Patent · US11091397B2 · B2 · US

Low temperature method for hermetically joining non-diffusing ceramic materials in multi-layer plate devices

(11) Publication number

US11091397B2

(21) Application number

16/406,543

(22) Filing date

2019-05-08

(30) Priority date

2011-11-30

(43) Publication date

2021-08-17

(45) Date of grant

2021-08-17

(51) IPC

B23K 1/00; B23K 1/008; B23K 1/19; B23K 1/20; B23K 3/08; B23K 35/00; B23K 35/28; B23K 35/38; B32B 15/20; B32B 37/06; B32B 37/10; B32B 9/00; B32B 9/04; C04B 35/645; C04B 37/00; F16B 11/00; F16B 9/00; H01L 21/67; H01L 21/683; H01L 21/687

(52) CPC

C04B Lime, magnesia; slag; cements; compositions thereof, e.g. mortars, concrete or like building materials; artificial stone {}; ceramics; refractories; treatment of natural stone: 37/006, 2235/6562, 2235/6565, 2235/6567, 2235/6581, 2235/6582, 2235/945, 2237/121, 2237/122, 2237/126, 2237/127, 2237/34, 2237/343, 2237/348, 2237/36, 2237/365, 2237/366, 2237/368, 2237/592, 2237/60, 2237/61, 2237/64, 2237/66, 2237/68, 2237/704, 2237/708, 2237/72, 2237/76, 2237/765, 2237/80, 2237/84, 35/645, 37/001
B23K Soldering or unsoldering; welding; cladding or plating by soldering or welding; cutting by applying heat locally, e.g. flame cutting; working by laser beam: 1/0016, 1/008, 1/19, 1/20, 3/087, 35/005, 35/286, 35/38
B32B Layered products, i.e. products built-up of strata of flat or non-flat, e.g. cellular or honeycomb, form: 15/20, 37/06, 37/10, 9/005, 9/04, 9/041
F16B Devices for fastening or securing constructional elements or machine parts together, e.g. nails, bolts, circlips, clamps, clips or wedges; joints or jointing: 11/006, 9/00, 9/01
H01L Electric elements: 21/67103, 21/6833, 21/68757, 21/68785, 21/68792
H10P Generic processes or apparatus for the manufacture or treatment of devices covered by class H10: 72/0432, 72/722, 72/7616, 72/7624, 72/7626
Y10T Technical subjects covered by former us classification: 403/46, 428/31504, 428/31678

(73) Assignee

WATLOW ELECTRIC MFG

(72) Inventors

ELLIOT ALFRED GRANT; ELLIOT BRENT DONALD ALFRED; BALMA FRANK; SCHUSTER RICHARD ERICH; REX DENNIS GEORGE; VEYTSER ALEXANDER

(54) Title

Low temperature method for hermetically joining non-diffusing ceramic materials in multi-layer plate devices

(57) Abstract

A method for the joining of ceramic pieces with a hermetically sealed joint comprising brazing a layer of joining material between the two pieces. The wetting and flow of the joining material is controlled by the selection of the joining material, the joining temperature, the joining atmosphere, and other factors. The ceramic pieces may be on a non-diffusable type, such as aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and the pieces may be brazed with an aluminum alloy under controlled atmosphere. The joint material is adapted to later withstand both the environments within a process chamber during substrate processing, and the oxygenated atmosphere which may be seen within the shaft of a heater or electrostatic chuck.

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Claims (20)

