PECVD equipment

Abstract

The invention discloses PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition) equipment. The PECVD equipment comprises a reaction cavity and a radio frequency power supply, wherein the reaction cavity comprises a buffer cavity, a gas inlet pipe, a plurality of radio frequency electrode plates which are arranged at intervals and are vertically arranged in parallel, a plurality of heating plates which are vertically arranged in parallel, and a transmission device; the buffer cavity is arranged at the top of the reaction cavity and is defined by a cover plate and a gas uniformizing plate, and the gas uniformizing plate comprises a plurality of gas inlet holes; the gas inlet pipe is used for penetrating through the cover plate to feed reaction gas into the buffer cavity; the transmission device is arranged at the bottom of the reaction cavity and is used for transmitting a plurality of support plates which are vertically arranged in parallel and loaded with silicon wafers into and out of the reaction cavity; wherein the plurality of radio frequency electrode plates and the plurality of heating plates are electrically connected with a cathode and an anode of a radio frequency power supply respectively, reaction gas is guided into the cover plate through the gas inlet pipe, is buffered in the buffer cavity, then enters the reaction cavity through the gas inlet holes in the gas uniformizing plate, is dissociated to form plasma, and then is deposited on a silicon wafer. According to the invention, the capacity of the solar cell can be greatly improved under the condition that the cost is not increased.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the field of photovoltaic manufacturing, and in particular to PECVD equipment. Background Art

[0002] In the manufacture of heterojunction solar cells, a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process is required to be performed using a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) device to deposit P-type amorphous silicon, N-type amorphous silicon, and intrinsic I-type amorphous silicon films on silicon wafers.

[0003] The PECVD equipment commonly used in the prior art usually adopts a horizontal transmission method (referred to as "horizontal PECVD equipment"), that is, the carrier is transmitted horizontally, and the silicon wafer is placed horizontally in the carrier by gravity. In order to meet the industry's growing demand for battery production capacity, the horizontal transmission PECVD equipment either uses more and more chambers connected in series or a multi-layer stacking method, but the former will increase the cost, and the latter will increase the height of the equipment, and will also increase the difficulty of installation and maintenance.

[0004] Therefore, how to provide a PECVD device to significantly increase the production capacity of solar cells without increasing costs has become a technical problem that needs to be urgently solved in the industry. Summary of the invention

[0005] In view of the above problems in the prior art, the present invention proposes a reaction chamber and a radio frequency power supply, wherein the reaction chamber comprises:

[0006] A buffer chamber, which is arranged on the top of the reaction chamber and is surrounded by a cover plate and an air-distributing plate, wherein the air-distributing plate includes a plurality of air inlet holes;

[0007] An air inlet pipe, used for passing through the cover plate to deliver the reaction gas into the buffer chamber;

[0008] A plurality of radio frequency electrode plates arranged vertically and in parallel;

[0009] a plurality of heating plates arranged vertically and in parallel, which are arranged at intervals from the plurality of radio frequency electrode plates; and

[0010] A transmission device, which is arranged at the bottom of the reaction chamber and is used to transfer a plurality of carriers arranged vertically and in parallel and loaded with silicon wafers into and out of the reaction chamber at both sides of the plurality of heating plates;

[0011] Among them, the multiple RF electrode plates and the multiple heating plates are electrically connected to the cathode and anode of the RF power supply respectively, and the reaction gas is introduced into the buffer cavity through the inlet pipe through the cover plate, and after buffering, it enters the reaction cavity from the inlet hole on the gas uniforming plate, and is deposited on the silicon wafer after dissociation to form plasma.

[0012] In one embodiment, the buffer cavity is a rectangular cavity, the cover plate includes a top plate and side plates surrounding the rectangular cavity, and the air uniforming plate is the bottom plate of the rectangular cavity.

[0013] In one embodiment, the reaction chamber includes a bottom wall having a plurality of gas outlets, each gas outlet on the bottom wall is located between the RF electrode plate and the heating plate, and the corresponding tail gas of the reaction gas is discharged from the reaction chamber through the plurality of gas outlets.

[0014] In one embodiment, each of the plurality of carrier plates comprises a body, a top H-shaped joint and a bottom H-shaped joint, and a plurality of guide blocks combined with the top H-shaped joint and staggered with the plurality of air inlet holes are disposed on the inner side of the air uniforming plate.

