Abstract: A shutter liner for use in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system includes an upper portion that has a cylindrical shape and a lower portion that has an outwardly flared shape. The outwardly flared shape reduces deposition within the reaction chamber by providing an outwardly angled wall surface that occupies a horizontal gap between inner and outer liners that are contained within the reaction chamber.

Abstract: A wafer carrier includes a base including a generally planar bottom surface and a top surface that includes a plurality of platforms extending above the top surface. The wafer carrier includes a thermal cover defining a plurality of pockets. The thermal cover is configured to be coupled to the base by at least one fastener and the plurality of pockets are arranged such that each pocket of the plurality of pockets is aligned with a corresponding platform of the plurality of the platforms when the thermal cover is supported by a plurality of first pedestals that extend from the top surface of the base. A plurality of second pedestals are located along the plurality of platforms for supporting the one or more wafers, wherein each platform includes at least one second pedestal that extends from a top surface of the platform for supporting one wafer.

Abstract: A wafer carrier has a plurality of built-up pockets connected by raised interstitial spaces on a base. Top cover plates are affixed to the base by fasteners and separated from direct thermal contact b302y spacers.

Abstract: An arrangement of two shutters radially outward from an injector block and a susceptor onto which a wafer carrier is removably mounted are configured to provide a flowpath through a reactor chamber that does not exhibit a vortex, thereby reducing or eliminating buildup on the inside of the reactor chamber and facilitating large temperature gradient between the injector block and the wafer carrier. This can be accomplished by introduction of a purge gas flow at a radially inner wall of an upper shutter, and in some embodiments the purge gas can have a different chemical composition than the precursor gas used to grow desired epitaxial structures on the wafer carrier.

Abstract: A wafer carrier has a plurality of built-up pockets connected by raised interstitial spaces on a base. Top cover plates are affixed to the base by fasteners and separated from direct thermal contact by spacers.

Abstract: The invention relates generally to semiconductor fabrication technology and, more particularly, to chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processing and associated apparatus for addressing temperature non-uniformities on semiconductor wafer surfaces. Embodiments include a wafer carrier for use in a system for growing epitaxial layers on one or more wafers by CVD, the wafer carrier comprising a top plate and base plate which function coordinately to reduce temperature variability caused during CVD processing.

Abstract: The invention relates generally to semiconductor fabrication technology and, more particularly, to chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processing and associated apparatus for addressing temperature non-uniformities on semiconductor wafer surfaces. Embodiments include a wafer carrier for use in a system for growing epitaxial layers on one or more wafers by CVD, the wafer carrier comprising a top plate and base plate which function coordinately to reduce temperature variability caused during CVD processing.

Abstract: Mass-transfer rate control arrangement and method in which a process precursor mixture is produced containing carrier gas and a process precursor gas. A quantity of the process precursor present in the process precursor mixture is acoustically sensed to produce a sensor output. A dilution gas is provided and the process precursor mixture and the dilution gas are separately conveyed to a dilution point, at which a diluted mixture of the dilution gas and the process precursor mixture is achieved. A relative flow rate of the carrier gas and the dilution gas is automatically controlled in response to the sensor output such that the diluted mixture at the dilution point has a prescribed mass transfer rate of the precursor gas.

Abstract: An arrangement of two shutters radially outward from an injector block and a susceptor onto which a wafer carrier is removably mounted are configured to provide a flowpath through a reactor chamber that does not exhibit a vortex, thereby reducing or eliminating buildup on the inside of the reactor chamber and facilitating large temperature gradient between the injector block and the wafer carrier. This can be accomplished by introduction of a purge gas flow at a radially inner wall of an upper shutter, and in some embodiments the purge gas can have a different chemical composition than the precursor gas used to grow desired epitaxial structures on the wafer carrier.

Abstract: Embodiments include systems and methods for producing semiconductor wafers having reduced quantities of point defects. These systems and methods include a tunable ultraviolet (UV) light source, which is controlled to produce a raster of a UV light beam across a surface of a semiconductor wafer during epitaxial growth to dissociate point defects in the semiconductor wafer. In various embodiments, the tunable UV light source is configured external to a Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) chamber and controlled such that the UV light beam is directed though a window defined in a wall of the MOCVD chamber.

Abstract: A wafer carrier assembly for use in a system for growing epitaxial layers on one or more wafers by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), the wafer carrier assembly includes a wafer carrier body formed symmetrically about a central axis, and including a generally planar top surface that is situated perpendicularly to the central axis and a planar bottom surface that is parallel to the top surface. At least one wafer retention pocket is recessed in the wafer carrier body from the top surface. Each of the at least one wafer retention pocket includes a floor surface and a peripheral wall surface that surrounds the floor surface and defines a periphery of that wafer retention pocket. At least one thermal control feature includes an interior cavity or void formed in the wafer carrier body and is defined by interior surfaces of the wafer carrier body.

