Fluid Supply Layout With Offset Joints for Compact ALD Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fluid supply systems face challenges in further reducing size while maintaining a working space for joint fastening operations, which limits the size reduction of fluid control devices and responsiveness in semiconductor manufacturing processes, particularly in atomic layer deposition methods.
Innovation Solution
The fluid supply system is designed with fluid lines aligned perpendicularly and joints positioned to allow for a working space by having a diameter equal to or less than the connection surface width, with adjacent pipings and joints displaced in the extension and intersecting directions, enabling compact integration and precise control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If joints are made thick to secure strength of torque applied portions, then joint strength is improved, but the size reduction of the fluid supply system is hindered due to insufficient working space for joint fastening operations
Solution Approach 1:
The piping is configured to extend substantially perpendicular to the alignment direction of fluid lines, and joints are positioned to be displaced in the extension direction. This spatial arrangement creates working space for joint fastening operations without increasing the thickness of joints, thereby resolving the contradiction between joint strength and system size reduction.
2Area of stationary object
If fluid controllers are densely integrated by reducing surface width and pitch width, then the size of the fluid control device is reduced, but the working space for joint fastening operations becomes insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The piping structure is designed with specific local characteristics: piping diameter is controlled to be equal to or less than the surface width of connection surfaces in the alignment direction, while joint diameters are equal to or greater than the surface width. This local differentiation enables compact integration while preserving operational accessibility for joint fastening.
Solution Approach 2:
By arranging piping to extend perpendicular to the alignment direction and displacing joints in the extension direction, the invention creates operational space in a different dimension, allowing dense integration in the alignment direction without compromising joint fastening accessibility.
3Productivity
If the fluid supply system is reduced in size, then the responsiveness and controllability in ALD treatment process are improved, but the working space for joint operations is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The perpendicular extension of piping and displacement of joints in the extension direction creates working space without increasing the overall footprint of the fluid supply system. This enables compact integration that improves treatment process responsiveness while maintaining joint operation accessibility.
Data Source
AI summary
A fluid supply system includes: fluid lines, fluid controllers and joints, in which each of the fluid lines linearly extends in an extension direction that substantially perpendicularly intersects an alignment direction of the fluid lines, each of the fluid controllers is disposed in an aligned manner in the alignment direction with connection surfaces directed to the same direction, a diameter of the pipings is equal to or less than a surface width of the connection surfaces in the alignment direction, and diameters of the joints are equal to or greater than the surface width, and the pipings that are adjacent to each other in the alignment direction are positioned with the joints displaced from each other in the extension direction.