Coating with continuously and gradually changed components and preparation method thereof

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of manufacturing of semiconductor equipment parts, and discloses a coating with continuously-gradually-changed components and a preparation method thereof.The coating with the continuously-gradually-changed components is formed by adopting a spraying process and is characterized in that the coating with the continuously-gradually-changed components comprises two material components including a doping material and a protective material; along with the thickness accumulation of the component continuous gradual change type coating, the component proportion of the protective material is converted into a fixed proportion from a gradual change proportion; wherein the gradual change proportion of the protective material is gradually changed according to the trend that the component proportion of the protective material is changed from 0% to 100%; the fixed proportion of the protective material is 100% constantly. By adopting the scheme, the coating cost can be effectively reduced, the high performance of the coating is kept, and the efficiency of the whole spraying process is high.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of semiconductor equipment component manufacturing, and in particular to a coating with a continuous gradient composition and a preparation method thereof. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, with the rapid development of integrated circuit technology, the field of semiconductor manufacturing has developed rapidly.

[0003] When the semiconductor etching equipment is in operation, the plasma in the reaction chamber will corrode the components inside the chamber. Therefore, for the components in the reaction chamber, their surfaces are usually covered with a plasma-resistant ceramic coating through a thermal spraying process to protect the substrate from plasma corrosion, extend the service life of chip equipment and components, and reduce the particulate matter generated during the plasma erosion process to improve product yield. At the same time, with the development of chip manufacturing processes, higher requirements are placed on the etching resistance of the coating, and coatings of different materials are used to adapt to different chemical gas atmospheres in the etching process environment. This also leads to a continuous increase in the price of high-performance coating products. Therefore, the development of a high-performance, cost-effective coating is required for etching application environments. Summary of the invention

[0004] One purpose of the present application is to provide a coating with a continuous gradient composition and a preparation method thereof, which can maintain high performance while taking into account flexible cost control, and there is no sudden change in interface composition in the coating, which can ensure that the performance of the coating is consistent and stable during service.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, some embodiments of the present application provide the following aspects:

[0006] In a first aspect, some embodiments of the present application further provide a composition-continuous gradient coating, which is formed by a spraying process, wherein the composition-continuous gradient coating has two material components, an incorporation material and a protective material;

[0007] As the thickness of the continuous gradient coating is accumulated, the component ratio of the protective material changes from a gradient ratio to a fixed ratio;

[0008] The gradual proportion of the protective material changes gradually from 0% to 100% according to the trend of the component proportion of the protective material; the fixed proportion of the protective material is constant at 100%.

[0009] Furthermore, both the doping material and the protective material are made of single-component materials.

[0010] Furthermore, the doping material includes aluminum oxide or yttrium oxide; the protective material is one of yttrium oxide, yttrium fluoride and yttrium oxyfluoride, and is different from the doping material.

[0011] Furthermore, the doping material is formed by mixing at least two materials in a fixed ratio, and the protective material adopts a single component material.

[0012] Further, the doping material includes two or more of aluminum oxide, yttrium oxide, and yttrium fluoride;

[0013] The protective material is yttrium oxyfluoride.

[0014] Furthermore, the thickness of the coating with continuous gradient composition is greater than 100 microns.

[0015] Furthermore, as the thickness of the continuous gradient coating is accumulated, the proportion of the components of the added materials changes from a fixed proportion to a gradient proportion;

[0016] The fixed proportion of the incorporated material is constant at 100%, and the gradual proportion of the incorporated material changes gradually according to the trend that the proportion of the components of the incorporated material changes from 100% to 0%.

[0017] In a second aspect, some embodiments of the present application further provide a method for preparing a coating having a continuously gradient composition, the method comprising:

[0018] Provide a component inside a reaction chamber of a semiconductor etching device;

[0019] A spraying device is provided, the spraying device comprising two powder delivery barrels, one of which is used to hold the doping material, and the other is used to hold the protective material;

[0020] The spraying equipment is turned on, and the powder feeding ratio of the powder feeding barrel is adjusted according to the thickness of the formed coating, so as to form the continuous gradient coating on the surface of the component without interruption at one time.

[0021] Furthermore, the composite coating is formed by an atmospheric plasma spraying process, a supersonic spraying process or an explosion spraying process.