A method for the manufacture of a ceramic multi-layer plate device used as a plate in an electrostatic chuck, or in a heater, or other wafer support, used in semiconductor wafer processing, said method comprising the steps of: depositing aluminum onto one or both of a joining interface surface of an upper plate layer and a joining interface surface of a lower plate layer, wherein said joining interface surfaces of said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer are annular rings around an outer area of said upper plate layer and said lower plate area; arranging said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer into a stack to form a joining pre-assembly, wherein said aluminum is disposed between said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer, thereby defining an inner space between said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer within the interior of the deposited aluminum, wherein said upper plate layer comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and said lower plate layer comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and wherein said aluminum comprises 99% by weight or greater aluminum; placing the components of said joining pre-assembly into a process chamber; removing oxygen from said process chamber; heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly to a first joining temperature of between 770 C and 1200 C, thereby joining said upper plate layer to said lower plate layer with a hermetically sealed aluminum joint which hermetically seals said inner space from an area outside of said brazing layer across said joint, and wherein said aluminum has not diffused into said upper plate layer or said lower plate layer, and wherein the thickness of said final joint is greater than zero.
The method of claim 1 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises applying a pressure of lower than 1×10E-4 Torr to said process chamber.
The method of claim 1 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises applying a pressure of lower than 1×10E-5 Torr to said process chamber.
The method of claim 1 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises purging and re-filling the chamber with pure, dehydrated inert gas.
The method of claim 1 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises purging and re-filling the chamber with purified hydrogen.
The method of claim 1 wherein said step of heating said joining pre-assembly to a first joining temperature comprises heating said joining pre-assembly for a duration of between 10 minutes and 2 hours.
The method of claim 1 wherein said step of heating said joining pre-assembly to a first joining temperature comprises heating said joining pre-assembly for a duration of between 30 minutes and 1 hour.
A method for the manufacture of a ceramic multi-layer plate device used as a plate in an electrostatic chuck, or in a heater, or other wafer support, used in semiconductor wafer processing, said method comprising the steps of: depositing aluminum onto one or both of a joining interface surface of an upper plate layer and a joining interface surface of a lower plate layer, wherein said joining interface surfaces of said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer are annular discs around an outer area of said upper plate layer and said lower plate area; arranging said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer into a stack to form a joining pre-assembly, wherein said aluminum is disposed between said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer, thereby defining an inner space between said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer within the interior of the deposited aluminum, wherein said upper plate layer comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and said lower plate layer comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and wherein said aluminum comprises 99% by weight or greater aluminum; placing the components of said joining pre-assembly into a process chamber; removing oxygen from said process chamber; heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly to a joining temperature, thereby joining said upper plate layer to said lower plate layer with a hermetically sealed aluminum joint which hermetically seals said inner space from an area outside of said brazing layer across said joint, and wherein said aluminum has not diffused into said upper plate layer or said lower plate layer, and wherein the thickness of said final joint is greater than zero.
The method of claim 8 wherein the heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly comprises heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly to a joining temperature of between 770 C and 1300 C.
The method of claim 8 wherein the heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly comprises heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly to a joining temperature of between 1000 C and 1150 C.
The method of claim 8 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises applying a pressure of lower than 1×10E-4 Torr to said process chamber.
The method of claim 8 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises purging and re-filling the chamber with pure, dehydrated inert gas.
The method of claim 8 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises purging and re-filling the chamber with purified hydrogen.
The method of claim 8 wherein said step of heating said joining pre-assembly to a joining temperature comprises heating said joining pre-assembly for a duration of between 10 minutes and 2 hours.
A method for the manufacture of a ceramic multi-layer plate device used as a plate in an electrostatic chuck, or in a heater, or other wafer support, used in semiconductor wafer processing, said method comprising the steps of: depositing aluminum onto one or both of a joining interface surface of an upper plate layer and a joining interface surface of a lower plate layer, wherein said joining interface surfaces of said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer are annular rings comprising mesas around an outer area of said upper plate layer and said lower plate area; arranging said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer into a stack to form a joining pre-assembly, wherein said aluminum is disposed between said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer, thereby defining an inner space between said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer within the interior of the deposited aluminum, wherein said upper plate layer comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and said lower plate layer comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and wherein said aluminum comprises 99% by weight or greater aluminum; placing the components of said joining pre-assembly into a process chamber; removing oxygen from said process chamber; heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly to a joining temperature, thereby joining said upper plate layer to said lower plate layer with a hermetically sealed aluminum joint which hermetically seals said inner space from an area outside of said brazing layer across said joint, and wherein said aluminum has not diffused into said upper plate layer or said lower plate layer, and wherein the thickness of said final joint is greater than zero.
The method of claim 15 wherein the heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly comprises heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly to a joining temperature of between 770 C and 1300 C.
The method of claim 15 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises applying a pressure of lower than 1×10E-4 Torr to said process chamber.
The method of claim 15 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises purging and re-filling the chamber with pure, dehydrated inert gas.
The method of claim 15 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises purging and re-filling the chamber with purified hydrogen.
The method of claim 15 wherein said step of heating said joining pre-assembly to a first joining temperature comprises heating said joining pre-assembly for a duration of between 10 minutes and 2 hours.

