SUBSTRATE-CARRIER STRUCTURE

Abstract

A substrate carrier structure wherein the substrate may be a wafer and its use in nanoscale processes, such as deposition and/or growth processes. The carrier structure comprises grooves on its frontside and or backside.

Claims

1-10. (canceled)

11. A substrate-carrier structure, wherein the backside and/or frontside of the carrier structure comprises at least one groove.

12. The substrate-carrier structure according to claim 11, wherein the at least one groove is arranged radial and/or concentric.

13. The substrate-carrier structure according to claim 11, wherein the at least one groove has a design, when viewed in cross-section, which is angular, rectangular or circular.

14. The substrate-carrier structure according to claim 11, wherein the at least one groove has a depth in the range of 1% to 90% of the total substrate carrier structure thickness.

15. The substrate-carrier structure according to claim 11, wherein the width to depth ratio of the at least one groove is less than 10.

16. The substrate-carrier structure according to claim 11, wherein the frontside of the carrier structure further comprises at least one pocket.

17. The substrate-carrier structure according to claim 16, wherein the at least one pocket has a flat, concave or convex profile.

18. The substrate-carrier structure according to claim 16, wherein the at least one pocket has a diameter of 25 to 500 mm.

19. The substrate-carrier structure according to claim 11, wherein the carrier is made of a material selected from the group consisting of graphite, silicon carbide, graphite or coated with silicon carbide or carbonfiber reinforced carbon (CFRC) coated with silicon carbide or any arbitrary mixture thereof.

20. A use of the substrate carrier-structure according to claim 11 for epitaxial, polycrystalline, or amorphous growth production processes.

21. A use of the substrate carrier-structure according to claim 12 for epitaxial, polycrystalline, or amorphous growth production processes.

22. The substrate-carrier structure according to claim 12, wherein the at least one groove has a design, when viewed in cross-section, which is angular, rectangular or circular.

Description

EXAMPLES

Example 1

[0019] According to this example a graphite carrier contains at least 3 radial grooves extending from the near center of the carrier to the near edge. These radial grooves, preferably symmetrically arranged, provide rigidity along the carrier radius to mitigate deflection that would otherwise cause the carrier to move convex or concave. This reduction in carrier deflection variability leads to a more consistent pocket floor profile, providing the targeted wafer-to-carrier spacing to enhance within-wafer uniformity and subsequently yield.

[0020] If for example 150 mm susceptors having for example 12 radial grooves are used it is possible to get a pocket profile having around 0.002 inches, whereas if no grooves are used it is only possible to get a pocket profile of around 0.004 inches.

TABLE-US-00001 Wafer susceptor without Wafer susceptor with Statistics grooves grooves N 320 190 Mean 0.0041513 (inches) 0.0023538 (inches) Standard Deviation 0.0010562 (inches) 0.0010108 (inches) Minimum 0.0013296 (inches) 0.000312 (inches) Maximum 0.0062436 (inches) 0.0045615 (inches) N = number of wafer susceptor

Example 2

[0021] According to this example a graphite carrier contains at least one circular groove, preferably three circular grooves being concentric with the carrier. This circular feature acts to increase the rigidity of the carrier around the circumference to mitigate deflection that would otherwise cause the carrier to bend or warp. This provides a uniformly flat carrier edge, serving two main purposes; Pocket floor profiles would be more consistent due to the lack in carrier shape variability. Also, the spacing between the carrier and reactor components would be more consistent. These components could include heat sources, gas delivery systems, or metrology equipment in which spacing is critical to the operation. Consistency in the space between the carrier and the components will provide more uniform deposition or growth parameters (temperature, concentration, pressure, flow rate, etc.) Furthermore, the concentric grooves ensure that the pockets of the carrier are flat and not convex resulting in substrates being equally heated and coated.

Example 3

[0022] According to this example a graphite carrier contains at least 1 circular groove and at least 3 radial grooves. The radial grooves provide rigidity along the substrate-carrier structure radius to mitigate deflection that otherwise cause the substrate-carrier structure to move convex or concave. In parallel the circular groove acts to increase the rigidity of the carrier around the circumference to mitigate deflection that otherwise cause the carrier to bend or warp. As result, pocket floor profiles would be more consistent due to the lack in the substrate-carrier structure shape variability. This reduction in substrate-carrier structure deflection variability leads to a more consistent pocket floor profile. This further results in a more unformily deposited/grown layer on the wafer-substrate, because the spacing between the substrate-carrier structure and the substrate-wafer is optimized and the temperature distribution is improved. This has the further advantage that during the use of the substrate carrier-structure in a growth process, the coated substrates are heated and coated equally, which results in a higher quality of the coated products. In addition, the spacing between the carrier and reactor components is more consistent. These components could include heat sources, gas delivery systems, or metrology equipment in which spacing is critical to the operation. Consistency in the space between the carrier and the components provide a more uniform deposition or growth parameters (i.e. temperature, concentration, pressure, flow rate).

FIGURES

[0023] FIG. 1 shows a carrier in a top view only having circular grooves

[0024] FIG. 2 shows a carrier in a top view only having radial grooves

[0025] FIG. 3 shows a carrier in a top view having radial and circular grooves

REFERENCE LIST

[0026] 1 substrate-carrier structure [0027] 2 radial groove [0028] 3 circular groove [0029] 4 center of the substrate-carrier structure [0030] 5 edge of the substrate-carrier structure