A gas inlet system for a wafer processing reactor includes a tubular gas manifold conduit adapted to be connected to a gas inlet port of the wafer processing reactor; and gas feeds including a first feed for feeding a first gas into the tubular gas manifold conduit and a second feed for feeding a second gas into the tubular gas manifold conduit. Each feed has two or more injection ports connected to the tubular gas manifold conduit at a first axial position of the tubular gas manifold conduit, and the injection ports of each of the gas feeds are evenly distributed along a circumference of the tubular gas manifold conduit at the first axial position.

Gas Supply Manifold And Method Of Supplying Gases To Chamber Using Same

A gas distribution system, a reactor system including the gas distribution system, and method of using the gas distribution system and reactor system are disclosed. The gas distribution system can be used in gas-phase reactor systems to independently fine tune gas source locations and gas flow rates of reactants to a reaction chamber of the reactor systems.

Gas distribution system, reactor including the system, and methods of using the same

An improved exhaust system for a gas-phase reactor and a reactor and system including the exhaust system are disclosed. The exhaust system includes a channel fluidly coupled to an exhaust plenum. The improved exhaust system allows operation of a gas-phase reactor with desired flow characteristics while taking up relatively little space within a reaction chamber.

Gas-phase reactor and system having exhaust plenum and components thereof

A system and method for providing intermediate reactive species to a reaction chamber are disclosed. The system includes an intermediate reactive species formation chamber fluidly coupled to the reaction chamber to provide intermediate reactive species to the reaction chamber. A pressure control device can be used to control an operating pressure of the intermediate reactive species formation chamber, and a heater can be used to heat the intermediate reactive species formation chamber to a desired temperature.

Method and system for in situ formation of gas-phase compounds

Showerhead assemblies, gas distribution plates, and systems including the same are disclosed. Exemplary showerhead assemblies include a gas distribution plate. Exemplary gas distribution plates include apertures designed to direct a flow of gas and to reduce stagnation of gas on surfaces of the plates.

Showerhead assembly and components thereof

Enhancement of Material Quality of (Si)GeSn Films Grown by SnCl4 Precursor

The CdS:Cl thin films have been prepared using thermally evaporated, CdCl2-mixed CdS powder at 200°C substrate temperature. The percentage of CdCl2 in the mixture varied from 0% to 0.20%. The electrical properties and the grain size of the deposited films were investigated. The results show that light doping, resistivity, carrier concentration, and mobility follow Seto’s model for polycrystalline material. However, with heavy doping, these properties undergo a saturation trend. The saturation behavior can be understood in terms of the rapid formation of the A-center complexes in the films. The deposited films were annealed at 250°C and 300°C. The resistivity of pure and lightly doped CdS films increased with annealing temperature, whereas carrier concentration and mobility in these films decreased. However, for the higher doping concentrations, the resistivity decreased, whereas carrier concentration and mobility showed improvement. These changes in electrical properties of the deposited films with annealing and doping concentration are attributed to a reduction in the lattice defect sites in CdS upon annealing. The experimental results are interpreted in terms of a modified version of Seto’s model for polycrystalline materials.

Chlorine-doped CdS thin films from CdCl2-mixed CdS powder

Magnetron sputtered hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films have been characterized. Hydrogen (H2) with argon (Ar) was introduced into the sputtering chamber to create the plasma. A sudden increase in the deposition rate occurred when the hydrogen was added. The maximum hydrogen content of 16 atomic percent (at.%) was achieved and a bandgap of about 2.07 eV was determined from the spectral investigations of the hydrogenated films. The effect of radio frequency (RF) power on the deposition rate, as well as on the hydrogen content was investigated. To change the hydrogen content in the films, the hydrogen flow rate was varied while keeping the argon flow rate constant. The hydrogen content in the films increased with increasing hydrogen flow rate up to the maximum content of 16 at.% and then decreased for further increases in hydrogen flow.

Characterization of hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering

Alpha-phase aluminum oxide thin films were deposited at 480 °C by AC inverted cylindrical magnetron sputtering on nickel coated transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grids and stainless steel substrates. Several previous studies have demonstrated that an alpha phase was possible at low temperature if a chromium template layer was present. However, here we show that alpha phase is possible without the chromium oxide layer. The presence of alpha phase alumina has been confirmed by TEM. Cross-sectional TEM observations have indicated deposition rates as high as 270 nm/h. This intriguing result is attributed to the unique characteristics of the sputtering system which provides more energetic species at the substrate.

TEM investigation of alpha alumina films deposited at low temperature

The characteristics of a low pressure radio frequency (rf) magnetron argon plasma with varying hydrogen flow rate have been investigated using a Langmuir probe and optical emission spectroscopy. Plasma measurements have been taken for conditions involving a silicon target to complement a previous study on the growth process and the effect of varying hydrogen flow rate on the deposition rate and hydrogen content of amorphous silicon films. This previous study indicated a sudden increase in the deposition rate when hydrogen is introduced into the argon discharge, and was attributed to an assumed increase in ion density (not measured). However, our current Langmuir probe studies show that the ion density decreases with the addition of hydrogen. It is now proposed that the increased deposition rate is due to the presence of hydrogen, which facilitates the uptake of silicon. Langmuir results on the effect of rf power show that the ion density does increase with increasing power which is consistent with the prior work.

Husam H. Abu-Safe

Papers

Enhancement of Material Quality of (Si)GeSn Films Grown by SnCl4 Precursor

Chlorine-doped CdS thin films from CdCl2-mixed CdS powder

Characterization of hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering

TEM investigation of alpha alumina films deposited at low temperature

Langmuir probe and optical emission studies in a radio frequency (rf) magnetron plasma used for the deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon