Advantages of a slim vertical gas channel at high SiHCl3 concentrations for atmospheric pressure silicon epitaxial growth

Abstract

Effective process conditions to utilize a slim vertical silicon chemical vapour deposition reactor were studied. Based on a numerical analysis taking into account the gas flow, heat and species transport, particularly over a wide range of the trichlorosilane gas concentrations from 1% to 40 % in ambient hydrogen, a heavy and cold gas was shown to quickly go downward to the hot wafer surface through the slim vertical gas channel. The gas phase near the wafer was sufficiently cooled to produce a cold wall thermal condition which enabled the trichlorosilane gas consumption only at the wafer surface, even in a non-axisymmetric and non-steady condition. The slow wafer rotation, less than 30 rpm, had a considerable effect, such as that increasing the gas phase temperature gradient for suppressing the gas phase reaction.

Quartz crystal microbalance for real-time monitoring chlorosilane gas transport in slim vertical cold wall chemical vapor deposition reactor

“…The dichlorosilane gas behaviour was observed in this study. The measurement and calculation of the trichlorosilane gas transport behaviour obtained in previous studies [18,19] were further evaluated and compared with that of dichlorosilane gas.…”

“…The average molecular weight of the gas mixture, MWave (-), is considered to significantly affect the natural convection in the vertical gas channel [20]. Thus, the gas movements at various average molecular weights were studied, accounting for the calculations of the gas flow at the wafer temperature of 1000 o C in the trichlorosilane-hydrogen system [19]. For the gas mixture containing 20% trichlorosilane gas in the ambient hydrogen, the MWave value was 28.7.…”

Analysis of Influencing Factors on Silicon Epitaxial Growth in Horizontal Single‐Wafer Reactor through Orthogonal Test

“…Various types of silicon CVD reactors have been developed to investigate the epitaxial growth process of silicon. These include horizontal single-wafer reactors, [6][7][8] multi-wafer planetary reactors, [9][10][11] vertical rotary reactors, [12][13][14] and bell jar reactors. [15][16][17][18][19] Habuka et al [20][21][22][23][24] conducted numerical simulations and experimental studies to analyze the growth rate of Si epitaxial films in a horizontal singlewafer reactor operated under atmospheric pressure and temperatures ranging from 1073 to 1398 K. They developed the reaction mechanism to explain the component transport and surface chemical reaction simultaneously.…”

“…Various types of silicon CVD reactors have been developed to investigate the epitaxial growth process of silicon. These include horizontal single‐wafer reactors, [ 6–8 ] multi‐wafer planetary reactors, [ 9–11 ] vertical rotary reactors, [ 12–14 ] and bell jar reactors. [ 15–19 ] Habuka et al.…”