Description

Field of the Invention The present invention relates to methods for joining together objects, and more particularly to brazing methods for joining non-diffusing ceramic objects. Description of Related Art The joining of ceramic materials may involve processes which require very high temperatures and very high contact pressures. For example, liquid phase sintering may be used to join ceramic materials together. In this type of manufacture, at least two drawbacks are seen. First, the hot pressing/sintering of a large, complex ceramic piece requires a large physical space within a very specialized process oven. Second, should a portion of the finished piece become damaged, or fail due to wear, there is no repair method available to disassemble the large piece. The specialized fixturing, high temperatures, and inability to disassemble these assemblies invariably leads to very high manufacturing costs. Other processes may be geared towards strength, and may yield strong bonds between the pieces that, although structurally sufficient, do not hermetically seal the pieces. In some processes, diffusion bonding is used, which may take significant amounts of time, and may also alter the individual pieces such that they form new compounds near the joint. This may render them unfit for certain applications, and unable to be reworked or repaired and rejoined.

Certain ceramics may allow for the joining of the ceramic pieces with hermetic joints at low temperatures. Ceramic materials may be categorized by their diffusability.

Citations (29)

DE102009060938A1
JP2001342079A
JP2005247662A
JP2006225260A
JP2007043042A
JP2008153194A
JP2009141204A
JP5951791B2
JP6383382B2
JPH0247236A
JPH0288482A
JPH06115009A
JPS5951791B2
US2008305356A1
US2011288648A1
US2012037602A1
US3628234A
US4291815A
US4291815B1
US4356047A
US4372037A
US4640436A
US4746583A
US5211324A
US6070321A
US6320181B1
US6586831B2
US6608283B2
WO2008048999A2

