Vented Susceptor Channels for Uniform Wafer Heating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Semiconductor processing faces quality control issues such as substrate sliding, sticking, and curling due to inadequate control of gas flow between the substrate and susceptor, leading to uneven heating and deposition, which affects the quality and uniformity of semiconductor devices.
Innovation Solution
A susceptor design with radially extending channels and apertures that allow for improved gas flow and substrate handling, including a channel region with specific angular separations and a support region to reduce substrate interaction with the susceptor, enhancing venting and preventing backside deposition.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a susceptor supports a substrate directly on its face, then the substrate is held in position, but substrate sliding, sticking, and curling occur due to inadequate gas flow control
Solution Approach 1:
The susceptor face incorporates a channel region with multiple radially extending channels that allow process gas to flow through and reach the substrate. This porous-like structure enables controlled gas flow between the susceptor and substrate, preventing substrate sliding, sticking, and curling while maintaining stable positioning during semiconductor processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The susceptor face is segmented into different functional regions: a channel region with radially extending channels for gas flow, a center region for substrate support, and an outer edge region. This segmentation allows independent optimization of gas distribution and substrate holding, resolving the contradiction between stable positioning and harmful substrate interactions.
2Manufacturing precision
If process gas flows between substrate and susceptor, then uniform heating and deposition are achieved, but backside deposition occurs on the substrate
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts or removes the harmful backside deposition by providing dedicated venting apertures that allow process gas to escape from between the substrate and susceptor. This extraction of excess gas prevents the gas from reaching the substrate backside and causing unwanted deposition, while still maintaining sufficient gas flow for uniform heating and deposition on the substrate front side.
Solution Approach 2:
The channel region acts as an intermediary structure between the susceptor face and the substrate. It controls and regulates the process gas flow, directing it to provide uniform heating and deposition while simultaneously providing escape paths through apertures to prevent backside deposition. The channel region mediates between the need for gas flow and the need to prevent harmful effects.
3Ease of operation
If pins extend through the susceptor to lift the substrate, then substrate handling is enabled, but the susceptor structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The susceptor is designed with multi-functionality: the same susceptor structure provides both substrate support during processing and substrate lifting during handling. The channel region and apertures serve dual purposes of gas flow control during processing and pin penetration for lifting during handling. This universality enables substrate handling without adding separate complex lifting mechanisms.
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
The susceptor design minimizes substrate sliding, sticking, and curling, ensuring more uniform heating and deposition, thereby improving the quality and yield of semiconductor devices by controlling gas flow and reducing backside deposition.
Implementation Method 1
improved gas flow and substrate handling, including a channel region with specific angular separations and a support region to reduce substrate interaction with the susceptor
Implementation Method 2
ensuring more uniform heating and deposition, thereby improving the quality and yield of semiconductor devices by controlling gas flow and reducing backside deposition
Implementation Method 3
one or more apertures extending between the face and the back surface, the one or more apertures configured to allow for pins to extend therethrough and lift a substrate from the face of the susceptor
Data Source
AI summary
A susceptor can include a generally circular shape and may include an inner and outer susceptor. The outer susceptor can include a support region having one or more support mechanisms as well as a channel region extending from the region boundary to an outer radial boundary radially inward of an outer edge of the susceptor, the channel region can include a plurality of channels extending radially from the region boundary to the outer radial boundary. The inner susceptor can include a second plurality of channels extending from the inner radial boundary to an edge of the inner susceptor.