CN-121993678-A - Pulse valve manifold to minimize leakage

Abstract

A Pulse Valve Manifold (PVM) assembly includes a PVM. The PVM is formed from two or fewer manifold sections. The PVM includes a tube section having an inlet port to enable reactants to enter the PVM, a rectangular block section having a top surface and a bottom surface, wherein the top surface is connected to the tube section, and a base section connected to the bottom surface, the base section having an outlet to enable reactant gases to flow out to a showerhead. Additive manufacturing (such as 3D printing) may be used to form a single-part PVM. Alternatively, a two-part PVM having a top section comprising the tube section and a bottom section comprising the base may be formed. The PVM further includes a wetted path for reactant gas to flow from the inlet port to the outlet port, and the wetted path may include a helical section.

Inventors

• A. De Ambra
• S. Tursi Bagwar
• D. South dewana
• C. Falcone
• V. Shakti
• K. Hanjia

Assignees

• ASMIP私人控股有限公司

Dates

Publication Date

20260508

Application Date

20251107

Priority Date

20241108

Claims (20)

1. 1. A Pulse Valve Manifold (PVM) assembly comprising: A PVM, the PVM comprising: A tube section having an access port to enable reactants to enter the PVM; a rectangular block section having a top surface and a bottom surface, wherein the top surface is connected to the tube section, and A base section connected to the bottom surface; Wherein the PVM is formed from two or fewer manifold sections, and wherein the PVM is further configured to be coupled with at least one tombstone manifold block; At least one wetting path is formed within the PVM to flow reactant gas from the inlet port to an outlet in the base section.
2. 2. The PVM assembly of claim 1 wherein the PVM is a single piece.
3. 3. The PVM assembly of claim 2 wherein the PVM is formed using an additive manufacturing process.
4. 4. The PVM assembly of claim 1 wherein the wetting path comprises at least one spiral channel.
5. 5. The PVM assembly of claim 1 wherein the wetting path comprises at least one C-shaped channel.
6. 6. The PVM assembly of claim 1 wherein the wetting path comprises at least one swirl channel.
7. 7. The PVM assembly of claim 1 further comprising: A plurality of tombstone manifold blocks configured to be coupled with the PVM, and A plurality of C-seals sealing the at least one tombstone manifold block from the PVM.
8. 8. The PVM assembly of claim 7 wherein the plurality of C-seals is equal to or less than seven C-seals.
9. 9. The PVM assembly of claim 1 wherein the wetting path comprises: a central path fluidly coupled to the access port, and A plurality of side inlets, each side inlet of the plurality of side inlets configured to be fluidly coupled to at least one tombstone manifold block of the plurality of tombstone manifold blocks, wherein a plurality of inlets are further fluidly coupled to the central path; A mixing channel comprising at least one of a spiral channel or a swirl channel, and The outlet in the base section, wherein the outlet is fluidly coupled to the mixing channel.
10. 10. The PVM assembly of claim 1 wherein the PVM further comprises: a first PVM part, and A second PVM portion coupled to the first PVM portion, wherein the wetting path is defined through the first PVM portion and the second PVM portion such that the first PVM portion is in fluid communication with the second PVM portion, and Wherein the first PVM portion is sealed to the second PVM portion via two or fewer O-ring seals.
11. 11. The PVM assembly of claim 10 wherein the first PVM section is sealed to the second PVM section via a single O-ring seal.
12. 12. The PVM assembly of claim 10, Wherein the rectangular block section comprises a top rectangular section and a bottom rectangular section, Wherein the first PVM portion comprises the tube section and the top rectangular section, Wherein the second PVM portion comprises the bottom rectangular section and the base section, Wherein the wetting path is further defined through the top rectangular section and the bottom rectangular section, wherein the top rectangular section and the bottom rectangular section are fluidly connected.
13. 13. The PVM assembly of claim 1 wherein the PVM assembly is coupled to a showerhead of a semiconductor processing system.
14. 14. A two-part PVM assembly comprising: A first PVM section comprising a tube section having an access port to enable reactants to enter the two-part PVM assembly; A second PVM portion coupled to the first PVM portion, the second PVM portion having a base outlet for flowing the reactant to a showerhead in a semiconductor processing system; A wetting path defined through a first PVM path portion and the second PVM portion such that the first PVM portion is in fluid communication with the second PVM portion, wherein the wetting path comprises: A central path fluidly coupled to the inlet port; A mixing section included in the second PVM portion, the mixing section fluidly coupled to the central path and the base outlet, and A plurality of side inlets fluidly coupled to the central path.
15. 15. The two-part PVM assembly of claim 14 wherein each side inlet of the plurality of side inlets is defined within both the first PVM part and the second PVM part.
16. 16. The two-part PVM assembly of claim 14 wherein the mixing section comprises a spiral section, and wherein the second PVM part comprises the central path.
17. 17. The two-part PVM assembly of claim 14 wherein the mixing section comprises a swirl section.
18. 18. A one-part PVM comprising: An outer section, the outer section comprising: a tube section having an access port to enable reactants to enter the one-part PVM; A columnar section having a top surface and a bottom surface, wherein the top surface is connected to the tube section, and A base section connected to the bottom surface, the base section having a base outlet for flowing the reactant to a showerhead in a semiconductor processing system, and An inner section, the inner section comprising: A wetting path defined in the inner section, the wetting path fluidly coupling the inlet port to the outlet port, and A plurality of side inlets fluidly coupled to the wetting path.
19. 19. The one-part PVM of claim 18, wherein the wetting path further comprises: A central path, wherein the plurality of side inlets are fluidly coupled to the central path, and A spiral channel, wherein the spiral channel is fluidly coupled to the central path and the base outlet.
20. 20. The one-part PVM of claim 19, wherein the wetting path further comprises a C-shaped channel, wherein the plurality of side inlets are fluidly coupled to the C-shaped channel, and wherein the C-shaped channel is fluidly coupled to the center path.

