate may be effectively heated in the process chamber in which the process gas is injected from the sidewall thereof. Also, when the substrate is heated and processed, the uniform heat distribution may be realized in the whole space within the process chamber. Thus, the thin film that is processed in the process chamber may have uniform film quality. Also, a space that is occupied by the substrate heating device may be minimized in volume in the process chamber for injecting the process gas.
Hereinafter, specific embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that the present invention will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the present invention to those skilled in the art. In the figures, like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.
A process chamber provides a space in which a plurality of substrates are vertically stacked to be spaced apart from each other to allow a process gas to flow between the plurality of substrates, thereby performing substrate processing processes such as a deposition process, an etching process, and the like on the substrates so as to improve substrate processing capability. For this, the process chamber includes a boat 300 in which a plurality of substrates are stacked to be spaced apart from each other, chamber housings 100 and 200 disposed on a sidewall thereof to horizontally inject a process gas and flow between the spaced and stacked substrates, thereby discharging the process gas to the outside, a boat elevation unit 400 for elevating the boat within the chamber housings 100 and 200, and a substrate transfer gate 500 passing through one sidewall of the chamber housings 100 and 200.
Since the plurality of substrates are vertically stacked to be spaced apart from each other on the boat 300, a gap may be formed between the stacked substrates to allow the process gas to be introduced therethrough and then to flow in an opposite side. Thus, the process gas may contact a top surface of each of the substrates to perform a processing process such as a deposition or etching process on the substrates. To stacking the substrates in the state where the substrates are spaced apart from each other, the boat 300 includes an upper plate 310, a lower plate 320, a plurality of support bars 330 (330a, 330b, and 330c) connecting the upper plate 310 to the lower plate 320, and a plurality of substrate seat grooves 331 defined in sidewalls of the support bars 330. Each of the substrate seat grooves 331 may be a groove that is recessed from the sidewall of each of the support bars 330. Here, the substrate may be seated into the groove. The boat may successively repeatedly expose the substrate to a source gas, a purge gas, and a reaction gas while rotating.
The substrate transfer gate 500 may be a gate that is disposed on one sidewall of the lower chamber housing 200 to allow the substrate to be accessible to the boat 300. When the substrate is loaded on or unloaded from the boat 300, the substrate may be transferred through the substrate transfer gate.
The boat elevation unit 400 may elevate the boat 300 between an inner space of the upper chamber housing 100 and an inner space of the lower chamber housing 200. For this, the boat elevation unit 400 includes a boat support 420 and an elevation rotation driving shaft 410. The boat support 420 has a top surface supporting the lower plate 320. The elevation rotation driving shaft 410 may pass through a bottom surface of the lower chamber housing 200 to support a bottom surface of the boat 300, i.e., the lower plate 320 of the boat 300. The bottom surface of the boat support 420 is connected to the elevation rotation driving shaft 410 to ascend or descend according to the driving of the vertically reciprocating driving source such as a motor. Here, boat 300 may ascend or descend through a vertical piston reciprocating motion of the boat support 420. Also, the elevation rotation driving shaft 410 may not elevate the boat at once when the boat is elevated (ascends/descends), but may allow the boat to ascend or descend for each stage. For example, when the substrate is inserted and seated into the substrate seat groove of the boat through the substrate transfer gate as illustrated in
The chamber housings 100 and 200 may lift the boat to allow the boat to be disposed in the inner space thereof and may horizontally inject the process through one side inner wall thereof to allow the process gas to flow between the spaced and stacked substrates, thereby discharging the process gas to the outside. The chamber housing according to an embodiment of the present invention may be constituted by the lower chamber housing 200 and the upper chamber housing 100.
The lower chamber housing 200 may have an opened upper side and an inner space (hereinafter, referred to as a “first inner space”). As illustrated in
The upper chamber housing 100 may be disposed on the lower chamber housing 200 in a state where a lower side of the upper chamber housing 100 is opened to define an inner space (hereinafter, referred to as a “second inner space”). The boat ascending from the first inner space of the lower chamber housing is disposed in the second inner space of the upper chamber housing 100. Here, the substrates may be in a state in which the substrates are stacked to be spaced apart from each other and mounted into the substrate seat groove of the boat. The process gas is injected from one side inner wall of the upper chamber housing 100 to flow between the spaced and stacked substrates on the boat. Then, the process gas may pass through the other inner sidewall of the upper chamber housing and be discharged to the outside.
