Heat exchanger for vaporizer for thin-film deposition

Abstract

The present invention relates to a heat exchanger for a vaporizer for thin-film deposition. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger wherein heat loss generated at the center of the heat exchanger is alleviated, thereby preventing contaminant particles from being generated, and contaminant particles can be easily removed. The heat exchanger for a vaporizer according to the present invention comprises: a first housing having an inlet formed through the upper portion thereof such that a liquid droplet aerosol is introduced therein, the introduced liquid droplet aerosol is primarily vaporized in the upper portion, and the remaining liquid droplet aerosol after the primary vaporization is secondarily vaporized in the lower portion thereof, and the first housing having an outlet formed through the lower portion thereof such that vapor generated by vaporization of the liquid droplet aerosol flows out therethrough; a second housing inserted into the first housing, the second housing having a conical dispersion portion formed in the upper portion thereof such that the liquid droplet aerosol is radially dispersed, and the second housing having a channel formed such that the liquid droplet aerosol moves along same; a first heater for heating the first housing while surrounding the outer circumferential surface of the first housing; and a second heater located inside the second housing so as to heat the second housing.

Description

Heat exchanger for vaporization device for thin film deposition

[0001] The present invention relates to a vaporization device for thin film deposition, and more particularly, to a heat exchanger for a vaporization device for thin film deposition that vaporizes a droplet aerosol of a liquid precursor to form vapor.

[0002] In semiconductor device and display manufacturing processes, thin film deposition using liquid precursors is commonly performed. Thin films are formed by converting the liquid precursor into a gaseous state and depositing it on a substrate within a chamber. The device that supplies the gaseous precursor to the chamber is the vaporizer.

[0003] The vaporizer maintains a high temperature in the heat exchanger to maintain the vapor pressure required by the atomized droplet aerosol. However, the heat exchanger experiences rapid heat loss from the center due to the atomized droplet aerosol sprayed from the atomizer. This means that the temperature at the center of the heat exchanger is relatively low, preventing the atomized droplet aerosol from vaporizing and instead condensing. This increases the time it spends in contact with the flow path surface within the heat exchanger, further accelerating heat loss from the heat exchanger. This heat loss in the heat exchanger can cause the aerosol droplets that cannot be vaporized to adhere to the heat exchanger in the form of particles, potentially contaminating it.

[0004] When cleaning heat exchangers to remove contaminants stuck inside, conventional heat exchangers have numerous blind spots, making complete removal difficult. Furthermore, even when using endoscopic imaging and particle counters to check the cleanliness of the heat exchanger, the blind spots within the heat exchanger make accurate detection difficult.

[0005] Heat exchangers from which contaminant particles are not completely removed can act as a source of contamination in the process of depositing a thin film on a wafer, which can lead to process defects.

[0006] Therefore, it is necessary to develop a heat exchanger that compensates for the heat loss occurring at the center of the heat exchanger, prevents the generation of contaminant particles, and makes it easy to remove contaminant particles.

[0007] [Patent Document]

[0008] Patent Publication No. 10-2125183 (June 22, 2020)

[0009] Accordingly, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger that prevents the generation of contaminant particles by compensating for heat loss occurring at the center of the heat exchanger and makes it easy to remove contaminant particles.

[0010] In order to achieve the above object, a heat exchanger for a vaporization device according to the present invention comprises: a first housing having an inlet formed at the top through which a droplet aerosol flows in, the droplet aerosol flowing in is first vaporized at the top, the droplet aerosol remaining after the first vaporization is secondarily vaporized at the bottom, and an outlet formed at the bottom through which vaporized vapor of the droplet aerosol flows out; a second housing inserted into the interior of the first housing, having a cone-shaped distribution portion formed at the top to radially disperse the droplet aerosol, and having a flow path formed through which the droplet aerosol moves; a first heater surrounding an outer circumferential surface of the first housing and heating the first housing; and a second heater positioned inside the second housing and heating the second housing.

[0011] The first housing is formed as a double-tube structure including an inner tube and an outer tube, so that a plurality of first flow paths in the shape of holes through which the droplet aerosol moves can be formed between the inner tube and the outer tube.

[0012] The second housing is inserted into the inner tube, and a second flow path through which the droplet aerosol moves can be formed by a plurality of first partition walls that protrude and extend in the longitudinal direction on the outer surface.

