Systems and methods are provided herein to improve the efficiency of an atomic layer deposition (ALD) cycle by providing an improved purge block design. The improved purge block prevents gas mixing, regardless of the rotational speed of the platen, by providing a lower cavity on an underside of the purge block, and in some embodiments, by providing an upper cavity on a topside of the purge block. The lower/upper cavity provides a gas conduction path that distributes purge gas evenly beneath/above the purge block and provides uniform gas flow conductance within the lower/upper cavity. Compared to conventional purge block designs, the improved purge block design described herein provides a narrower, yet more effective isolation barrier, which prevents gas mixing even at high rotational speeds of the platen.

A film forming apparatus for forming a film on a substrate includes a chamber, a substrate support, a gas supply unit, a gas injection member, and a filter. The substrate support is disposed in the chamber to support a substrate placed thereon and maintain the substrate at a film forming temperature. The gas supply unit is configured to supply a gas containing a film forming source gas. The gas injection member is disposed to face the substrate support and has a gas injection area for injecting the gas containing the film forming source gas supplied from the gas supply unit. Further, the filter is disposed to cover at least the gas injection area on a surface of the gas injection member opposite to a surface facing the substrate support, the filter being configured to trap particles in the gas containing the film forming source gas while the gas passes therethrough.

The current disclosure relates to methods of depositing transition metal on a substrate. The disclosure further relates to a transition metal layer, to a structure and to a device comprising a transition metal layer. In the method, transition metal is deposited on a substrate by a cyclical deposition process, and the method comprises providing a substrate in a reaction chamber, providing a transition metal precursor to the reaction chamber in a vapor phase and providing a reactant to the reaction chamber in a vapor phase to form transition metal on the substrate. The transition metal precursor comprises a transition metal from any of groups 4 to 6, and the reactant comprises a group 14 element selected from Si, Ge or Sn.

Homogeneous and transparent protective coatings for precious metals and copper alloys and techniques for forming the coatings on precious metals and copper alloys are provided. In an embodiment, ionic oxide film is deposited onto a surface of a substrate including a metal, such as a precious metal and/or a copper alloy, using pulsed chemical vapor deposition (PCVD). A homogenous and transparent solid film based on ionic oxide is formed on the surface of the substrate in response to the depositing.

Embodiments described herein provide a lid assembly of a chamber for independent control of plasma density and gas distribution within the interior volume of the chamber. The lid assembly includes a plasma generation system and a gas distribution assembly. The plasma generation system includes a plurality of dielectric plates having a bottom surface oriented with respect to vacuum pressure and a top surface operable to be oriented with respect to atmospheric pressure. One or more coils are positioned on or over the plurality of dielectric plates. The gas distribution assembly includes a first diffuser and a second diffuser. The first diffuser includes a plurality of first channels intersecting a plurality of second channels of the second diffuser.

Systems and related methods are described that can be used for etching and/or depositing materials. In some embodiments, the systems comprise an outer chamber and an inner chamber. The inner chamber can comprise a lower chamber part and an upper chamber part which are moveable with respect to each other between a closed position and an open position. The upper chamber part and the lower chamber part can abut in the closed position. The upper chamber part and the lower chamber part may further define an opening in the open position.

A surface-coated cutting tool includes a substrate and a coating film that coats the substrate, wherein the coating film includes a hard coating layer constituted of a domain region and a matrix region, the domain region is a region having a plurality of portions divided and distributed in the matrix region, the domain region has a structure in which a first layer composed of a first Al.sub.x1Ti.sub.(1-x1) compound and a second layer composed of a second Al.sub.x2Ti.sub.(1-x2) compound are layered on each other, the matrix region has a structure in which a third layer composed of a third Al.sub.x3Ti.sub.(1-x3) compound and a fourth layer composed of a fourth Al.sub.x4Ti.sub.(1-x4) compound are layered on each other.

The present invention improves the in-plane uniformity of film formation via a plasma treatment. It is provided a plasma treatment device constituted so that process gas introduced between an electrode plate and a shower plate is exhausted toward a counter electrode through a plurality of small holes formed in the shower plate, the plasma treatment device comprising a diffuser plate having a plurality of small holes, the diffuser plate being arranged substantially parallel with the shower plate, wherein the process gas is introduced between the electrode plate and the diffuser plate, passes through the plural small holes of the diffuser plate, reaches the shower plate and flows out from the plural small holes of the shower plate toward the electrode plate, and wherein within the small holes formed in the diffuser plate and the small holes formed in the shower plate, the small holes formed in a plate which exists more downstream along a flowing direction of the process gas are made in smaller diameters and an aperture ratio of each plate is made smaller in a plate which exists more upstream along the flowing direction of the process gas.

A cyclical epitaxial deposition system and a gas distribution module are provided. The gas distribution module includes an inflow element having a plurality of inlet holes, a guide assembly, and an outflow element. The guide assembly disposed between the inflow and outflow elements includes a plurality of guide channels separate from one another and a plurality of temporary gas retention trenches respectively corresponding to the guide channels. Each of the guide channels is in fluid communication with the corresponding inlet hole. The outflow element has a plurality of diffusion regions respectively corresponding to the gas retention trenches, and a plurality of outlet channels respectively corresponding to the diffusion regions. Each of the diffusion regions has a plurality of diffusion apertures, and each of the temporary gas retention trenches is in fluid communication with the corresponding outlet channel through the diffusion apertures in the corresponding diffusion region.

A precursor diffusion device configured to diffuse a growth precursor towards an external growth surface included on an external growth member, the diffusion device including a container including at least one porous element having a porosity configured to allow or prevent the passage of a precursor fluid through a thickness of the porous element, the porous element being configured so that the precursor fluid which passes through the thickness of the porous element generates an aerosol by fragmentation of the precursor fluid, the aerosol being formed of droplets of the precursor fluid. Also, a method for depositing a layer on a growth surface by such a diffusion device.