[0022] Compared with the related art, the continuous gradient coating provided in the embodiment of the present application meets the quality requirements while reducing the cost compared with a single high-performance coating. Compared with the traditional layered coating, the coating has a continuous transition, which is achieved in one go, without a layered interface of different materials, thereby ensuring the continuity of the coating performance. There is no need to mix powder in advance, and the spraying operation is completed in one go. There is no need to replace the powder delivery pipe during the process, which greatly improves the overall efficiency of the spraying process.

[0023] The coating in contact with the surface of the component has a high proportion of doped materials, which can eliminate the stress between the coating and the dielectric surface of the component and enhance adhesion. Since the proportion of doped materials and protective materials in the coating is gradual, the proportion of doped materials gradually decreases from 100% to 0%, and the proportion of protective materials gradually increases from 0% to 100%. No dielectric interface will be generated during the gradual change of material components, which can reduce the thermal stress between different materials and enhance the adhesion effect of the protective material.

[0024] Furthermore, in the preparation method of the composition-continuous gradient coating provided in the present application, the spraying equipment includes two feeding barrels. When the powder feeding amount of different materials is regulated by the feeding barrels to form the coating, the spraying process is completed in one go and continuously, and the powder is mixed in real time without prefabrication in advance. It can avoid the attenuation of coating performance caused by factors such as additional solidification, remelting, and annealing of the coating interface when switching coating materials or powder feeding tubes. The adoption of this solution can effectively reduce the coating cost, maintain the high performance of the coating, and the efficiency of the entire spraying process is high.

[0025] Compared with a single high-performance coating, it meets quality requirements while reducing costs. Compared with traditional layered coatings, the coating has a continuous transition, which is achieved in one go, without a layered interface of different materials, ensuring the continuity of coating performance. There is no need to mix powder in advance, and the spraying operation is completed in one go. There is no need to replace the powder delivery tube during the process, which greatly improves the overall efficiency of the spraying process. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] One or more embodiments are exemplarily described by pictures in the corresponding drawings, and these exemplified descriptions do not constitute limitations on the embodiments. Elements with the same reference numerals in the drawings represent similar elements, and unless otherwise stated, the figures in the drawings do not constitute proportional limitations.

[0027] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a spraying process of a coating with a continuous gradient composition according to some embodiments of the present application;

[0028] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of a coating with a continuous gradient composition provided according to some embodiments of the present application;

[0029] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the structure of another coating with continuous gradient composition provided according to some embodiments of the present application;

[0030] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a spraying device provided according to some embodiments of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical solution in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0032] First embodiment

[0033] The first embodiment of the present application relates to a coating with continuous gradient composition, which is formed by a spraying process. Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the spraying process of a coating with a continuous gradient composition provided in some embodiments of the present application. Figure 1 As shown,

[0034] The composition-continuous gradient coating has two material components: an incorporation material and a protective material;

[0035] As the thickness of the continuous gradient coating is accumulated, the component ratio of the protective material changes from a gradient ratio to a fixed ratio;

[0036] The gradual proportion of the protective material changes gradually from 0% to 100% according to the trend of the component proportion of the protective material; the fixed proportion of the protective material is constant at 100%.

[0037] In this solution, the parts inside the reaction chamber of the semiconductor etching equipment can be used as the substrate for continuous spraying operations, wherein the parts inside the reaction chamber of the semiconductor etching equipment can be made of metal, alloy or ceramic material, etc. The composition continuous gradient coating is used to protect against plasma corrosion, and it has two material components, namely, the doped material and the protective material. The protective material has a better anti-plasma corrosion effect than the doped material, but when it is directly combined with the substrate, the adhesion effect is not good. During thermal spraying, its spraying process is more complicated than that of the doped material.

[0038] As an example, the doping material uses a ceramic spray material of a single component material, such as aluminum oxide, and the protective material also uses a ceramic spray material of a single component material, such as yttrium oxyfluoride. Yttrium oxyfluoride is expensive, and the accumulation of coating thickness formed by thermal spraying will produce thermal stress, which is easier to fall off than aluminum oxide; therefore, the component content of the aluminum oxide in the part of the coating in contact with the substrate provided by the present solution is the highest, which can effectively enhance the adhesion effect between the coating and the substrate, and, as the coating thickness increases, the component proportion of yttrium oxyfluoride is gradually increased, which reduces the cost while meeting the quality requirements of the coating for plasma corrosion protection. Compared with the traditional layered coating (aluminum oxide and yttrium oxyfluoride two-layer structure), the gradient coating has a continuous transition, which is achieved at one time, without a layered interface of different materials, and ensures the continuity of the coating performance without the need for pre-mixing powder.