[0013] The second housing may have a third channel in the shape of a plurality of holes formed on the upper portion through which the droplet aerosol radially dispersed from the dispersing portion moves, and a fourth channel in the shape of a spiral through which the droplet aerosol passing through the third channel moves may be formed by a second spiral partition protruding from the outer surface.

[0014] The above first heater may be a band heater.

[0015] The above second heater may be a rod heater.

[0016] A heat exchanger according to the present invention comprises a first heater surrounding an outer surface of a first housing, and a second heater capable of compensating for heat loss.

[0017] The heat exchanger according to the present invention includes a second housing that can be inserted and detached into the interior of the first housing, thereby enabling easy cleaning of the interior, and by forming a flow path inside the first and second housings, the surface area through which the liquid aerosol moves can be expanded, thereby increasing vaporization efficiency.

[0018] FIG. 1 is a drawing showing a longitudinal cross-section of a heat exchanger according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] Fig. 2 is a drawing showing a cross-section of a heat exchanger according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0020] FIG. 3 is a drawing showing a cross-section of a first housing according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] FIG. 4 is a drawing showing a cross-section of a second housing according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] FIG. 5 is a drawing showing a cross-section of a heat exchanger according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 6 is a drawing showing a longitudinal cross-section of a heat exchanger according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] FIG. 7 is a drawing showing a cross-section of a first housing according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 8 is a drawing showing a second housing according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] FIG. 9 is a drawing showing a cross-section of a second housing according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] It should be noted that in the following description, only the parts necessary for understanding the embodiments of the present invention are described, and the description of other parts will be omitted to the extent that it does not deviate from the gist of the present invention.

[0028] The terms and words used in this specification and claims described below should not be interpreted as limited to their conventional or dictionary meanings, but should be interpreted with meanings and concepts that conform to the technical idea of ​​the present invention based on the principle that the inventor can appropriately define the concept of the term to best describe his or her own invention. Therefore, the embodiments described in this specification and the configurations illustrated in the drawings are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical idea of ​​the present invention. Therefore, it should be understood that there may be various equivalents and modified examples that can replace them at the time of this application.

[0029] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the attached drawings.

[0030] FIG. 1 is a drawing showing a longitudinal cross-section of a heat exchanger according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a drawing showing a cross-section of a heat exchanger according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0031] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a heat exchanger (100) according to a first embodiment of the present invention includes a first housing (10) having an inlet (11a) formed at the top through which liquid droplet aerosol flows in and an outlet (11b) formed at the bottom through which vaporized liquid droplet aerosol flows out, a second housing (20) inserted into the interior of the first housing (10) and having a flow path formed through which liquid droplet aerosol moves, a first heater (30) surrounding the outer circumferential surface of the first housing (10) and heating the first housing (10), and a second heater (40) positioned inside the second housing (20) and heating the second housing (20).

[0032] The heat exchanger (100) can allow the liquid droplet aerosol introduced through the inlet (11a) to be primarily vaporized at the top, and to be vaporized secondarily while passing through the first and second flow paths (12, 22) so that the vapor formed flows out through the outlet (11b).

[0033] Hereinafter, the configuration of the heat exchanger (100) according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail.

[0034] FIG. 3 is a drawing showing a cross-section of a first housing (10) according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

[0035] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, the first housing (10) may be formed with an inlet (11a) through which liquid aerosol flows in at the top, an outlet (11b) through which vaporized liquid aerosol flows out at the bottom, and a first insertion port (11c) into which a second housing (20) is inserted.

[0036] Specifically, the first housing (10) is formed as a double-tube structure including an inner tube and an outer tube, so that a plurality of first flow paths (12) in the shape of holes through which liquid aerosol moves can be formed between the inner tube and the outer tube, and a second housing (20) can be inserted into the inner tube. At this time, the first heater (30) is a band heater that surrounds the outer circumference of the first housing (10) to heat the first housing (10), thereby allowing the liquid aerosol present inside the first housing (10) to be vaporized.

[0037] The first euro (12) can supply thermal energy to the droplet aerosol in a short period of time by increasing the surface area over which the droplet aerosol moves.