Abstract: Embodiments include systems and methods for producing semiconductor wafers having reduced quantities of point defects. These systems and methods include a tunable ultraviolet (UV) light source, which is controlled to produce a raster of a UV light beam across a surface of a semiconductor wafer during epitaxial growth to dissociate point defects in the semiconductor wafer. In various embodiments, the tunable UV light source is configured external to a Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) chamber and controlled such that the UV light beam is directed though a window defined in a wall of the MOCVD chamber.

Abstract: Mass-transfer rate control arrangement and method in which a process precursor mixture is produced containing carrier gas and a process precursor gas. A quantity of the process precursor present in the process precursor mixture is acoustically sensed to produce a sensor output. A dilution gas is provided and the process precursor mixture and the dilution gas are separately conveyed to a diution point, at which a diluted mixture of the dilution gas and the process precursor mixture is achieved. A relative flow rate of the carrier gas and the dilution gas is automatically controlled in response to the sensor output such that the diluted mixture at the dilution point has a prescribed mass transfer rate of the precursor gas.

Abstract: The invention relates generally to semiconductor fabrication technology and, more particularly, to chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processing and associated apparatus for addressing temperature non-uniformities on semiconductor wafer surfaces. Embodiments include a wafer carrier for use in a system for growing epitaxial layers on one or more wafers by CVD, the wafer carrier comprising a top plate and base plate which function coordinately to reduce temperature variability caused during CVD processing.

Abstract: A wafer carrier assembly for use in a system for growing epitaxial layers on one or more wafers by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), the wafer carrier assembly includes a wafer carrier body formed symmetrically about a central axis, and including a generally planar top surface that is situated perpendicularly to the central axis and a planar bottom surface that is parallel to the top surface. At least one wafer retention pocket is recessed in the wafer carrier body from the top surface. Each of the at least one wafer retention pocket includes a floor surface and a peripheral wall surface that surrounds the floor surface and defines a periphery of that wafer retention pocket. At least one thermal control feature includes an interior cavity or void formed in the wafer carrier body and is defined by interior surfaces of the wafer carrier body.

Abstract: A continuous feed CVD system includes a wafer transport mechanism that transport a wafer through a deposition chamber during CVD processing. The deposition chamber defines a passage for the wafer to pass through while being transported by the wafer transport mechanism. The deposition chamber includes a plurality of process chambers that are isolated by barriers which maintain separate process chemistry in each of the plurality of process chambers. Each of the plurality of process chambers includes a gas input port and a gas exhaust port, and a plurality of CVD gas sources. At least two of the plurality of CVD gas sources are coupled to the gas input port of each of the plurality of process chambers.

Abstract: A vapor phase epitaxy system includes a platen that supports substrates for vapor phase epitaxy and a gas injector. The gas injector injects a first precursor gas into a first region and injects a second precursor gas into a second region. At least one electrode is positioned in the first region so that first precursor gas molecules flow proximate to the electrode. The at least one electrode is positioned to be substantially isolated from a flow of the second precursor gas. A power supply is electrically connected to the at least one electrode. The power supply generates a current that heats the at least one electrode so as to thermally activate at least some of the first precursor gas molecules flowing proximate to the at least one electrode.

Abstract: A system and method for evenly heating a substrate placed in a wafer carrier used in wafer treatment systems such as chemical vapor deposition reactors, wherein a first pattern of wafer compartments is provided on the top of the wafer carrier, such as one or more rings of wafer carriers, and a second pattern of inlaid material dissimilar to the wafer carrier material is inlaid on the bottom of the wafer carrier, and the second pattern of inlaid material is substantially the opposite of the first pattern of wafer compartments, such that there are at least as many material interfaces in intermediate regions without wafer compartments as there are in wafer carrying regions with wafers and wafer compartments.

Abstract: In a rotating disk reactor for growing epitaxial layers on substrate or other CVD reactor system, gas directed toward the substrates at gas inlets at different radial distances from the axis of rotation of the disk has both substantially the same gas flow rate/velocity and substantially the same gas density at each inlet. The gas directed toward portions of the disk remote from the axis may include a higher concentration of a reactant gas than the gas directed toward portions of the disk close to the axis, so that portions of the substrate surfaces at different distances from the axis receive substantially the same amount of reactant gas per unit area, and a combination of carrier gases with different relative molecular weights at different radial distances from the axis of rotation are employed to substantially make equal the gas density in each region of the reactor.

Abstract: In a rotating disk reactor (1) for growing epitaxial layers on substrate (3), gas directed toward the substrates at different radial distances from the axis of rotation of the disk has substantially the same velocity. The gas directed toward portions of the disk remote from the axis (10a) may include a higher concentration of a reactant gas (4) than the gas directed toward portions of the disk close to the axis (10d), so that portions of the substrate surfaces at different distances from the axis (14) receive substantially the same amount of reactant gas (4) per unit area. A desirable flow pattern is achieved within the reactor while permitting uniform deposition and growth of epitaxial layers on the substrate.