Abstract: An apparatus for use in a process for the deposition of thin films onto silicon wafers in the fabrication of semiconductors. The wafers are located in a mutually parallel spaced-apart arrangement in a wafer supporting means which is located within a long quartz tube. The quartz tube is surrounded by a heating element and is evacuated at one end by a vacuum pump. The wafer supporting means is a generally cylindrically shaped container with a plurality of longitudinally extending rods spaced about its outer surface to permit reactant gas to flow inside the container and past the wafers. A pair of conduits extending through the front and back of the quartz tube are located near the bottom of the quartz tube and below the wafer supporting means. The conduits, which have slots or orifices for the exit of gas below the wafers, are connected to reactant gas supply tanks, gas flow controllers, and valves. The valves direct the gas into both ends of the conduits simultaneously.

Abstract: A process for depositing films of uniform thickness on silicon wafers at a uniform deposition rate among all wafers processed at the same time. The wafers are vertically oriented and arranged in a spaced-apart mutually parallel fashion and are supported within a horizontally-oriented long quartz tube which is evacuated at one end by a vacuum pump. A heating element surrounding the tube heats the wafers supported within it. At least one type of reactant gas is introduced into the enclosure in a generally confined region below the wafers and between the wafer arrangement and a wall of the enclosure. The gas, which is directed upwards between adjacent wafers and dispersed across the entire surface of the wafers, chemically reacts to deposit a uniform film on the wafers. Unreacted and exhaust gases are evacuated from the enclosure by the vacuum pump in a horizontal direction of flow above the wafer arrangement.