Stackable Tray Evaporation System for Film Precursor Surface Area
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current thin film deposition systems face challenges in efficiently evaporating and delivering film precursors, particularly for copper integration schemes, where diffusion barriers are required to prevent copper diffusion into dielectric materials, and existing systems lack effective methods to preserve the surface area of precursors during evaporation.
Innovation Solution
A film precursor evaporation system comprising a container with stackable trays and precursor stabilization elements that retain the precursor material, allowing for controlled evaporation and vaporization using a carrier gas, ensuring the surface area is preserved and the vapor is efficiently delivered to the deposition chamber.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the precursor material is allowed to move freely in the tray during evaporation, then the evaporation process is simpler, but the surface area of the precursor is not preserved leading to inconsistent deposition
Solution Approach 1:
The tray is segmented into multiple functional zones including peripheral walls, support edges for stacking, and internal stabilization elements. These segments work together to contain the precursor material while maintaining its surface area during evaporation, resolving the contradiction between structural complexity and deposition consistency.
Solution Approach 2:
Support edges act as intermediary elements between stacked trays, providing mechanical support while allowing the precursor stabilization elements to maintain the precursor surface area. This intermediary structure enables consistent deposition without requiring overly complex individual tray designs.
2Quantity of substance
If multiple trays are stacked to increase precursor capacity, then the total precursor amount increases, but the stability of individual trays decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple trays are nested vertically in a stackable configuration, with each tray containing precursor material and stabilization elements. The nested structure allows increased total precursor quantity while maintaining individual tray stability through the support edge design that distributes mechanical loads across the stack.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution moves from a single-tray horizontal configuration to a multi-tray vertical stackable configuration. By utilizing the vertical dimension, the system increases total precursor capacity while each individual tray maintains its stability through the support edge and stabilization element design.
3Productivity
If the precursor surface area is not preserved during evaporation, then the evaporation process is faster, but the deposition uniformity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The stabilization elements are pre-positioned in the trays before precursor loading. This preliminary action ensures that when evaporation occurs, the precursor surface area is already constrained and preserved, allowing for uniform deposition while maintaining efficient evaporation rates through proper carrier gas flow.
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
This solution effectively evaporates and delivers film precursors, maintaining the surface area and ensuring consistent deposition, thereby addressing the challenges of copper integration and precursor delivery in thin film deposition systems.
Implementation Method 1
The container is heated to an elevated temperature to evaporate at least some of the precursor material on the trays to form precursor vapor
Implementation Method 2
A carrier gas flows across the preserved surfaces of the heated film precursor, and then the carrier gas and precursor vapor flow through the outlet to the film deposition system
Data Source
AI summary
A high conductance, multi-tray film precursor evaporation system coupled with a high conductance vapor delivery system is described for increasing deposition rate by increasing exposed surface area of film precursor. The multi-tray film precursor evaporation system includes one or more trays. Each tray is configured to support and retain a solid precursor, and permit the flow of a carrier gas. Furthermore, each tray comprises precursor stabilization elements designed to maintain a substantially level solid precursor powder during transport of the multi-tray precursor evaporation system.