US 12,325,912 B2
Apparatus and method for depositing carbon-containing structures
Alexandre Jouvray, Huntingdon (GB); Bryan Michael Wingfield, Huntingdon (GB); Ashley Thomas Wells, Cambridge (GB); and Goncalo Pedro Goncalves, Cambridge (GB)
Assigned to AIXTRON SE, Herzogenrath (DE)
Appl. No. 17/773,351
Filed by AIXTRON SE, Herzogenrath (DE)
PCT Filed Oct. 29, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/080391
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 31, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/084003, PCT Pub. Date May 6, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2019 129 289.1 (DE), filed on Oct. 30, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2024/0150891 A1, May 9, 2024
Int. Cl. C23C 16/26 (2006.01); C23C 16/02 (2006.01); C23C 16/44 (2006.01); C23C 16/455 (2006.01)
CPC C23C 16/26 (2013.01) [C23C 16/0236 (2013.01); C23C 16/4409 (2013.01); C23C 16/45557 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for depositing carbon-containing structures on a substrate (2) conveyed through an interior of a housing (1), wherein the housing interior has a first peripheral zone (3) adjacent to a first opening (6) of the housing (1), a second peripheral zone (4) adjacent to a second opening (7) of the housing (1), and a central zone (5) arranged between the first and second peripheral zones (3, 4), the method comprising:
inserting the substrate (2) into the housing (1) through the first housing opening (6);
passing the substrate (2) through the central zone (5) in a conveying direction (F) from the first housing opening (6) to the second housing opening (7);
removing the substrate (2) from the housing (1) through the second housing opening (7);
feeding a carbon-containing process gas into the housing interior through a gas outlet opening (20) of a gas inlet (8);
heating the central zone (5) with a first heating device (21);
evacuating the carbon-containing process gas from the housing interior through an extraction opening (24) of a gas outlet (16), wherein the extraction opening (24) is connected to a pump (10); and
feeding a reactive gas into the first peripheral zone (3) through the first housing opening (6) or a reactive gas inlet opening (23) in a controlled manner, wherein the reactive gas is different from the carbon-containing process gas and chemically reacts in a first chemical reaction with contaminants on the substrate (2) and in a second chemical reaction with the carbon-containing process gas, wherein the gas outlet opening (20) and the extraction opening (24) are arranged and operated in the housing interior in such manner that a partial pressure of the reactive gas continuously decreases in the conveying direction (F) from the first housing opening (6) to the second housing opening (7) so that at least 90% of the first chemical reaction of the reactive gas with the contaminants on the substrate (2) and at least 90% of the second chemical reaction of the reactive gas with the carbon-containing process gas take place in the first peripheral zone (3).