[0038] When such a flow path is formed in the center of the first housing (10), i.e., inside the inner tube, the effect of expanding the surface area through which the liquid aerosol moves can be obtained. However, there is a problem in that heat loss occurs quickly in the center of the first housing (10), so that the liquid aerosol does not vaporize smoothly. In addition, when the flow path is formed in the center of the first housing (10), the structure of the heat exchanger (100) becomes complicated, so there is a problem in that cleaning the first housing (10) is difficult.

[0039] The heat exchanger (100) according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a second housing (20) that can be inserted and removed into the interior of the first housing (10), thereby enabling easy cleaning of the interior, and by forming a flow path inside the first and second housings (20), the surface area through which the liquid aerosol moves can be expanded, thereby increasing vaporization efficiency.

[0040] Figure 4 is a drawing showing a cross-section of a second housing (20) according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0041] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4, the second housing (20) may have a distribution portion (21a) formed at the upper portion to allow the droplet aerosol to be radially dispersed, and a second flow path (22) through which the droplet aerosol moves may be formed by a plurality of first partition walls (23) that protrude and extend in the longitudinal direction on the outer circumferential surface. In addition, the second housing (20) may have a second insertion port (21b) formed into which a second heater (40) is inserted. At this time, the second heater (40) is a rod heater, and is positioned inside the second housing (20) to heat the second housing (20) so that the droplet aerosol existing outside the second housing (20) is vaporized. The second heater (40) may be positioned at the center of the heat exchanger (100) to compensate for heat loss occurring at the center.

[0042] If the droplet aerosol is lumped together while moving through the first housing (10), vaporization may not occur properly. Therefore, the second housing (20) may have a cone-shaped dispersing portion (21a) formed at the upper portion so that the droplet aerosol flowing in through the inlet (11a) can be radially dispersed within the first housing (10).

[0043] The second housing (20) can be inserted into the first housing (10) so that its outer surface is spaced apart from the inner tube of the first housing (10). The aerosol droplets radially dispersed from the dispersion portion (21a) can move to this spaced apart space. At this time, the second housing (20) can form a second flow path (22) through which the aerosol droplets move by a first partition wall (23) that extends lengthwise from the outer surface. The second flow path (22) can increase the surface area through which the aerosol droplets move, thereby facilitating vaporization.

[0044] The shape of the heat exchanger according to the present invention is not limited thereto, and may include a heat exchanger according to the second embodiment.

[0045] FIG. 5 is a drawing showing a cross-section of a heat exchanger according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a drawing showing a longitudinal cross-section of a heat exchanger according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0046] Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a heat exchanger (200) according to a second embodiment of the present invention includes a first housing (50) having an inlet (51a) formed at the top through which liquid droplet aerosol flows in and an outlet (51b) formed at the bottom through which vaporized liquid droplet aerosol flows out, a second housing (60) inserted into the interior of the first housing (50) and having a flow path formed through which liquid droplet aerosol moves, a first heater (30) surrounding the outer circumferential surface of the first housing (50) and heating the first housing (50), and a second heater (40) positioned at the inside of the second housing (60) and heating the second housing (60).

[0047] The heat exchanger (200) can allow the liquid droplet aerosol introduced through the inlet (51a) to be vaporized first while passing through the third flow path (64) formed at the upper portion of the second housing (60), and to be vaporized second while passing through the spiral fourth flow path (62) so that the vapor formed flows out through the outlet (51b).

[0048] Hereinafter, the configuration of the heat exchanger (200) according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail.

[0049] Figure 7 is a drawing showing a cross-section of a first housing (50) according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0050] Referring to FIGS. 5 to 7, the first housing (50) may be formed with an inlet (51a) through which liquid aerosol flows in at the top, an outlet (51b) through which vaporized liquid aerosol flows out at the bottom, and a first insertion port (51c) through which the second housing (60) is inserted. At this time, the first heater (30) is a band heater that surrounds the outer circumference of the first housing (50) to heat the first housing (50), thereby allowing the liquid aerosol present inside the first housing (50) to be vaporized.