Record as JSON

{
  "publication_number": "US11091397B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Low temperature method for hermetically joining non-diffusing ceramic materials in multi-layer plate devices",
  "abstract": "A method for the joining of ceramic pieces with a hermetically sealed joint comprising brazing a layer of joining material between the two pieces. The wetting and flow of the joining material is controlled by the selection of the joining material, the joining temperature, the joining atmosphere, and other factors. The ceramic pieces may be on a non-diffusable type, such as aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and the pieces may be brazed with an aluminum alloy under controlled atmosphere. The joint material is adapted to later withstand both the environments within a process chamber during substrate processing, and the oxygenated atmosphere which may be seen within the shaft of a heater or electrostatic chuck.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A method for the manufacture of a ceramic multi-layer plate device used as a plate in an electrostatic chuck, or in a heater, or other wafer support, used in semiconductor wafer processing, said method comprising the steps of: depositing aluminum onto one or both of a joining interface surface of an upper plate layer and a joining interface surface of a lower plate layer, wherein said joining interface surfaces of said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer are annular rings around an outer area of said upper plate layer and said lower plate area; arranging said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer into a stack to form a joining pre-assembly, wherein said aluminum is disposed between said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer, thereby defining an inner space between said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer within the interior of the deposited aluminum, wherein said upper plate layer comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and said lower plate layer comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and wherein said aluminum comprises 99% by weight or greater aluminum; placing the components of said joining pre-assembly into a process chamber; removing oxygen from said process chamber; heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly to a first joining temperature of between 770 C and 1200 C, thereby joining said upper plate layer to said lower plate layer with a hermetically sealed aluminum joint which hermetically seals said inner space from an area outside of said brazing layer across said joint, and wherein said aluminum has not diffused into said upper plate layer or said lower plate layer, and wherein the thickness of said final joint is greater than zero.",
    "2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises applying a pressure of lower than 1×10E-4 Torr to said process chamber.",
    "3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises applying a pressure of lower than 1×10E-5 Torr to said process chamber.",
    "4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises purging and re-filling the chamber with pure, dehydrated inert gas.",
    "5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises purging and re-filling the chamber with purified hydrogen.",
    "6. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of heating said joining pre-assembly to a first joining temperature comprises heating said joining pre-assembly for a duration of between 10 minutes and 2 hours.",
    "7. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of heating said joining pre-assembly to a first joining temperature comprises heating said joining pre-assembly for a duration of between 30 minutes and 1 hour.",
    "8. A method for the manufacture of a ceramic multi-layer plate device used as a plate in an electrostatic chuck, or in a heater, or other wafer support, used in semiconductor wafer processing, said method comprising the steps of: depositing aluminum onto one or both of a joining interface surface of an upper plate layer and a joining interface surface of a lower plate layer, wherein said joining interface surfaces of said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer are annular discs around an outer area of said upper plate layer and said lower plate area; arranging said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer into a stack to form a joining pre-assembly, wherein said aluminum is disposed between said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer, thereby defining an inner space between said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer within the interior of the deposited aluminum, wherein said upper plate layer comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and said lower plate layer comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and wherein said aluminum comprises 99% by weight or greater aluminum; placing the components of said joining pre-assembly into a process chamber; removing oxygen from said process chamber; heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly to a joining temperature, thereby joining said upper plate layer to said lower plate layer with a hermetically sealed aluminum joint which hermetically seals said inner space from an area outside of said brazing layer across said joint, and wherein said aluminum has not diffused into said upper plate layer or said lower plate layer, and wherein the thickness of said final joint is greater than zero.",
    "9. The method of claim 8 wherein the heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly comprises heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly to a joining temperature of between 770 C and 1300 C.",
    "10. The method of claim 8 wherein the heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly comprises heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly to a joining temperature of between 1000 C and 1150 C.",
    "11. The method of claim 8 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises applying a pressure of lower than 1×10E-4 Torr to said process chamber.",
    "12. The method of claim 8 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises purging and re-filling the chamber with pure, dehydrated inert gas.",
    "13. The method of claim 8 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises purging and re-filling the chamber with purified hydrogen.",
    "14. The method of claim 8 wherein said step of heating said joining pre-assembly to a joining temperature comprises heating said joining pre-assembly for a duration of between 10 minutes and 2 hours.",