[0015] In one embodiment, the first end of the top H-shaped connector is fixed to the top of the body, and the second end thereof is concavely and convexly coupled with the guide block to ensure that the carrier is transported along a predetermined path, and the second end is opposite to the first end.

[0016] In one embodiment, the first end of the bottom H-shaped joint is fixed to the bottom end of the carrier body, and a second end thereof opposite to the first end is provided with a plurality of rollers in parallel.

[0017] In one embodiment, the transmission device includes a transmission shaft and a sprocket or gear arranged on the transmission shaft and meshing with multiple rollers of the bottom H-shaped joint. The transmission shaft is driven by a motor to drive the sprocket or gear to rotate, thereby driving the multiple rollers to move the carrier.

[0018] In one embodiment, the air intake pipe includes a main pipe and at least one first-level branch pipe arranged outside the buffer chamber, and also includes multiple final-level branch pipes arranged inside the buffer chamber. The main pipe is connected to at least one first-level branch pipe, and at least one first-level branch pipe passes through the cover plate and is connected to multiple final-level branch pipes.

[0019] In one embodiment, each of the plurality of heating plates comprises a plurality of heating rods, and leads of the heating rods pass through the bottom wall of the reaction chamber and are connected to an external power source.

[0020] In one embodiment, the heating plate is closer to the side wall of the reaction chamber than the RF electrode plate.

[0021] Compared with the prior art PECVD equipment which usually adopts a horizontal transmission mode and results in a low production capacity, the PECVD equipment of the present invention includes a reaction chamber and a radio frequency power supply, wherein the reaction chamber includes a buffer chamber, an air inlet pipe, a plurality of radio frequency electrode plates arranged vertically in parallel, a plurality of heating plates arranged vertically in parallel and spaced apart from the plurality of radio frequency electrode plates, and a transmission device; the buffer chamber is arranged at the top of the reaction chamber and is surrounded by a cover plate and an air-distributing plate, wherein the air-distributing plate includes a plurality of air inlets; the air inlet pipe is used to pass through the cover plate to deliver the reaction gas into the buffer chamber; the transmission device is arranged at the bottom of the reaction chamber, and is used to pass a plurality of carrier plates arranged vertically in parallel and loaded with silicon wafers into and out of the reaction chamber on both sides of the plurality of heating plates; wherein the plurality of radio frequency electrode plates and the plurality of heating plates are electrically connected to the cathode and anode of the radio frequency power supply respectively, and the reaction gas is introduced into the buffer chamber through the cover plate by the air inlet pipe, enters the reaction chamber from the air inlet holes on the air-distributing plate after buffering, and is deposited on the silicon wafer after dissociation to form plasma. The present invention can realize a significant increase in the production capacity of solar cells without increasing the cost. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] The above features and advantages of the present invention can be better understood after reading the detailed description of the embodiments of the present disclosure in conjunction with the following drawings. In the drawings, the components are not necessarily drawn to scale, and components with similar related properties or features may have the same or similar reference numerals.

[0023] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the composition structure of a PECVD device embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 2 It is a partial side view structural schematic diagram of a PECVD device embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 3 for Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a partial three-dimensional structure of the top of the reaction chamber 1;

[0026] Figure 4 for Figure 2 A schematic side view of the structure of the carrier plate 14;

[0027] Figure 5 for Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the top structure of the carrier board 14; and.

[0028] Figure 6 for Figure 4 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the bottom structure of the carrier board 14. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] The following specific embodiments illustrate the implementation of the present invention, and those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present invention from the contents disclosed in this specification. Although the description of the present invention will be introduced in conjunction with the preferred embodiment, this does not mean that the features of this invention are limited to this implementation. On the contrary, the purpose of introducing the invention in conjunction with the implementation is to cover other options or modifications that may be extended based on the claims of the present invention. In order to provide a deep understanding of the present invention, the following description will include many specific details. The present invention can also be implemented without using these details. In addition, in order to avoid confusion or blurring the focus of the present invention, some specific details will be omitted in the description.

[0030] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "installed", "connected", and "connected" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal communication of two components. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0031] In addition, the terms "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "top", "bottom", "horizontal" and "vertical" used in the following description should be understood as the directions shown in the paragraph and the related drawings. Such relative terms are only used for the convenience of description and do not mean that the device described therein must be manufactured or operated in a specific direction, and therefore should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

[0032] It is understood that although the terms "first", "second", "third", etc. may be used herein to describe various components, regions, layers and / or parts, these components, regions, layers and / or parts should not be limited by these terms, and these terms are only used to distinguish different components, regions, layers and / or parts. Therefore, the first component, region, layer and / or part discussed below may be referred to as a second component, region, layer and / or part without departing from some embodiments of the present invention.

