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, the reaction cavity comprises a plurality of radio frequency electrode plates which are vertically arranged in parallel, a plurality of heating plates which are vertically arranged in parallel and are arranged at intervals with the plurality of radio frequency electrode plates, and a transmission device; each radio frequency electrode plate comprises an air inlet, a buffer cavity communicated with the air inlet and a plurality of air outlet holes formed in the two side walls of 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 from the two sides of the plurality of heating plates; wherein the plurality of radio frequency electrode plates and the plurality of heating plates are respectively and electrically connected with a cathode and an anode of the radio frequency power supply, reaction gas enters the buffer cavity through the gas inlet of the radio frequency electrode plates and is discharged into the reaction cavity through the plurality of gas outlet holes, and the reaction gas 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 PECVD device, including a reaction chamber and a radio frequency power supply, wherein the reaction chamber includes:

[0006] A plurality of radio frequency electrode plates arranged vertically and in parallel, each radio frequency electrode plate comprising an air inlet, a buffer cavity communicated with the air inlet, and a plurality of air outlets arranged on two side walls of the buffer cavity;

[0007] a plurality of heating plates arranged vertically and in parallel, which are arranged at intervals from the plurality of radio frequency electrode plates; and

[0008] 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;

[0009] 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 enters the buffer cavity through the air inlet of the RF electrode plate and is discharged into the reaction cavity through the multiple air outlets, and is deposited on the silicon wafer after being dissociated to form plasma.

[0010] 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.

[0011] In one embodiment, each of the plurality of carriers comprises a body, a top H-shaped joint and a bottom H-shaped joint, the reaction chamber comprises a top wall with a plurality of openings, and a plurality of guide blocks combined with the top H-shaped joint are arranged on the inner side of the top wall.

[0012] 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.

[0013] 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.

[0014] 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.

[0015] In one embodiment, the PECVD equipment includes an air inlet pipe for introducing the reaction gas into the air inlet of the RF electrode plate, the air inlet pipe includes a main pipe and a plurality of branch pipes connected to the main pipe, the number of the plurality of branch pipes is the same as the number of the plurality of RF electrode plates, and the plurality of branch pipes extend into the air inlet of the RF electrode plate through a plurality of openings on the top wall respectively.

[0016] 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.

[0017] In one embodiment, the height of the buffer cavity of the RF electrode plate is greater than the height of the carrier plate, and the coverage of the air outlet of the RF electrode plate is greater than or equal to that of the carrier plate.

[0018] In one embodiment, the heating plate is closer to the side wall of the reaction chamber than the RF electrode plate.

[0019] Compared with the PECVD equipment in the prior art that usually adopts a horizontal transmission mode, resulting in a lower 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 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, wherein each radio frequency electrode plate includes an air inlet, a buffer chamber connected to the air inlet, and a plurality of air outlets arranged on the two side walls of the buffer chamber; the transmission device is arranged at the bottom of the reaction chamber, and is used to transfer 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 enters the buffer chamber through the air inlet of the radio frequency electrode plate and is discharged into the reaction chamber through the plurality of air outlets, and is deposited on the silicon wafer after being dissociated to form plasma. The present invention can achieve a significant increase in the production capacity of solar cells without increasing the cost. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] 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.

[0021] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the composition structure of a PECVD device embodiment of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 2 A partial side view schematic diagram of an embodiment of a PECVD device of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 3 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the reaction gas flow direction of the PECVD device embodiment;

[0024] Figure 4 for Figure 2 A schematic side view of the structure of the carrier plate 14;

[0025] Figure 5 for Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the top structure of the carrier board 14; and.

[0026] Figure 6 for Figure 4 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the bottom structure of the carrier board 14. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] 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.

[0028] 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.

[0029] 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.

[0030] 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.

[0031] 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 1 Schematic diagram of the reaction gas flow of the PECVD equipment embodiment. Figures 1 to 3As shown, the PECVD device of the present invention includes a reaction chamber 1 and a radio frequency power supply 2. The reaction chamber 1 includes a plurality of radio frequency electrode plates 10 arranged vertically in parallel, a plurality of heating plates 12 arranged vertically in parallel, a plurality of carrier plates 14 arranged vertically in parallel and loaded with silicon wafers, and a transmission device 16. In this embodiment, the radio frequency electrode plates 10 and the heating plates 12 are both aluminum plates. The number of the radio frequency electrode plates 10, the heating plates 12, and the carrier plates 14 can be adjusted according to actual conditions. Figure 1 The numbers shown are merely exemplary and not limiting.

[0032] A plurality of vertically parallel heating plates 12 are arranged at intervals with a plurality of RF electrode plates 10. The heating plates 12 are closer to the side wall of the reaction chamber 1 than the RF electrode plates 10. Each RF electrode plate 10 includes an air inlet 100, a buffer chamber 102 connected to the air inlet 100, and a plurality of air outlets 104 arranged on the two side walls of the buffer chamber 102. The plurality of RF electrode plates 10 and the plurality of heating plates 12 are electrically connected to the cathode 20 and the anode 22 of the RF power source 2, respectively. The reaction gas enters the buffer chamber 102 through the air inlet 100 of the RF electrode plate 10 and is discharged into the reaction chamber through the plurality of air outlets 104. After being dissociated to form plasma, it is deposited on the silicon wafer. In this embodiment, the anode 22 of the RF power source 2 is grounded.

[0033] The height of the buffer cavity 102 of the RF electrode plate 10 is greater than the height of the carrier plate 14, and the coverage of the gas outlet 104 of the RF electrode plate 10 is greater than or equal to the carrier plate 14, thereby improving the uniformity of the reaction gas in the reaction chamber, especially around the carrier plate 14. Each of the plurality of heating plates 12 includes a plurality of heating rods, and the leads of the heating rods pass through the bottom wall 15 of the reaction chamber 1 and are connected to an external power source.

