Nanolayer Thick Film Processing System

Abstract

A process to deposit a thin film by chemical vapor deposition includes evacuating a chamber of gases; exposing a device to a gaseous first reactant, wherein the first reactant deposits on the device to form the thin film having a plurality of monolayers in thickness; evacuating the chamber of gases; exposing the device, coated with the first reactant, to a gaseous second reactant under a plasma treatment, wherein the thin film is treated by the first reactant; and repeating the previous steps.

1 . An apparatus to perform nano-layer deposition, comprising: an inductively coupled plasma generator; and 
 a process chamber, in which to expose a device to a gaseous first reactant, wherein the first reactant deposits on the device to form a layer having a thickness of more than a monolayer, and wherein the chamber is used to expose the device, coated with the first reactant, to a gaseous second reactant under a plasma, so that the layer deposited by the first reactant is treated.    
   
   
       2 . An apparatus to perform nano-layer deposition (“NLD”), comprising: an inductively coupled solid state RF plasma source that can generate a plasma, the plasma source comprising a helical ribbon electrode and a generator; and 
 a process chamber associated with the plasma source, wherein a device is exposed to a gaseous first reactant in the chamber, so that the first reactant deposits on the device to form a layer, and wherein in the chamber of gases, the device, coated with the first reactant, is exposed to a gaseous second reactant under plasma, to treat the layer deposited by the first reactant.    
   
   
       3 . An apparatus to perform nano-laycr deposition, comprising: 
 an inductively coupled solid state RF plasma source that can generate a plasma, the plasma source comprising a helical ribbon electrode and a generator; and    a process chamber associated with the helical ribbon electrode, the chamber adapted to enclose a device to be exposed to a gaseous first reactant, the first reactant for forming a layer on the device, the chamber further adapted to be purged of the first reactant, and to accept a second reactant under plasma to treat the device coated with the first reactant.    
   
   
       4 . An apparatus for semi-conductor thin film processing, the apparatus comprising: 
 a plasma excitation circuit driven by an inductively coupled plasma generator; and    a processing chamber functionally associated with the plasma excitation circuit, wherein the processing chamber is sealed for successively processing a substrate a plurality of times with at least one species of gas.    
   
   
       5 . An apparatus as in  claim 4  wherein the plasma excitation circuit further comprises a helical ribbon electrode.  
   
   
       6 . An apparatus as in  claim 5  wherein the helical ribbon electrode is connected with a generator; the helical ribbon electrode rests above a dielectric wall; and the dielectric wall rests above the chamber and is supported by at least one chamber wall, wherein the dielectric wall allows energy from the generator to pass through a plasma inside the chamber.  
   
   
       7 . An apparatus as in  claim 6  wherein the dielectric wall is made from a material selected from the group of non-metallic materials comprising ceramics, glass, quartz or plastic.  
   
   
       8 . An apparatus as in  claim 6  wherein the helical ribbon electrode is connected with a generator and the helical ribbon electrode is positioned inside the chamber.  
   
   
       9 . An apparatus as in  claim 8  wherein the generator drives the helical ribbon electrode via an electrical feed.  
   
   
       10 . An apparatus as in  claim 5  wherein the helical ribbon electrode is connected with a generator; the helical ribbon electrode is wrapped around a tubular dielectric wall; and the chamber is positioned within the helical ribbon electrode and the tubular dielectric wall.  
   
   
       11 . An apparatus as in  claim 7  wherein the distance between the helical ribbon electrode and the substrate is less than 5 inches.  
   
   
       12 . An apparatus as in  claim 11  wherein the chamber is elongated with a vertical axis of the chamber less than a horizontal axis of the chamber.  
   
   
       13 . The apparatus as in  claim 5  wherein the helical ribbon electrode includes a coil, and said coil has between 3 to 10 turns.  
   
   
       14 . The apparatus as in  claim 5  wherein the helical ribbon electrode is made of a conductive ductile metal.  
   
   
       15 . The apparatus as in  claim 14  wherein the conductive ductile metal is copper.  
   
   
       16 . The apparatus as in  claim 14  wherein the conductive ductile metal is aluminum.  
   
   
       17 . The apparatus as in  claim 13  wherein a width of the coil is greater than a thickness of the coil.  
   
   
       18 . The apparatus as in  claim 17  wherein a ratio of the width to the thickness of the coil is at least 100:1.  
   
   
       19 . The apparatus as in  claim 17  wherein a ratio of the width to the thickness of the coil is between 100:1 to 10,000:1.  
   
   
       20 . The apparatus as in  claim 5  wherein: 
 the helical ribbon electrode includes a conductive coil; the coil has a plurality of tuns;    the helical ribbon electrode is compressed so that each of the plurality of turns of the coil has a top flat surface and a bottom flat surface; and    the coil is insulated by a plurality of sheets of a dielectric material wherein a width of the coil is smaller than a width of the dielectric sheet, and one surface of each of the turns of the compressed coil engage one side of one of the plurality of the dielectric sheets.    
   
   
       21 . An apparatus as in  claim 4  wherein the plasma excitation circuit further comprises an external electrode selected from the group consisting of capacitance coupling type and inductance coupling type.  
   
   
       22 . An apparatus as in  claim 4  wherein the apparatus includes a heat exchanger adapted to remove heat from the plasma excitation circuit during operation.  
   
   
       23 . An apparatus as in  claim 4  wherein the plasma generator is functionally associated with a controller, wherein the controller generates a periodic pulse, to control on/off plasma generation.  
   
   
       24 . An apparatus for semi-conductor thin film processing having a plurality of chambers, the apparatus comprising: 
 a plasma excitation circuit driven by an inductively coupled plasma generator;    a load lock to flush ambient air from at least one wafer to be processed in the apparatus;    a transfer chamber for receiving the at least one wafer from the load lock; and    a processing chamber that receives the at least one wafer from the transfer chamber, the processing chamber also being functionally associated with the plasma excitation circuit, wherein the processing chamber is sealed for successively processing the at least one wafer a plurality of times with at least one species of gas.    
   
   
       25 . The apparatus of  claim 24  further comprising a first slit valve between the load lock and the transfer chamber.  
   
   
       26 . The apparatus of  claim 24  further comprising a second slit valve between the transfer chamber and the processing chamber.  
   
   
       27 . The apparatus of  claim 24  wherein the load lock further comprises an air circulation and filtration system to flush the ambient air surrounding the at least one wafer.  
   
   
       28 . The apparatus of  claim 24  wherein the load lock further comprises at least one pressure sensor.