[0033] See also Figures 1 to 3 , Figure 1 , Figure 2 They are respectively a schematic diagram of the composition structure of the PECVD device embodiment of the present invention and a partial side view schematic diagram, Figure 3 for Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the partial three-dimensional structure of the top of the reaction chamber 1 in FIG. Figure 1 and Figure 2 , combined with reference to Figure 3The PECVD device of the present invention includes a reaction chamber 1 and a radio frequency power supply 2. The reaction chamber 1 includes a buffer chamber 10, an air inlet pipe 11, a plurality of radio frequency electrode plates 12 arranged vertically in parallel, a plurality of heating plates 13 arranged vertically in parallel, a plurality of carrier plates 14 arranged vertically in parallel and loaded with silicon wafers, and a transmission device 15. In this embodiment, the radio frequency electrode plates 12 and the heating plates 13 are both aluminum plates. The number of the radio frequency electrode plates 12, the heating plates 13, and the carrier plates 14 can be adjusted according to actual conditions. Figure 1 The numbers shown are merely exemplary and not limiting.

[0034] like Figures 1 to 3 As shown, the buffer chamber 10 is arranged on the top of the reaction chamber 1 and is surrounded by a cover plate 100 and an air-distributing plate 102, and the air-distributing plate 102 includes a plurality of air inlet holes 1020. In this embodiment, the buffer chamber 10 is a rectangular parallelepiped chamber, the cover plate 100 includes a top plate 100A and a side plate 100B that surround the rectangular chamber, and the air-distributing plate 102 is the bottom plate of the rectangular chamber.

[0035] Continue to see Figure 3 The air inlet pipe 11 is used to pass through the cover plate 100 to deliver the reaction gas into the buffer chamber 10; the air inlet pipe 11 includes a main pipe 110 and at least one primary branch pipe 112 arranged outside the buffer chamber 10, and also includes a plurality of final branch pipes 114 arranged inside the buffer chamber 10, the main pipe 110 is connected to the at least one primary branch pipe 112, and the at least one primary branch pipe 112 passes through the cover plate 100 and is connected to the plurality of final branch pipes 114. In this embodiment, the at least one primary branch pipe 112 includes two-stage branch pipes 112.

[0036] Continue to see Figure 1 and Figure 2 , multiple vertically parallel heating plates 13 are arranged at intervals with multiple RF electrode plates 12, and the heating plates 13 are closer to the side wall of the reaction chamber than the RF electrode plates 12. The multiple RF electrode plates 12 and the multiple heating plates 13 are electrically connected to the cathode 20 and the anode 22 of the RF power supply 2 respectively. The reaction gas is introduced into the buffer chamber 10 through the cover plate 100 by the inlet pipe 11, and then enters the reaction chamber 1 from the inlet hole 1020 on the gas uniforming plate 102 after buffering, and is deposited on the silicon wafer after dissociation to form plasma. In this embodiment, the anode 22 of the RF power supply 2 is grounded.

[0037] like Figure 1As shown, the reaction chamber 1 further includes a bottom wall 16 on which a plurality of gas outlets 160 are opened, and each gas outlet 160 is located between the RF electrode plate 12 and the heating plate 13 on the bottom wall 16, and the corresponding tail gas of the reaction gas is discharged from the reaction chamber 1 through the plurality of gas outlets 160. Each of the plurality of heating plates 13 includes a plurality of heating rods, and the leads of the heating rods pass through the bottom wall 16 of the reaction chamber 1 and are connected to an external power source.

[0038] See also Figures 4 to 6 , Figure 4 for Figure 2 A schematic side view of the structure of the carrier board 14, Figure 5 , Figure 6 They are Figure 4 The top structure and bottom structure diagram of the carrier board 14 in FIG. Figure 4 , combined with reference to Figure 1 Each of the plurality of carrier plates 14 includes a body 140, a top H-shaped joint 142, and a bottom H-shaped joint 144. A plurality of guide blocks (not shown) are provided on the inner side of the air homogenizing plate 102, which are combined with the top H-shaped joint 142 and staggered with the plurality of air inlet holes 1020. The body 140, the top H-shaped joint 142, and the bottom H-shaped joint 144 can all be made of commonly used carrier materials in the industry, such as aluminum alloy, stainless steel, ceramics, or carbon fiber.