[0039] As another example, the admixed material uses a ceramic spray material of a mixed component material. The ceramic spray material of the mixed component material mixes at least two different materials in a fixed ratio to form an anti-plasma corrosion effect. For example, mixing aluminum oxide and yttrium oxide in a fixed ratio can significantly enhance the anti-plasma corrosion effect while not having a significant impact on the adhesion effect of the admixed material to the substrate. At the same time, it can also provide a better stability effect based on the different factors such as the particle size of different components, and avoid problems such as coating shedding or stratification; the protective material uses a ceramic spray material of a single component material, such as yttrium fluoride. Similar to the above example, the component gradient coating formed by continuous spraying can reduce the coating cost and maintain the high protective performance of the coating; and there is no stratified interface inside the coating, which can eliminate the stress between different material layers, and at the same time, it also ensures the adhesion effect of the coating to the substrate. That is, through the gradual material transition and continuous spraying, the firmness of the coating can be improved and the coating can be prevented from shedding.

[0040] In the above embodiments, the thickness of the continuous gradient coating is optionally greater than 100 microns. By controlling the overall thickness of the continuous gradient coating to be greater than 100 microns, better corrosion resistance is provided to ensure that the protected substrate will not be corroded by corrosive agents.

[0041] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the structure of the composition continuous gradient coating provided according to some embodiments of the present application. It should be noted that the composition continuous gradient coating is obtained by continuous spraying. Figure 2 As shown, the proportion of the protective material increases with the thickness of the coating, and is fixed at 100% after increasing to 100%.

[0042] Figure 3 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of another structure of a coating with continuous gradient composition according to some embodiments of the present application. Figure 3 As shown, as the coating thickness accumulates, the component proportion of the doped material changes from a fixed proportion of 100% to a gradual proportion; and the gradual proportion of the doped material changes gradually according to the trend of the component proportion of the doped material changing from 100% to 0%. The doped material completely replaces the protective material in contact with the substrate surface, enhancing the adhesion effect of the coating.

[0043] The coating in contact with the surface of the component has a high proportion of doped materials, which can eliminate the stress between the coating and the dielectric surface of the component and enhance adhesion. Since the proportion of doped materials and protective materials in the coating is gradual, the proportion of doped materials gradually decreases from 100% to 0%, and the proportion of protective materials gradually increases from 0% to 100%. No dielectric interface will be generated during the gradual change of material components, which can reduce the thermal stress between different materials and enhance the adhesion effect of the protective material.

[0044] In terms of raw materials, the purity and particle size of raw spray powder are as follows:

[0045] Alumina (Al2O3) powder is spherical powder with a purity of more than 99.5% and a particle size of 15-55 microns.

[0046] Yttrium oxide (Y2O3) powder is spherical powder with a purity of more than 99.9% and a particle size of 20-80 microns.

[0047] Yttrium fluoride (YF3) powder is spherical powder with a purity of more than 99.9% and a particle size of 20-90 microns.

[0048] Yttrium oxyfluoride (YOF) powder is spherical powder with purity > 99.9% and particle size of 15-90 microns.

[0049] The technical solution provided in this embodiment can reduce the cost of raw materials and increase the bonding strength between the coating and the substrate compared with a single Y2O3 coating, a single YF3 coating or a single YOF coating. At the same time, compared with a single high-performance coating, it meets the quality requirements while reducing the cost. Compared with the traditional layered coating, the coating has a continuous transition, which is achieved at one time, without a layered interface of different materials, ensuring the continuity of the coating performance. There is no need to mix powder in advance, and the spraying operation is completed at one time. There is no need to replace the powder delivery tube during the period, which greatly improves the overall efficiency of the spraying process, can effectively reduce the coating cost, maintain the high performance of the coating, and the whole spraying process is efficient.

