Ceramic Showerhead Assembly for Dual-Side High-Temperature Substrate Heating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional substrate processing apparatuses face challenges in maintaining precision due to substrate bowing and difficulty in heating substrates uniformly across both surfaces, especially when high-temperature processes are required, which can lead to damage and hinder gas supply.
Innovation Solution
A ceramic-based showerhead assembly with a heater body and flow path plate unit that allows for independent heating and gas supply to both the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate, using ceramic materials to withstand high temperatures and facilitate gas distribution through multiple flow paths.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a metal heater is used on an upper portion of a substrate, then hole processing for supply of process gas is free, but it is difficult to cope with a high-temperature environment such as damage to a welded portion when the process temperature rises
Solution Approach 1:
The heater body is constructed using a composite structure combining a ceramic substrate with a metal heating element embedded within it. This composite design allows the heater to withstand high temperatures (coping with thermal expansion and high-temperature environments) while still enabling hole processing for gas supply through the ceramic material, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and high-temperature resistance
2Reliability
If a ceramic heater is used on an upper portion of a substrate to cope with a high-temperature process, then it can be used in a high-temperature process, but it is disadvantageously difficult to process a hole for supplying process gas
Solution Approach 1:
The heater assembly is segmented into distinct functional components: a ceramic heater body for high-temperature resistance, a separate flow path plate unit with pre-formed channels for gas supply, and an integrated structure that combines both functions. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently (ceramic for heat resistance, flow path plates for gas distribution) while working together as a unified system
3Temperature
If the substrate is heated from the lower portion, then it is difficult to heat the substrate to correspond to a processing temperature when the edge of the substrate is supported for depositing a thin film on the lower surface
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of heating the substrate from the conventional lower portion, the invention inverts the heating approach by placing the heater body on the upper portion of the substrate. This inverted configuration allows the substrate to be heated from above while the edge support structure remains in place for lower surface deposition, enabling both high-temperature processing and proper substrate support simultaneously
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables precise and efficient high-temperature processing by uniformly heating and supplying gases to both sides of the substrate, reducing substrate bowing and enhancing process accuracy.
Implementation Method 1
a heater body configured to heat a substrate... made of ceramic
Implementation Method 2
a plurality of supply holes supplying at least one process gas toward the substrate
Implementation Method 3
an elastic pressurizer to prevent gaps and damage during thermal expansion
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a showerhead assembly and a substrate processing apparatus, and more particularly to a showerhead assembly and a substrate processing apparatus including a ceramic heater that heats a substrate and by which hole processing is freely performed in a relatively high temperature process.