Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (APCVD) Description:

Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (APCVD) is a chemical vapor deposition reactor that operates at atmospheric pressure with a simple design and high deposition rates. It is the first of chemical vapor deposition used in the semiconductor industry. APCVD requires 760 torr and greater than 400C to achieve the correct deposition process. APCVD generally operates in the mass-transport limited. A mass-transport limited process is only weakly dependent on temperature. This means that regardless of the temperature, there is insufficient reactant gas being supplied to the wafer surface to speed up the reaction. At any given time, there may not be sufficient gas molecules present at the wafer surface for a reaction to occur. Therefore, the reactor must be designed to have optimum reactant gas flow to every wafer in the system. The basic system design should never permit the reaction to slow down because of insufficient reactant gas is available. Since the reactor applies atmospheric pressure, the reactor design can be simple and allows for high deposition rates. There are two different types of continuous-processing APCVD system, the Gasinjection type and Plenum type. The Gas-injection type is an APCVD reactor wherein the supply of reactant gases is directly passed through the wafer. While Plenum type is the reactant gases

are injected from separate nozzles and allowed to mix over the hot wafer. These equipment designs use a belt or conveyor to carry the wafer samples through the reactor gases, which flow through the center of the reactor.

Advantages and Disadvantages of APCVD Advantages High equipment throughput Capability to process large-diameter wafer Good uniformity Simple reactor Fast deposition May achieve deposition in a low temperature Disadvantages Poor step coverage High gas consumption Need frequent reactor cleaning Must be cleaned in its natural position Contamination is a problem and maintaining stoichiometry can be hard Large number of pinhole defects can occur

Products: Silicon Dioxide The most common use of APCVD is in the deposition of silicon dioxide (SiO2) and doped oxides. These films have been used traditionally as an interlayer dielectric (ILD), as a protective overcoat, or to planarize (smoothen) a non uniform surface. SiO2 Deposition with Silane. SiO2 is deposited by oxidizing silane (SiH4) with oxygen. Pure silane is a highly pyrophoric, unstable gas that burns on exposure to air. For this reason, it is commonly supplied in a low dilution (typically 2 to 10% by volume) in argon or nitrogen in order to make it safer to handle. This reaction can be done at a low temperature of 450 to 500C, which is an advantage for depositing SiO2 on the aluminium metal lines as an ILD. SiO2 Deposition with TEOS-Ozone. Ozone- A common APCVD application is to deposit oxide by reacting TEOS, which is tetraethylorthosilicate (Si(C2 H5 O)4) or tetraethoxy silane, with Ozone (O3). TEOS is an organic liquid precursor. It usually uses a carrier gas, typically nitrogen, bubbled through it for delivery of the TEOS gas mixture to the reactor. TEOS was readily used in low pressure CVD systems at high temperature to decompose in the presence of oxygen and deposit high quality SiO2 films. However, at atmospheric pressure, the decomposition was very slow due to minimal presence of reactive oxygen. During the mid 1980s, various researchers (i.e., K. Maeda) proposed mixing TEOS with ozone in the presence of moderate temperatures. This resulted in growth of good oxide films at 400C with growth rates 0.1 m/min or more. The advantages provided by the TEOS/ozone based films are excellent step coverage and in-situ flow resulting from the surface mobility of the reactants prior to formation of SiO2. Because the decomposition of TEOS is induced by O3 without a plasma, the reaction takes place at atmospheric pressure (APCVD) of 760 torr. Reaction equation between TEOS & O3 to obtain an oxide is: Si(C2H5 O)4
TEOS

8O3
ozone

SiO2

10H2O
water

8CO2
carbon dioxide

silicon dioxide

An APCVD TEOS-O3 as-deposited SiO2 film is porous and often requires a reflow step to remove moisture as well as densify the film. This reflow adds a process step and reduces the thermal budget. Doping uniformity is also a concern, as this can lead to problems for non uniform removal rates during chemical mechanical planarization. (REFLOW- is a high

temperature process that rounds the corners of doped oxide insulating layer and slopes the sidewalls to improve step coverage) Application: Interlayer Dielectric (ILD)

It is the electrically insulating material between the layers of electrical conductors in an integrated circuit. Protective Overcoat

Thermal printheads incorporating Kyocera's new KC-50 Series protective overcoat have been shown to possess six times greater corrosion resistance than conventional products, resulting in increased longevity of the printing device with higher-quality print than ever before. Because the protective overcoat layer is approximately 15 percent thinner than conventional overcoats, the distance between the heat source and print media is shortened, which reduces heat requirements and increases energy efficiency. The improved heat transfer also increases print accuracy by one symbol grade*3, even at high print speeds, resulting in higher-quality print.

Reference: Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology by Michael Quirk http://www.google.com.ph/imgres?q=interlayer+dielectric&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1024&bi h=456&tbm=isch&tbnid=VrM7Pp_X_DYPbM:&imgrefurl=http://www.oxfordplasma.de /process/fa_etch.htm&docid=HEIz5DWVQlNZYM&imgurl=http://www.oxfordplasma.d e/images/scetch/fa_piq.gif&w=269&h=192&ei=HoXxUMzXMYqKkwX7lYGYDw&zo om=1&iact=rc&dur=1&sig=103325017785277020509&page=1&tbnh=141&tbnw=215 &start=0&ndsp=9&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:76&tx=109&ty=230 http://www.google.com.ph/imgres?q=protective+overcoat&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1024&bi h=456&tbm=isch&tbnid=_kTdvEQWJs1AIM:&imgrefurl=http://www.houseofjapan.co m/electronics/kyocera-kc-50-series-protectiveovercoat&docid=lfm3Ar17K5m1GM&imgurl=http://www.houseofjapan.com/images/20 11/10/KyoceraKC50SeriesProtectiveOvercoat.jpg&w=620&h=350&ei=i4XxUKvOCYb RkQWSrIBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=179&vpy=12&dur=597&hovh=158&hovw=284 &tx=139&ty=38&sig=103325017785277020509&page=1&tbnh=120&tbnw=233&start =0&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:79 http://www.semiconductor-scout.com/semiconductor-technology/deposition/drydeposition-procedure/chemical-vapor-deposition-cvd/atmospheric-pressure-cvdapcvd.html