When the process gas is injected from the one side inner wall to the other side inner wall of the upper chamber housing 100, the upper chamber housing 100 may be provided as a single wall. Alternatively, the upper chamber housing 100 may be provided as a double wall. That is, the upper chamber housing 100 may be provided as a housing having a double structure including an upper chamber inner housing 110 and an upper chamber outer housing 120 surrounding the upper chamber inner housing 110. The boat 300 ascending from the lower chamber housing 200 is accommodated into the upper chamber inner housing 110 that is disposed at a relatively inner side of the double structure, and the upper chamber outer housing 120 that is disposed at a relatively outer side of the double structure may surround the top surface and sidewall of the upper chamber inner housing 110 in a state where the upper chamber outer housing 120 is spaced apart from the top surface and sidewall of the upper chamber inner housing 110.
A process gas injection unit for injecting the process gas toward the other side inner wall that is opposite to the one side inner wall of the upper chamber inner housing 110 and a process gas discharge unit for discharging the process gas within the housing to the outside are disposed on the one side inner wall of the upper chamber inner housing 110. As the process gas is injected toward the other side inner wall opposite to the one side inner wall, the process gas may flow onto the boat existing in the inner space of the upper chamber housing.
As illustrated in
Also, the upper chamber inner housing includes a process gas discharge unit 140 for discharging the process gas that is used for the substrate processing process to the outside. As illustrated in
As described above, the process gas inflow space body 131 and the process gas discharge space body 141 each of which has the inner space are defined in the wall of the upper chamber inner housing. Here, the process gas inflow space body 131 and the process gas discharge space body 141 may be disposed at positions that face each other with the boat therebetween. The process gas injected into the process gas inflow space body 131 may pass through the gap between the substrates mounted on the boat by a pumping discharge pressure to flow into the process gas discharge space body 141, thereby being discharged to the outside. The process gas inflow space body 131 and the process gas discharge space body 141 may be buried in the sidewall of the upper chamber inner housing. Alternatively, the process gas inflow space body 131 and the process gas discharge space body 141 may be provided as separate mechanisms and then be coupled to each other in an inner surface of the sidewall.
For reference,
When the substrate is mounted on the boat 300 to ascend into the inner space of the upper chamber inner housing 110, the boat and the upper chamber housing may be sealed to maintain sealability with respect to the outside. To maintain the sealability (airtightness), the boat support 420 and the upper chamber inner housing 120 may be sealed by a sealing element coupling body such as an O-ring. For this, as illustrated in
When explaining a loading process, the substrate may be transferred to and seated into the substrate seat groove of the last stage of the boat through the substrate transfer gate as illustrated in
To improve the efficiency of the substrate processing, a heating device for heating the substrate may be provided in the process chamber. A heating unit for heating the substrates that are stacked to be spaced apart from each other in the boat within the second inner space of the upper chamber housing is necessary. The substrate heating device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a first heater generating heat in a lower portion of the boat to heat the substrates and a second heater generating heat in a wall of the chamber housing (the upper chamber housing) to heat the substrates. One or all of the first and second heaters of the substrate heating devices may be provided.
First, the first heater disposed in the boat will be described. When the first heater that is a heating unit is provided in the boat, the heating unit may be provided in the lower plate (or the upper plate) of the boat. The structure in which the first heater is disposed in the lower plate (or the upper plate) of the boat may be realized with two structures as followings. One structure may be a structure in which the heating unit is buried in the lower plate (or the upper plate) as illustrated in
In case of the first structure in which the first heater such as a heat line is buried in the lower plate 320 and the upper plate 310 as illustrated in
In case of the second structure in which a heating plate as the heating unit is separately provided as illustrated in
In case of the second heater that is the heating unit is provided in the chamber housing, the second heater may be disposed in the chamber housing. That is, the second heater may be disposed in at least one of the upper chamber outer housing and the upper chamber inner housing. The second heater may be provided in at least one of an inner wall of the upper chamber outer housing and an outer wall of the upper chamber inner housing. The second heater may be realized as various heating units such as the heat line.
The process chamber and the substrate processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention may be applied to device for processing various processes such as such as the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and the atomic layer deposition (ALD). Also, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the process chamber for injecting a gas from the sidewall thereof to discharge the gas through the other side may be used to manufacture semiconductors such as LED devices and memory devices. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the process chamber may be applied to manufacture flat panel substrates such as LCDs and SOLARs.
Also, in the process chamber according to the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, the lower chamber housing may function as the substrate loading chamber, and the upper chamber housing may function as the process chamber into which the process gas is injected. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, it is obvious that the prevent invention may also be applied to a structure in which the lower chamber housing functions as the process chamber for injecting the process gas, and the upper chamber housing functions as the substrate loading chamber.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the accompanying drawings and foregoing embodiments, the present invention is not limited thereto and also is limited to the appended claims. Thus, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the various changes and modifications can be made in the technical spirit of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2012-0069226 | Jun 2012 | KR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2013/002749 | 4/3/2013 | WO | 00 |
