초록 ▼

A high conductance, multi-tray solid precursor evaporation system coupled with a high conductance vapor delivery system is described for increasing deposition rate by increasing exposed surface area of solid precursor. The multi-tray solid precursor evaporation system includes a base tray with one o

A high conductance, multi-tray solid precursor evaporation system coupled with a high conductance vapor delivery system is described for increasing deposition rate by increasing exposed surface area of solid precursor. The multi-tray solid precursor evaporation system includes a base tray with one or more upper trays. Each tray is configured to support and retain film precursor in, for example, solid powder form or solid tablet form. Additionally, each tray is configured to provide for a high conductance flow of carrier gas over the film precursor while the film precursor is heated. For example, the carrier gas flows inward over the film precursor, and vertically upward through a flow channel within the stackable trays and through an outlet in the solid precursor evaporation system.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A film precursor evaporation system configured to be coupled to a thin film deposition system comprising: a container comprising an outer wall and a bottom, said container configured to be coupled to a heater and heated to an elevated temperature; a lid configured to be seala

What is claimed is: 1. A film precursor evaporation system configured to be coupled to a thin film deposition system comprising: a container comprising an outer wall and a bottom, said container configured to be coupled to a heater and heated to an elevated temperature; a lid configured to be sealably coupled to said container, said lid comprising an outlet configured to be sealably coupled to said thin film deposition system; a tray stack comprising: a base tray configured to rest on said bottom of said container, said base tray having a base outer wall configured to retain said film precursor on said base tray and a base support edge, and one or more upper trays including a first upper tray supported on said base support edge, each of said one or more upper trays having an upper outer wall with an upper support edge for supporting one or more optional additional upper trays configured to be positioned on one of said first upper tray or a preceding additional upper tray and an inner wall shorter than said upper outer wall, wherein said upper outer wall and said inner wall of each of said one or more upper trays are configured to retain said film precursor therebetween, and said inner wall defines a central flow channel in said container; an annular space between said base and upper outer walls of said tray stack and said outer wall of said container, said annular space configured to be coupled to a carrier gas supply system to supply a carrier gas to said annular space; one or more openings positioned in said base outer wall of said tray stack and coupled to said annular space, and configured to flow a first portion of carrier gas through said base tray from said annular space, over said film precursor in said base tray towards said central flow channel, and to exhaust said carrier gas through said outlet in said lid with film precursor vapor; and one or more openings positioned in said upper outer wall of each of said one or more upper trays and coupled to said annular space, wherein said one or more openings in said first upper tray is configured to flow a second portion of carrier gas through said first upper tray from said annular space, over said film precursor in said first upper tray, over said inner wall of said first upper tray towards said central flow channel, and to exhaust said carrier gas through said outlet in said lid with film precursor vapor, and wherein said base tray and said first upper tray are configured such that said first portion of carrier gas does not flow through any of said one or more upper trays and said second portion of carrier gas does not flow through said base tray or another of said one or more upper trays. 2. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein said film precursor is a metal precursor. 3. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein said film precursor is a solid precursor. 4. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 3, wherein said solid precursor comprises a solid powder form. 5. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 3, wherein said solid precursor comprises a solid tablet form. 6. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein said film precursor comprises a metal-carbonyl. 7. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 6, wherein said metal-carbonyl includes W(CO)6, Mo(CO)6, Co2(CO)8, Rh4(CO)12, Re2(CO)10,Cr(CO)6, Ru3(CO)12, or Os3(CO)12. 8. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein said one or more upper trays are separatable and stackable trays for stacking on said base tray for forming a multi-piece multi-tray stack. 9. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein said one or more upper trays are integrally stacked on said base tray for forming a single, unitary, multi-tray structure wherein said base outer wall and said upper outer wall of each of said one or more upper trays are integral. 10. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein said container further comprises one or more spacers configured to space said base outer wall of said base tray and said upper outer wall of said one or more upper trays from said outer wall of said container. 11. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein said container comprises a cylindrical shape. 12. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 11, wherein an inner diameter of said outer wall of said container ranges from approximately 10 cm to approximately 100 cm. 13. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 11, wherein an inner diameter of said outer wall of said container ranges from approximately 20 cm to 40 cm. 14. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 11, wherein said base tray and each of said upper trays are cylindrical in shape. 15. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 14, wherein a diameter of said base outer wall and a diameter of each of said upper outer walls ranges from about 75% to about 99% of said inner diameter of said outer wall of said container. 16. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 14, wherein a diameter of said base outer wall and a diameter of each of said upper outer walls ranges from about 85% to about 99% of said inner diameter of said outer wall of said container. 17. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 14, wherein an inner diameter of said inner wall of each of said one or more upper trays ranges from approximately 1 cm to approximately 30 cm. 18. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 14, wherein an inner diameter of said inner wall of each of said one or more upper trays ranges from approximately 5 cm to approximately 20 cm. 19. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein said one or more upper trays includes 1 to 20 upper trays. 20. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein said one or more upper trays includes 5 upper trays. 21. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein said one or more openings includes one or more slots. 22. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein said one or more openings includes one or more orifices. 23. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 22, wherein the diameter of each of said one or more orifices ranges from approximately 0.4 to approximately 1 mm. 24. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 22, wherein the diameter of each of said one or more orifices is approximately 1 mm. 25. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 22, wherein the number of said one or more orifices ranges from 2 to 1000 orifices. 26. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 22, wherein the number of said one or more orifices ranges from 50 to 100 orifices. 27. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 22, wherein each of said upper trays includes 72 orifices of 1 mm diameter. 28. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein the height of each of said base outer wall and said upper outer walls ranges from approximately 5 mm to approximately 50 mm. 29. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein the height of each of said base outer wall and said upper outer walls is approximately 30 mm. 30. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein a level of said film precursor in each of said one or more upper trays and said base tray is below the position of said one or more openings in each of said upper outer wall and in said base outer wall, respectively. 31. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein a level of said film precursor in each of said one or more upper trays is below a height of said inner walls. 32. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, further comprising a gas channel extending from said lid through said outer wall of said container to said bottom of said container, and coupled to said annular space. 33. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 32, further comprising a carrier gas supply system sealably coupled through said lid to said gas channel in said outer wall of said container. 34. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, further comprising a heater coupled to said container comprising at least one resistive heater element. 35. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein said container is configured to be heated to an elevated temperature greater than or equal to 40° C. 36. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein said base tray, or one or more of said one or more upper trays, or any combination thereof, is replaceable. 37. A thin film deposition system for forming a thin film on a substrate comprising: a process chamber having a substrate holder configured to support said substrate and heat said substrate, a vapor distribution system configured to introduce film precursor vapor above said substrate, and a pumping system configured to evacuate said process chamber; and the film precursor evaporation system of claim 1, wherein said outlet is coupled to said vapor distribution system. 38. A deposition system for forming a thin film on a substrate comprising: a process chamber having a substrate holder configured to support said substrate and heat said substrate, a vapor distribution system configured to introduce film precursor vapor above said substrate, and a pumping system configured to evacuate said process chamber; a film precursor evaporation system configured to evaporate a film precursor, and to transport said film precursor vapor in a carrier gas, wherein said film precursor evaporation system comprises: a container comprising an outer wall and a bottom, and a heater coupled to said container and configured to heat said container to an elevated temperature, a lid configured to be sealably coupled to said container, said lid comprising an outlet, a base tray positioned to rest on said bottom of said container and configured to support a film precursor, said base tray having a base outer wall configured to retain said film precursor on said base tray, wherein said base outer wall includes one or more base tray openings configured to flow a first portion of carrier gas over said film precursor in said base tray towards a center of said container, and to exhaust said carrier gas through said outlet in said lid with film precursor vapor, and one or more stackable upper trays configured to support said film precursor, and configured to be stacked upon one of said base tray or another of said stackable upper trays, each of said stackable upper trays having an upper outer wall and an inner wall configured to retain said film precursor therebetween, said inner wall of each of said one or more stackable upper trays defines a central flow channel in said container and said upper outer wall of each of said one or more stackable upper trays include one or more upper tray openings configured to flow a respective