[0039] like Figure 5 As shown, the top H-shaped joint 142 includes a first end 1420 and a second end 1422 opposite to each other, the first end 1420 is fixed at the top of the body 140, and the second end 1422 is concavely and convexly combined with the guide block to ensure that the carrier is transported along a predetermined path, and the predetermined path is to pass through the reaction chamber 1 on either side of the heating plate 13. More specifically, the first end 1420 is formed with a first receiving groove 1420A, and the first end 1420 is fixed at the top of the body 140 by setting the top of the body 140 in the first receiving groove 1420A, and the second end 1422 is provided with a second receiving groove 1422A for receiving the guide block.

[0040] like Figure 6 As shown, the bottom H-shaped joint 144 includes a first end 1440 and a second end 1442 relative to each other. The first end 1440 is fixed to the bottom end of the body 140, and the first end 1440 includes a third receiving groove 1440A for receiving the bottom end of the body 140. The second end 1442 is provided with a plurality of rollers 1442A in parallel. The second end 1442 includes a fourth receiving groove 1442B, and the plurality of rollers 1442A are arranged in the fourth receiving groove 1442B. The plurality of rollers 1442A can be made of aluminum alloy or stainless steel.

[0041] Continue to see Figure 2The transmission device 15 is arranged at the bottom of the reaction chamber 1, and is used to transfer a plurality of carriers 14 vertically arranged in parallel and loaded with silicon wafers into and out of the reaction chamber 1 on both sides of the heating plate 13. The transmission device 15 includes a transmission shaft 150 and a plurality of rollers 1442A (see FIG. 1 ) arranged on the transmission shaft 150 and connected to the bottom H-shaped joint 144. Figure 6 ) is meshed with a sprocket or gear 152, and the transmission shaft 150 is driven by a motor to drive the sprocket or gear 152 to rotate, thereby driving multiple rollers 1442A to move the carrier 14.

[0042] Before using the PECVD equipment of the present invention, first Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown in the figure, the buffer chamber 10 is arranged on the top of the reaction chamber 1, and the transmission shaft 150 and the sprocket or gear 152 of the transmission device 15 are installed at the bottom of the reaction chamber 1, and then a plurality of RF electrode plates 12 and a plurality of heating plates 13 are arranged vertically and in parallel in the reaction chamber 1 at intervals, and then the silicon wafers are loaded into a plurality of carrier plates 14 outside the reaction chamber 1 and the plurality of carrier plates 14 are transferred to the reaction chamber 1 in parallel in a vertical state, and then the sprocket or gear 152 is driven by a motor to rotate, thereby driving a plurality of rollers 1442A to move the carrier plates 14 moves to both sides of the heating plate 13, and then the reaction chamber 1 is evacuated by a vacuum pump, and then the RF power supply 2 is turned on and the reaction gas is passed into the main pipe 110 of the inlet pipe 11, and then enters the final branch pipe 114 through two first-level branch pipes 112 and is discharged into the buffer chamber 10. After being buffered in the buffer chamber 10, the reaction gas is discharged into the reaction chamber 1 through the air inlet hole 1020 of the gas homogenizing plate 102, and then is formed into plasma after RF dissociation and deposited on the silicon wafer. Finally, the corresponding tail gas of the reaction gas is discharged from the reaction chamber 1 through multiple outlets 160. The motor drives the sprocket or gear 152 to rotate the silicon wafer after deposition, thereby driving multiple rollers 1442A to move the carrier 14 out of the reaction chamber 1.

[0043] Compared with the horizontal PECVD equipment in the prior art, under the condition of the same production capacity, the cost of the PECVD equipment of the present invention is 26.8% cheaper. Under the condition of the same cost, the production capacity of the PECVD equipment of the present invention is 36.6% higher than that of the horizontal PECVD equipment.

[0044] In summary, the PECVD equipment of the present invention includes a reaction chamber and a radio frequency power supply, wherein the reaction chamber includes a buffer chamber, an air inlet pipe, a plurality of radio frequency electrode plates arranged vertically in parallel, a plurality of heating plates arranged vertically in parallel and spaced apart from the plurality of radio frequency electrode plates, and a transmission device; the buffer chamber is arranged at the top of the reaction chamber and is surrounded by a cover plate and an air-distributing plate, wherein the air-distributing plate includes a plurality of air inlets; the air inlet pipe is used to pass through the cover plate to deliver the reaction gas into the buffer chamber; the transmission device is arranged at the bottom of the reaction chamber, and is used to pass a plurality of carrier plates arranged vertically in parallel and loaded with silicon wafers into and out of the reaction chamber on both sides of the plurality of heating plates; wherein the plurality of radio frequency electrode plates and the plurality of heating plates are electrically connected to the cathode and anode of the radio frequency power supply, respectively, and the reaction gas is introduced into the buffer chamber through the cover plate by the air inlet pipe, enters the reaction chamber from the air inlet holes on the air-distributing plate after buffering, and is deposited on the silicon wafer after dissociation to form plasma. The present invention can achieve a significant increase in the production capacity of solar cells without increasing costs.

