Cluster apparatus for treating substrate

{
  "publication_number": "US10006146B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Cluster apparatus for treating substrate",
  "abstract": "Provide an apparatus for selective epitaxial growth. The apparatus for selective epitaxial growth, the apparatus comprising, a process tube comprising an inner tube in which a substrate stack unit for receiving a plurality of substrates is accommodated and an outer tube surrounding the inner tube, a heater assembly disposed to surround the process tube and a side nozzle unit vertically disposed inside the process tube, wherein the side nozzle unit comprises first and second side nozzles for respectively spraying an etching gas and a depo gas for the selective epitaxial growth.",
  "claims": [
    "1. Cluster equipment for treating a substrate, the cluster equipment comprising: an equipment front end module (EFEM) comprising load ports where cassettes in which substrates are stacked are placed; a first loadlock chamber connected to the EFEM through a gate valve and having an inner space that is selectively converted into an atmospheric or vacuum pressure; a transfer chamber in which a carrying device for carrying the substrate is disposed, the transfer chamber being connected to the first loadlock chamber through a gate valve; second loadlock chambers in which substrate stack units in which substrates are stacked in a batch type are disposed, the second loadlock chambers each of which is connected to the transfer chamber through a gate valve; and process chambers each of which is disposed on each of the second loadlock chambers, the process chambers for process-treating the substrates stacked on a substrate stack unit, wherein each process chamber comprises: a process tube comprising an inner tube in which the substrate stack unit is accommodated and an outer tube surrounding the inner tube; and a side nozzle unit vertically disposed inside the process tube, wherein the side nozzle unit comprises: a first side nozzle configured to spray a first gas; a second side nozzle configured to spray a second gas; and side curtain nozzles disposed in parallel to each other and configured to spray an inert gas in a direction different from each other, and wherein the first side nozzle is positioned between the side curtain nozzles which, when spraying the inert gas, improve straightness of the first gas sprayed from the first side nozzle.",
    "2. The cluster equipment according to claim 1, wherein the process chamber further comprises: a rotation unit rotating the substrate stack unit; and a heater assembly disposed to surround the process tube.",
    "3. The cluster equipment according to claim 1, further comprising: a pre-deposition nozzle vertically disposed inside the process tube to perform pre-coating on the inside of the inner tube; and a lower cleaning nozzle for cleaning a lower end of the inner tube when the inside of the inner tube is cleaned.",
    "4. The cluster equipment according to claim 1, wherein the inner tube further comprises a cutoff part facing the first side nozzle across an inner space of the inner tube.",
    "5. The cluster equipment according to claim 1, wherein each of the transfer chamber, the second loadlock chamber, and the process chamber are maintained in a vacuum state.",
    "6. The cluster equipment according to claim 5, further comprising a vacuum exhaust unit connected to each of the transfer chamber, the second loadlock chamber, and the process chamber.",
    "7. The cluster equipment according to claim 1, wherein the EFEM further comprises: an index chamber in which a carrying device disposed between the load ports and the first loadlock chamber to carry the substrate between the cassette disposed on the load port and the first loadlock chamber is disposed; and a dummy substrate storage module disposed on a side surface of the index chamber to store dummy substrates.",
    "8. The cluster equipment according to claim 1, further comprising a dummy substrate storage module in which dummy substrates are stored in the transfer chamber.",
    "9. The cluster equipment according to claim 7, wherein the index chamber is connected to the first loadlock chamber through a gate valve, the first loadlock chamber is connected to the transfer chamber through a gate valve, and the transfer chamber is connected to the second loadlock chamber through a valve to independently control a pressure within each of the chambers.",
    "10. The cluster equipment according to claim 7, further comprising a vacuum exhaust unit connected to each of the first loadlock chamber, the transfer chamber, and the second loadlock chamber; and an inert gas supply unit for supplying an inert gas into each of the chambers to generate a pressure difference between the first loadlock chamber, the transfer chamber, the second loadlock chamber, and the process chamber.",
    "11. The cluster equipment according to claim 7, further comprising a pressure differential generation member for preventing cross-contamination between the transfer chamber, the second loadlock chamber, and the process chamber from occurring.",
    "12. The cluster equipment according to claim 11, wherein the pressure differential generation member comprises an inert gas supply unit for supplying an inert gas into each of the transfer chamber, the second loadlock chamber, and the process chamber."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present invention relates to a selective epitaxial growth apparatus and cluster equipment for selectively growing an epitaxial film on a substrate.\n\nEpitaxial growth is a process for growing a thin film having the same crystalline structure as a semiconductor substrate on the semiconductor substrate.\n\nAlso, a process in which an insulation layer such as an oxide layer and a nitride layer is formed on a predetermined area of the semiconductor substrate to expose the predetermined area of the semiconductor substrate, and a homogeneous or heterogeneous semiconductor film having the same crystalline structure as the semiconductor substrate is grown on only the exposed semiconductor substrate is called selective epitaxial growth (SEG). If the selective epitaxial growth is used, a semiconductor device having a three-dimensional structure, which is difficult to be manufactured by using the existing flat panel technology, may be easily manufactured. In a process including the SEG, gas supply and gas distribution on the substrate may be very important.\n\nHowever, in the typical batch-type selective monocrystal growth device, since a reaction gas sprayed from a side nozzle flows onto upper and lower ends of an inner tube, where an exhaust passage is defined to cause a non-uniform reaction gas flow above the substrate, film uniformity after the film is formed may be deteriorated. Particularly, since a gap exists between the inside of the inner tube and an outer diameter of the substrate, most of the gas sprayed onto the substrate flows into the gap of a side surface of the substrate without sufficiently reacting on the substrate.",
  "cpc": [
    "C30B 25/14",
    "C23C 16/04",
    "C23C 16/45574",
    "C23C 16/45578",
    "C23C 16/54",
    "C30B 25/10",
    "C30B 29/06",
    "H01L 21/67201",
    "H01L 21/67207",
    "H01L 21/67757",
    "H10P 72/0466",
    "H10P 72/0468",
    "H10P 72/3312"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "C30B 25/10",
    "C30B 25/14",
    "H10P 14/24",
    "H10P 72/00",
    "H10P 72/30",
    "C23C 16/04",
    "C23C 16/455",
    "C23C 16/54"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Kook Je Electric Korea Co Ltd"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Yong Sung Park",
    "Sung Kwang Lee",
    "Dong Yeul Kim",
    "Ki Hoon Kim"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2013-03-26",
  "publication_date": "2018-06-26",
  "grant_date": "2018-06-26",
  "priority_date": "2012-03-28",
  "application_number": "US-201314388914-A",
  "family_id": "49260665",
  "cited_by_count": 10,
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}