portion of carrier gas over said film precursor in said respective stackable upper tray, over said respective inner wall towards said central flow channel of said container, and to exhaust said carrier gas through said outlet in said lid with film precursor vapor, wherein said base tray and said one or more stackable upper trays are configured such that said first portion of carrier gas does not flow through any of said one or more stackable upper trays and said respective portions of carrier gas do not flow through said base tray or another of said one or more stackable upper trays, wherein said base tray and said one or more stackable upper trays collectively define a tray stack and wherein an annular space is defined between said base outer wall of said base tray and each of said upper outer wall of each of said one or more stackable upper trays, and said outer wall of said container; a carrier gas supply system coupled to said annular space for providing said carrier gas to said tray stack; and a vapor delivery system having a first end sealably coupled to said outlet of said film precursor evaporation system and a second end sealably coupled to an inlet of said vapor distribution system of said process chamber. 39. The deposition system of claim 38, wherein said film precursor is a solid precursor. 40. The deposition system of claim 38, wherein said film precursor is a solid metal precursor. 41. The deposition system of claim 38, wherein said film precursor comprises a metal-carbonyl. 42. The deposition system of claim 41, wherein said metal-carbonyl includes W(CO)6, Mo(CO)6, Co2(CO)8, Rh4(CO)12, Re2(CO)10, Cr(CO)6, Ru3(CO)12, or Os3(CO)12. 43. The deposition system of claim 38, wherein said carrier gas comprises an inert gas. 44. The deposition system of claim 43, wherein said inert gas includes a noble gas. 45. The deposition system of claim 38, wherein said carrier gas comprises a monoxide gas. 46. The deposition system of claim 45, wherein said monoxide gas includes carbon monoxide (CO). 47. A film precursor evaporation system configured to be coupled to a thin film deposition system comprising: a container comprising an outer wall and a bottom, said container configured to be coupled to a heater and heated to an elevated temperature; a lid configured to be sealably coupled to said container, said lid comprising an outlet configured to be sealably coupled to said thin film deposition system; a tray stack comprising: a base tray comprising a first bottom support surface and an outer wall extending upwardly therefrom and terminating in a base support edge, said first bottom support surface configured to rest on said bottom of said container, and said base tray configured to retain a film precursor on said first bottom support surface, wherein said outer wall and said first bottom support surface define a base tray space, and a first upper tray supported on said base support edge, and one or more optional additional upper trays stacked sequentially on said first upper tray, each of said first and optional additional upper trays having a second bottom support surface defined between an outer edge and an inner edge, an upper outer wall extending upwardly from said outer edge and terminating in an upper support edge for supporting said optional additional upper trays, and an inner wall shorter than said upper outer wall and extending upwardly from said inner edge of said second bottom support surface, wherein each of said first and optional additional upper trays are configured to retain said film precursor on said second bottom support surface between said upper outer wall and said inner wall, said inner walls of said first and optional additional upper trays collectively define a central flow channel in said container from said base tray to said outlet in said lid, and said upper outer wall, said second bottom support surface, and said inner wall of each of said first and optional additional upper trays define respective upper tray spaces; an annular space between said base and upper outer walls of said tray stack and said outer wall of said container; a carrier gas supply system coupled to said annular space to supply a carrier gas to said annular space; one or more openings positioned in said base outer wall of said tray stack and coupled to said annular space; and one or more openings positioned in said upper outer wall of each of said first and optional additional upper trays, coupled to said annular space, wherein a first flow path is defined from said carrier gas supply system through said annular space to each of the one or more openings in said base and upper outer walls, wherein a plurality of distinct and non-intersecting second flow paths are defined, each extending from the first flow path through the one or more openings in a respective one of said base tray or said first or optional additional upper trays, through said respective base or upper tray space, to said central flow channel, wherein a third flow path is defined from said second flow paths through said central flow channel to said outlet in said lid, and wherein said film precursor evaporation system is configured to flow a carrier gas from said carrier supply system, along said first flow path, into said base tray and said first and optional additional upper trays in essentially parallel fashion along said plurality of distinct and non-intersecting second flow paths in contact with said film precursor, and along said third flow path to exhaust said carrier gas through said outlet in said lid with film precursor vapor. 48. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 47, wherein said film precursor comprises a metal-carbonyl. 49. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 48, wherein said metal-carbonyl includes W(CO)6, Mo(CO)6, Co2(CO)8, Rh4(CO)12, Re2(CO)10, Cr(CO)6, Ru3(CO)12, or Os3(CO)12. 50. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 47, wherein said container comprises a cylindrical shape. 51. The film precursor evaporation system of claim 47, wherein said base tray and said first and optional additional upper trays are cylindrical in shape.