[0045] The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the universal principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein, but should be granted the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein. The above embodiments are provided to persons familiar with the art to implement or use the present invention, and persons familiar with the art may make various modifications or changes to the above embodiments without departing from the inventive concept of the present invention, and thus the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited by the above embodiments, but should be the maximum scope of the innovative features mentioned in the claims.

Claims

1. A PECVD device, comprising a reaction chamber and a radio frequency power supply, characterized in that: The reaction chamber comprises: A buffer chamber, which is arranged on the top of the reaction chamber and is surrounded by a cover plate and an air-distributing plate, wherein the air-distributing plate includes a plurality of air inlet holes; An air inlet pipe, used for passing through the cover plate to deliver the reaction gas into the buffer chamber; A plurality of radio frequency electrode plates arranged vertically and in parallel; A plurality of heating plates arranged vertically and in parallel, which are arranged in intervals with the plurality of radio frequency electrode plates; and A transmission device, which is arranged at the bottom of the reaction chamber and is used to transfer a plurality of carriers arranged vertically and in parallel and loaded with silicon wafers into and out of the reaction chamber at both sides of the plurality of heating plates; Among them, the multiple RF electrode plates and the multiple heating plates are electrically connected to the cathode and anode of the RF power supply respectively, and the reaction gas is introduced into the buffer cavity through the inlet pipe through the cover plate, and after buffering, it enters the reaction cavity from the inlet hole on the gas uniforming plate, and is deposited on the silicon wafer after dissociation to form plasma.

2. The PECVD device according to claim 1, characterized in that The buffer cavity is a rectangular cavity, the cover plate includes a top plate and side plates surrounding the rectangular cavity, and the air uniforming plate is the bottom plate of the rectangular cavity.

3. The PECVD device according to claim 1, characterized in that The reaction chamber comprises a bottom wall with a plurality of gas outlets, each gas outlet on the bottom wall is located between the RF electrode plate and the heating plate, and the corresponding tail gas of the reaction gas is discharged from the reaction chamber through the plurality of gas outlets.

4. The PECVD device according to claim 1, characterized in that Each of the plurality of carrier plates comprises a body, a top H-shaped joint and a bottom H-shaped joint, and a plurality of guide blocks combined with the top H-shaped joint and staggered with the plurality of air inlet holes are arranged on the inner side of the air homogenizing plate.

5. The PECVD device according to claim 4, characterized in that The first end of the top H-shaped connector is fixed to the top of the body, and the second end thereof is concavely and convexly coupled with the guide block to ensure that the carrier is transported along a predetermined path, and the second end is opposite to the first end.

6. The PECVD device according to claim 4, characterized in that The first end of the bottom H-shaped joint is fixed to the bottom end of the carrier body, and a second end thereof opposite to the first end is provided with a plurality of rollers in parallel.

7. The PECVD device according to claim 6, characterized in that The transmission device includes a transmission shaft and a sprocket or gear arranged on the transmission shaft and meshing with multiple rollers of the bottom H-shaped joint. The transmission shaft is driven by a motor to drive the sprocket or gear to rotate, thereby driving the multiple rollers to move the carrier plate.

8. The PECVD device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The air inlet pipe includes a main pipe and at least one first-stage branch pipe arranged outside the buffer chamber, and also includes multiple final-stage branch pipes arranged inside the buffer chamber. The main pipe is connected to at least one first-stage branch pipe, and at least one first-stage branch pipe passes through the cover plate and is connected to multiple final-stage branch pipes.

9. The PECVD device according to claim 1, characterized in that: Each of the plurality of heating plates comprises a plurality of heating rods, and leads of the heating rods pass through the bottom wall of the reaction chamber and are connected to an external power source.

10. The PECVD device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The heating plate is closer to the side wall of the reaction chamber than the radio frequency electrode plate.

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