    "15. A method for the manufacture of a ceramic multi-layer plate device used as a plate in an electrostatic chuck, or in a heater, or other wafer support, used in semiconductor wafer processing, said method comprising the steps of: depositing aluminum onto one or both of a joining interface surface of an upper plate layer and a joining interface surface of a lower plate layer, wherein said joining interface surfaces of said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer are annular rings comprising mesas around an outer area of said upper plate layer and said lower plate area; arranging said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer into a stack to form a joining pre-assembly, wherein said aluminum is disposed between said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer, thereby defining an inner space between said upper plate layer and said lower plate layer within the interior of the deposited aluminum, wherein said upper plate layer comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and said lower plate layer comprises a ceramic from the group of aluminum nitride, alumina, beryllium oxide, and zirconia, and wherein said aluminum comprises 99% by weight or greater aluminum; placing the components of said joining pre-assembly into a process chamber; removing oxygen from said process chamber; heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly to a joining temperature, thereby joining said upper plate layer to said lower plate layer with a hermetically sealed aluminum joint which hermetically seals said inner space from an area outside of said brazing layer across said joint, and wherein said aluminum has not diffused into said upper plate layer or said lower plate layer, and wherein the thickness of said final joint is greater than zero.",
    "16. The method of claim 15 wherein the heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly comprises heating at least said aluminum brazing element of said joining pre-assembly to a joining temperature of between 770 C and 1300 C.",
    "17. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises applying a pressure of lower than 1×10E-4 Torr to said process chamber.",
    "18. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises purging and re-filling the chamber with pure, dehydrated inert gas.",
    "19. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of removing oxygen from said process chamber comprises purging and re-filling the chamber with purified hydrogen.",
    "20. The method of claim 15 wherein said step of heating said joining pre-assembly to a first joining temperature comprises heating said joining pre-assembly for a duration of between 10 minutes and 2 hours."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "Field of the Invention The present invention relates to methods for joining together objects, and more particularly to brazing methods for joining non-diffusing ceramic objects. Description of Related Art The joining of ceramic materials may involve processes which require very high temperatures and very high contact pressures. For example, liquid phase sintering may be used to join ceramic materials together. In this type of manufacture, at least two drawbacks are seen. First, the hot pressing/sintering of a large, complex ceramic piece requires a large physical space within a very specialized process oven. Second, should a portion of the finished piece become damaged, or fail due to wear, there is no repair method available to disassemble the large piece. The specialized fixturing, high temperatures, and inability to disassemble these assemblies invariably leads to very high manufacturing costs. Other processes may be geared towards strength, and may yield strong bonds between the pieces that, although structurally sufficient, do not hermetically seal the pieces. In some processes, diffusion bonding is used, which may take significant amounts of time, and may also alter the individual pieces such that they form new compounds near the joint. This may render them unfit for certain applications, and unable to be reworked or repaired and rejoined.\n\nCertain ceramics may allow for the joining of the ceramic pieces with hermetic joints at low temperatures. Ceramic materials may be categorized by their diffusability.",
  "cpc": [
    "C04B 37/006",
    "B23K 1/0016",
    "B23K 1/008",
    "B23K 1/19",
    "B23K 1/20",
    "B23K 3/087",
    "B23K 35/005",
    "B23K 35/286",
    "B23K 35/38",
    "B32B 15/20",
    "B32B 37/06",
    "B32B 37/10",
    "B32B 9/005",
    "B32B 9/04",
    "B32B 9/041",
    "C04B 2235/6562",
    "C04B 2235/6565",
    "C04B 2235/6567",
    "C04B 2235/6581",
    "C04B 2235/6582",
    "C04B 2235/945",
    "C04B 2237/121",
    "C04B 2237/122",
    "C04B 2237/126",
    "C04B 2237/127",
    "C04B 2237/34",
    "C04B 2237/343",
    "C04B 2237/348",
    "C04B 2237/36",
    "C04B 2237/365",
    "C04B 2237/366",
    "C04B 2237/368",
    "C04B 2237/592",
    "C04B 2237/60",
    "C04B 2237/61",
    "C04B 2237/64",
    "C04B 2237/66",
    "C04B 2237/68",
    "C04B 2237/704",
    "C04B 2237/708",
    "C04B 2237/72",
    "C04B 2237/76",
    "C04B 2237/765",
    "C04B 2237/80",
    "C04B 2237/84",
    "C04B 35/645",
    "C04B 37/001",
    "F16B 11/006",
    "F16B 9/00",
    "F16B 9/01",
    "H01L 21/67103",
    "H01L 21/6833",
    "H01L 21/68757",
    "H01L 21/68785",
    "H01L 21/68792",
    "H10P 72/0432",
    "H10P 72/722",
    "H10P 72/7616",
    "H10P 72/7624",
    "H10P 72/7626",
    "Y10T 403/46",
    "Y10T 428/31504",
    "Y10T 428/31678"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B23K 1/00",
    "B23K 1/008",
    "B23K 1/19",
    "B23K 1/20",
    "B23K 3/08",
    "B23K 35/00",
    "B23K 35/28",
    "B23K 35/38",
    "B32B 15/20",
    "B32B 37/06",
    "B32B 37/10",
    "B32B 9/00",
    "B32B 9/04",
    "C04B 35/645",
    "C04B 37/00",
    "F16B 11/00",
    "F16B 9/00",
    "H01L 21/67",
    "H01L 21/683",
    "H01L 21/687"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "WATLOW ELECTRIC MFG"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "ELLIOT ALFRED GRANT",
    "ELLIOT BRENT DONALD ALFRED",
    "BALMA FRANK",
    "SCHUSTER RICHARD ERICH",
    "REX DENNIS GEORGE",
    "VEYTSER ALEXANDER"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2019-05-08",
  "publication_date": "2021-08-17",
  "grant_date": "2021-08-17",
  "priority_date": "2011-11-30",
  "application_number": "US-201916406543-A",
  "family_id": "52825292",
  "citations": [
    "DE102009060938A1",
    "JP2001342079A",
    "JP2005247662A",
    "JP2006225260A",
    "JP2007043042A",
    "JP2008153194A",
    "JP2009141204A",
    "JP5951791B2",
    "JP6383382B2",
    "JPH0247236A",
    "JPH0288482A",
    "JPH06115009A",
    "JPS5951791B2",
    "US2008305356A1",
    "US2011288648A1",
    "US2012037602A1",
    "US3628234A",
    "US4291815A",
    "US4291815B1",
    "US4356047A",
    "US4372037A",
    "US4640436A",
    "US4746583A",
    "US5211324A",
    "US6070321A",
    "US6320181B1",
    "US6586831B2",
    "US6608283B2",
    "WO2008048999A2"
  ]
}

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