K.L.

Choy / Progress in Materials Science 48 (2003) 57170

67

sources of precursors usually have dierent vaporisation rates and decomposition

temperatures which tend to give rise to non-stoichiometric lms. If the generation of
vapour reactants require the gas source to be heated above room temperature, the
gas lines require heating in order to prevent condensation.
5.2. CVD reactor
In general a CVD reactor consists of a reaction chamber equipped with a loadlock
for the transport and placement of the substrate into the chamber, a substrate
holder, and a heating system with temperature control. The main function of the
CVD reactor is used to heat the substrate to the deposition temperature. The CVD
reactor can be either a hot-wall or cold-wall. A hot-wall reactor uses a heated furnace into which the substrates are placed for indirect heating. A three-zone resistively heated furnace is commonly used to facilitate the control of the outer zones
and enable a uniform temperature prole to be maintained in the central deposition
zone. Though the hot wall reactor can provide very precise temperature control, the
interior of the hot wall reactor is also coated, resulting in maintenance problems and
lower deposition eciency. In addition, depletion of gaseous reactants also occurs
along the reactor. Therefore, the substrates have to be positioned 45 degree to the
gaseous reactants (Figs. 1 and 2).
In a cold wall reactor, however, only the substrate is heated, either inductively or
resistively, and the wall of the reactor is cold. Most of the CVD reactions are
endothermic. Therefore, the deposition reaction will occur on the heated substrate,
and negligible deposition on the wall of the reactor. Although these reactors are
more complex, they allow greater control over the deposition process, and minimise
the deposition onto the walls of the reactor and the depletion of the reactants.
However, the thermal convection which occurs in a cold wall reactor can create a
concentration gradient of the reactive species and result in non-uniform coatings.
This limitation can be overcome by performing the CVD cold wall deposition at a
reduced pressure. Factors which determine the heating method are the size and
geometry of the substrate, and whether it is conducting or non-conducting.
There are various reactor congurations. For examples, horizontal, vertical,
semi-pancake, barrel and multiple wafer as shown in Fig. 3.
5.3. The euent gas handling system
This component consists of a neutralizing part for the exhaust gases, and/or a
vacuum system to provide the required reduced pressure for the CVD process that
performs at low pressure or high vacuum during deposition. In general, low pressure
CVD requires a simpler vacuum system as compared to those required in the PVD
process. Low pressure CVD uses corrosion resistant rotary or vane pump. The main
function of the euent gas handling system is to remove the hazardous by-product
and the toxic unreacted precursor safely. The unreacted precursors and corrosive byproducts such as HCl are neutralised or trapped using a liquid nitrogen trap to
prevent these gases from entering the rotary or diusion pump which can cause