[0034] The reaction chamber 1 further includes a bottom wall 15 having a plurality of gas outlets 150 formed thereon. Each gas outlet 150 is located on the bottom wall 15 between the RF electrode plate 10 and the heating plate 12 . The corresponding tail gas of the reaction gas is discharged from the reaction chamber 1 through the plurality of gas outlets 150 .

[0035] 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 1Each of the plurality of carrier plates 14 includes a body 140, a top H-shaped joint 142, and a bottom H-shaped joint 144. The reaction chamber 1 includes a top wall 11 with a plurality of openings, and a plurality of guide blocks (not shown) combined with the top H-shaped joint 142 are arranged on the inner side of the top wall. The body 140, the top H-shaped joint 142, and the bottom H-shaped joint 144 can be made of commonly used carrier materials in the industry, such as aluminum alloy, stainless steel, ceramics, or carbon fiber.

[0036] 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 concave-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 12. 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.

[0037] 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.

[0038] Continue to see Figure 2 The transmission device 16 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 12. The transmission device 16 includes a transmission shaft 160 and a plurality of rollers 1442A (see FIG. 1 ) arranged on the transmission shaft 160 and connected to the bottom H-shaped joint 144. Figure 6 ) is meshed with a sprocket or gear 162, and the transmission shaft 160 is driven by a motor to drive the sprocket or gear 162 to rotate, thereby driving multiple rollers 1442A to move the carrier 14.

[0039] Continue to see Figure 1The PECVD device also includes an air inlet pipe 13 for introducing the reaction gas into the air inlet 100 of the RF electrode plate 10. The air inlet pipe 13 includes a main pipe 130 and a plurality of branch pipes 131 connected to the main pipe 130. The number of the plurality of branch pipes 131 is the same as the number of the plurality of RF electrode plates 10. The plurality of branch pipes 131 extend into the air inlet 100 of the RF electrode plate 10 through a plurality of openings on the top wall 11, respectively.

[0040] Before using the PECVD equipment of the present invention, first Figures 1 to 3 The transmission shaft 160 and the sprocket or gear 162 of the transmission device 16 are installed at the bottom of the reaction chamber 1, and then the multiple RF electrode plates 10 and the multiple heating plates 12 are arranged vertically and in parallel in the reaction chamber 1 at intervals, and then the multiple branch pipes 131 of the air inlet pipe 13 are connected to the air inlets 100 of the multiple RF electrode plates 10, and then the silicon wafers are loaded into the multiple carriers 14 outside the reaction chamber 1 and the multiple carriers 14 are vertically transferred to the reaction chamber 1 in parallel, and then the sprocket or gear 162 is driven by the motor to rotate from The plurality of rollers 1442A are driven to move the carrier plate 14 to both sides of the heating plate 12, 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 130 of the air inlet pipe 13, and enters the air inlet 100 of the RF electrode plate 10 through the branch pipe 131, and is discharged into the reaction chamber 1 through the plurality of air outlets 104 after being buffered by the buffer chamber 102, and is deposited on the silicon wafer after being dissociated by RF to form plasma, and finally the corresponding tail gas of the reaction gas is discharged from the reaction chamber 1 through the plurality of air outlets 150. The motor drives the sprocket or gear 162 to rotate the silicon wafer after the deposition, thereby driving the plurality of rollers 1442A to move the carrier plate 14 out of the reaction chamber 1.

[0041] 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.

[0042] 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 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, wherein each radio frequency electrode plate includes an air inlet, a buffer chamber connected to the air inlet, and a plurality of air outlets arranged on the two side walls of the buffer chamber; the transmission device is arranged at the bottom of the reaction chamber, and is used to transfer 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 enters the buffer chamber through the air inlet of the radio frequency electrode plate and is discharged into the reaction chamber through the plurality of air outlets, and is deposited on the silicon wafer after being dissociated to form plasma. The present invention can achieve a significant increase in the production capacity of solar cells without increasing costs by transferring silicon wafers in a vertical state and performing PECVD deposition.

[0043] 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 plurality of radio frequency electrode plates arranged vertically and in parallel, each radio frequency electrode plate comprising an air inlet, a buffer cavity communicated with the air inlet, and a plurality of air outlets arranged on two side walls of the buffer cavity; A plurality of heating plates arranged vertically and in parallel, which are spaced apart from 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; 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 enters the buffer cavity through the air inlet of the RF electrode plate and is discharged into the reaction cavity through the multiple air outlets, and is deposited on the silicon wafer after being dissociated to form plasma.

2. 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.

3. The PECVD device according to claim 1, characterized in that Each of the plurality of carriers comprises a body, a top H-shaped joint and a bottom H-shaped joint, the reaction chamber comprises a top wall with a plurality of openings, and a plurality of guide blocks combined with the top H-shaped joint are arranged inside the top wall.

4. The PECVD device according to claim 3, 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.

5. The PECVD device according to claim 3, 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.

6. The PECVD device according to claim 5, 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.

7. The PECVD device according to claim 3, characterized in that The PECVD equipment includes an air inlet pipe for introducing the reaction gas into the air inlet of the RF electrode plate, the air inlet pipe includes a main pipe and multiple branch pipes connected to the main pipe, the number of the multiple branch pipes is the same as the number of the multiple RF electrode plates, and the multiple branch pipes extend into the air inlet of the RF electrode plate through multiple openings on the top wall respectively.

8. 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.

9. The PECVD device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The height of the buffer cavity of the radio frequency electrode plate is greater than the height of the carrier plate, and the coverage range of the air outlet holes of the radio frequency electrode plate is greater than or equal to that of the carrier plate.

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.

Images