[0050] Second embodiment

[0051] The present application also provides some embodiments and a method for preparing a coating with a continuous gradient composition, the preparation method comprising:

[0052] Provide a component inside a reaction chamber of a semiconductor etching device;

[0053] A spraying device is provided, the spraying device comprising two powder delivery barrels, one of which is used to hold the doping material, and the other is used to hold the protective material;

[0054] The spraying equipment is turned on, and the powder feeding ratio of the powder feeding barrel is adjusted according to the thickness of the formed coating, so as to form the continuous gradient coating on the surface of the component without interruption at one time.

[0055] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the structure of the spraying equipment provided according to some embodiments of the present application. Figure 4 As shown, the spraying equipment includes a first powder delivery barrel and a second powder delivery barrel; the first powder delivery barrel is used to hold the mixed material; the second powder delivery barrel is used to hold the protective material, the first powder delivery barrel is connected to the first powder delivery pipe, and the first powder delivery pipe is provided with a first flow control valve; the second powder delivery barrel is connected to the second powder delivery pipe, and the second powder delivery pipe is provided with a second flow control valve; the first powder delivery pipe and the second powder delivery pipe are connected to the powder nozzle of the spraying equipment after merging, and the first flow control valve and the second flow control valve are used to control the proportion of the mixed material and the protective material.

[0056] Specifically, when using atmospheric plasma spraying equipment to spray the bottom coating, the flow control valve below the mixing material powder feeding barrel is opened, and the flow control valve below the protective material powder feeding barrel is closed. After the coating thickness reaches the requirement, the atmospheric plasma spraying equipment is used to spray the transition coating.

[0057] Furthermore, the composite coating is formed by an atmospheric plasma spraying process, a supersonic spraying process or an explosion spraying process.

[0058] It can be understood that the preparation method of the continuous gradient coating provided in this embodiment corresponds to the continuous gradient coating provided in the above embodiments, and has corresponding execution processes and beneficial effects, which will not be repeated here.

[0059] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily mention changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims, and the above embodiments should be regarded as exemplary and non-restrictive.

Claims

1. A coating with a continuous gradient composition, formed by a spraying process, characterized in that: The composition-continuous gradient coating has two material components: an incorporation material and a protective material; As the thickness of the continuous gradient coating is accumulated, the component ratio of the protective material changes from a gradient ratio to a fixed ratio; The gradual proportion of the protective material changes gradually from 0% to 100% according to the trend of the component proportion of the protective material; the fixed proportion of the protective material is constant at 100%.

2. The composition-continuous gradient coating according to claim 1, characterized in that: Both the doping material and the protective material are made of single-component materials.

3. The composition-continuous gradient coating according to claim 2, characterized in that: The doping material includes aluminum oxide or yttrium oxide; the protective material is one of yttrium oxide, yttrium fluoride and yttrium oxyfluoride, and is different from the doping material.

4. The composition-continuous gradient coating according to claim 1, characterized in that: The doping material is formed by mixing at least two materials in a fixed ratio, and the protective material adopts a single component material.

5. The composition-continuous gradient coating according to claim 4, characterized in that: The doped material includes two or more of aluminum oxide, yttrium oxide, and yttrium fluoride; The protective material is yttrium oxyfluoride.

6. The composition-continuous gradient coating according to claim 1, characterized in that: The thickness of the coating with continuous gradient composition is greater than 100 microns.

7. The composition-continuous gradient coating according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: As the thickness of the continuous gradient coating is accumulated, the proportion of the components of the added materials changes from a fixed proportion to a gradient proportion; The fixed proportion of the incorporated material is constant at 100%, and the gradual proportion of the incorporated material changes gradually according to the trend that the proportion of the components of the incorporated material changes from 100% to 0%.

8. A method for preparing a coating with continuous gradient composition as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The preparation method comprises: Provide a component inside a reaction chamber of a semiconductor etching device; A spraying device is provided, the spraying device comprising two powder delivery barrels, one of which is used to hold the doping material, and the other is used to hold the protective material; The spraying equipment is turned on, and the powder feeding ratio of the powder feeding barrel is adjusted according to the thickness of the formed coating, so as to form the continuous gradient coating on the surface of the component without interruption at one time.

9. The preparation method according to claim 8, characterized in that: The composite coating is formed by adopting an atmospheric plasma spraying process, a supersonic spraying process or an explosion spraying process.

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