[0051] FIG. 8 is a drawing showing a second housing (60) according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a drawing showing a cross-section of a second housing (60) according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0052] Referring to FIGS. 5 to 9, the second housing (60) may be formed with a dispersion portion (61a) that allows the droplet aerosol to be radially dispersed at the top, a third passage (64) in the shape of multiple holes through which the droplet aerosol moves, and a spiral fourth passage (62) formed by a spiral second partition (63) protruding from the outer circumferential surface. In addition, the second housing (60) may be formed with a second insertion port (61b) into which a second heater (40) is inserted. At this time, the second heater (40) is a rod heater, and is positioned inside the second housing (60) to heat the second housing (60) so that the droplet aerosol existing outside the second housing (60) can be vaporized. The second heater (40) may be positioned at the center of the heat exchanger (200) according to the second embodiment to compensate for heat loss occurring at the center.

[0053] The second housing (60) according to the second embodiment has a cone-shaped dispersing portion (61a) formed on the upper portion, similar to the second housing (60) according to the first embodiment, so that the droplet aerosol introduced from the inlet (51a) can be radially dispersed within the first housing (50).

[0054] The droplet aerosol radially dispersed in the dispersion unit (61a) can pass through the third flow path (64) formed in the shape of a plurality of holes. The third flow path (64) can increase the surface area through which the droplet aerosol moves, thereby facilitating vaporization. Since the droplet aerosol receives sufficient thermal energy in the process of passing through the third flow path (64), most of the introduced droplet aerosol can be vaporized in the process of passing through the third flow path (64). In other words, the droplet aerosol is radially dispersed in the dispersion unit (61a) and can move smoothly without stagnation through the linearly formed third flow path (64).

[0055] The vaporized vapor and the non-vaporized droplet aerosol in the third passage (64) can move along the spiral fourth passage (62). The fourth passage (62) is formed in a spiral shape, which not only increases the surface area over which the droplet aerosol moves, but also increases the time the droplet aerosol remains inside the first housing (50), thereby facilitating vaporization.

[0056] Meanwhile, the embodiments disclosed in this specification and drawings are merely specific examples to aid understanding and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other modifications based on the technical concepts of the present invention are possible in addition to the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0057] [Explanation of symbols]

[0058] 100, 200: Heat exchanger

[0059] 10, 50: 1st Housing

[0060] 11a, 51a: Inlet

[0061] 11b, 51b: Outlet

[0062] 11c, 51c: 1st insertion hole

[0063] 12: 1st Euro

[0064] 20, 60: Second Housing

[0065] 21a, 61a: Dispersion section

[0066] 21b, 61b: Second insertion hole

[0067] 22: Second Euro

[0068] 23: First bulkhead

[0069] 62: 4th Euro

[0070] 63: Second bulkhead

[0071] 64: Third Euro

[0072] 30: 1st heater

[0073] 40: Second heater

Claims

1. A first housing having an inlet formed at the top for introducing liquid aerosol, wherein the liquid aerosol introduced inside is vaporized first at the top, the liquid aerosol remaining after the first vaporization is vaporized secondarily at the bottom, and an outlet formed at the bottom for discharging vapor from the vaporized liquid aerosol; A second housing inserted into the interior of the first housing, having a cone-shaped dispersing portion formed at the upper portion to disperse the droplet aerosol radially, and a path formed through which the droplet aerosol moves; A first heater that surrounds the outer surface of the first housing and heats the first housing; and A second heater positioned inside the second housing and heating the second housing; A heat exchanger for a vaporizer including:

2. In paragraph 1, A heat exchanger for a vaporizer, characterized in that the first housing is formed as a double-tube structure including an inner tube and an outer tube, and a plurality of first flow paths in the shape of holes through which the droplet aerosol moves are formed between the inner tube and the outer tube.

3. In paragraph 2, A heat exchanger for a vaporizer, characterized in that the second housing is inserted into the inner tube and a second path through which the droplet aerosol moves is formed by a plurality of first baffles that protrude and extend in the longitudinal direction on the outer surface.

4. In paragraph 1, The second housing has a third path formed in the shape of multiple holes through which the droplet aerosol dispersed radially from the dispersion unit moves at the upper portion. A heat exchanger for a vaporizer, characterized in that a spiral fourth path is formed by a spiral second baffle protruding from an outer surface, through which the droplet aerosol passing through the third path moves.

5. In any one of paragraphs 1 to 4, A heat exchanger for a vaporizer, characterized in that the first heater is a band heater.

6. In any one of paragraphs 1 to 4, A heat exchanger for a vaporizer, characterized in that the second heater is a rod heater.

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