Description

Pulse valve manifold to minimize leakage Technical Field The present disclosure relates generally to manufacturing semiconductor devices. In particular, the present invention relates to pulse valve manifolds for vapor deposition in semiconductor processing systems. Background There are several vapor deposition methods for depositing thin films on the surface of a substrate. These methods include vacuum evaporation deposition, molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE), different variations of Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), including low pressure and organometallic CVD and plasma enhanced CVD, and Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). In an ALD process, one or more substrates having at least one surface to be coated are introduced into a deposition chamber. The substrate is heated to a desired temperature, typically above the condensation temperature of the selected gas phase reactant and below its thermal decomposition temperature. A reactant is capable of reacting with an adsorbed species of a previous reactant to form a desired product on a surface of a substrate. The two, three or more reactants are typically provided to the substrate in pulses that are spatially and temporally separated. In one example, in a first pulse, a first reactant representing a precursor material is substantially fully adsorbed during self-limiting processes on a wafer. The process is self-limiting in that the vapor phase precursor is not able to react with or adsorb onto the adsorbed portion of the precursor. After any remaining first reactant is removed from the wafer or chamber, the adsorbed precursor material on the substrate reacts with the subsequent reactant pulses to form no more than the desired material of the single molecular layer. Subsequent reactants may, for example, strip the ligand from the adsorbed precursor material to render the surface again reactive, displace the ligand and leave other materials of the compound, etc. In a pure ALD process, less than one monolayer forms on average per cycle due to steric hindrance, wherein the size of the precursor molecules prevents access to adsorption sites on the substrate, which may become available in subsequent cycles. Thicker films are produced by repeating the growth cycle until the target thickness is reached. The growth rate is typically provided in angstroms per cycle, as in theory the growth depends only on the number of cycles and not on the mass or temperature supplied, as long as each pulse is saturated and the temperature is within the ideal ALD temperature window for those reactants (no thermal decomposition and no condensation). The reactants and temperatures are typically selected to avoid condensation and thermal decomposition of the reactants during the process so that the chemical reaction is responsible for growth through multiple cycles. However, in some variations of ALD machining, by utilizing a hybrid CVD and ALD reaction mechanism, conditions may be selected to vary the growth rate per cycle, possibly more than one molecular monolayer per cycle. Other variations may allow for some spatial and/or temporal overlap between reactants. In ALD and variations thereof, two, three, four or more reactants may be supplied sequentially in a single cycle, and the level of each cycle may be varied to tailor the composition. During a typical ALD process, all reactant pulses in vapor form are sequentially pulsed into a reaction space (e.g., a reaction chamber) with a removal step between the reactant pulses to avoid direct interactions between the reactants in the gas phase. For example, an inert gas pulse or "purge" pulse may be provided between reactant pulses. The inert gas purges one reactant pulse in the chamber before the next reactant pulse to avoid gas phase mixing. To obtain self-limiting growth, a sufficient amount of each precursor is provided to saturate the substrate. Since the growth rate in each cycle of a true ALD process is self-limiting, the growth rate is proportional to the repetition rate of the reaction sequence, rather than the flow of reactants. Conventional designs provide a stack of blocks forming a manifold with long internal bores, which facilitates more uniform mixing of the reactants during vapor deposition. In particular, the use of multiple blocks may be advantageous to enable the configuration of the channels to be disposed inside the manifold at various angles. In addition, the plurality of blocks may also provide an extended jog length downstream when the supply gas is introduced into the bore. However, this design requires a large number of sealing mechanisms at the interface. Such a design may lead to complex manufacturing. Furthermore, the leakage variation between manifolds is high due to the multiple interfaces created by the stacked manifolds. Multiple sections may also require additional standby time during cleaning. Accordingly, there is a need for improved pulse valve manifold fabrication in semiconductor processing devices. Any discussi