Stacked Plenum Vaporizer for Semiconductor Precursor Evaporation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vaporizers in semiconductor manufacturing often fail to achieve complete vaporization of liquid precursors due to their design, leading to incomplete evaporation and subsequent defects in semiconductor wafers, as they rely on atomization and heating in a carrier gas environment, which results in inadequate residence time and inefficient heat transfer.
Innovation Solution
A vaporizer design that flows the precursor through heated disk-shaped plenum volumes, maintaining temperatures below the Leidenfrost point but above the vaporization temperature, enhancing heat transfer efficiency and ensuring complete vaporization without the Leidenfrost effect, which allows for more efficient evaporation and reduced defects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional atomizer nozzle spraying is used, then the precursor can be introduced into the carrier gas, but complete vaporization is not achieved due to inadequate residence time and inefficient heat transfer
Solution Approach 1:
The vaporizer is divided into multiple disk-shaped plenum volumes stacked vertically, with each plenum containing heated peripheral passage plates. This segmentation increases the total heated surface area and extends the residence time of the precursor through multiple stages of heating, achieving complete vaporization without requiring excessive heating temperature.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from conventional single-stage heating to multi-stage three-dimensional heating by stacking plenum volumes vertically. The precursor flows through multiple levels of heated passages, utilizing the vertical dimension to extend the heating path length and improve heat transfer efficiency.
2Productivity
If high heating temperature is applied to ensure complete vaporization, then evaporation efficiency improves, but the Leidenfrost effect occurs which reduces heat transfer efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The invention optimizes the heating temperature parameter to maintain it below the Leidenfrost point of the precursor while ensuring sufficient vaporization. By controlling the temperature within this specific range and extending the heating path through multiple plenum stages, complete vaporization is achieved without triggering the Leidenfrost effect that would reduce heat transfer efficiency.
3Volume of moving object
If the vaporizer package volume is reduced for compactness, then device size decreases, but heat transfer efficiency may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple plenum volumes are nested stacked vertically within a compact cylindrical housing. Each plenum contains peripheral passage plates with heated channels that are nested within the overall structure. This nesting arrangement maximizes the heated surface area and heating path length within a minimal package volume, maintaining high heat transfer efficiency without increasing the overall device size.
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 design achieves complete vaporization of precursors within a smaller package volume, improving wafer uniformity and reducing defects by optimizing heat transfer and evaporation efficiency, thereby enhancing the quality of semiconductor processing.
Implementation Method 1
a first process fluid first peripheral passage plate with a plurality of first process fluid peripheral passage holes... configured to heat the first process fluid first peripheral passage plate
Implementation Method 2
Certain semiconductor manufacturing processes require precursors to be vaporized before introduction into semiconductor processing chambers
Data Source
AI summary
An improved vaporizer for vaporizing a process fluid is provided. The vaporizer may be assembled from stacked plates and may include one or more plenums with a relatively large wall-area-to-cross-sectional-flow-area ratio. The vaporizer may be equipped with one or more heating elements configured to heat the plenums above the vaporization temperature of the precursor. At least some of the plenums may be heated above the vaporization temperature, but below the Leidenfrost temperature, of the precursor. Multiple stacked plate arrangements may be ganged together in series to achieve complete vaporization, if necessary. The vaporizers may be easily disassembleable for cleaning and maintenance.