US 12,071,685 B2
Gas injection for de-agglomeration in particle coating reactor
Jonathan Frankel, Los Gatos, CA (US); Quoc Truong, San Ramon, CA (US); Sekar Krishnasamy, Bangalore (IN); Govindraj Desai, Bangalore (IN); and Sandip S. Desai, Bangalore (IN)
Assigned to Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed by Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed on Jun. 2, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/205,273.
Application 18/205,273 is a continuation of application No. 17/697,845, filed on Mar. 17, 2022, granted, now 11,692,265.
Application 17/697,845 is a continuation of application No. 16/855,887, filed on Apr. 22, 2020, granted, now 11,299,806, issued on Apr. 12, 2022.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/838,237, filed on Apr. 24, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2023/0313368 A1, Oct. 5, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. C23C 16/44 (2006.01); B01F 27/051 (2022.01); B01F 27/07 (2022.01); B01F 27/072 (2022.01); B01F 27/112 (2022.01); B01F 27/70 (2022.01); B01J 19/00 (2006.01); B01J 19/18 (2006.01); C23C 16/455 (2006.01)
CPC C23C 16/4417 (2013.01) [B01F 27/051 (2022.01); B01F 27/0726 (2022.01); B01F 27/074 (2022.01); B01F 27/112 (2022.01); B01F 27/70 (2022.01); B01J 19/0066 (2013.01); B01J 19/18 (2013.01); C23C 16/45555 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of coating particles, comprising:
dispensing particles into a vacuum chamber to form a particle bed in at least a lower portion of the vacuum chamber that forms a half-cylinder;
evacuating the vacuum chamber through a vacuum port in an upper portion of the vacuum chamber;
rotating a paddle assembly such that a plurality of paddles orbit a horizontal drive shaft to stir the particles in the particle bed; and
alternating between injecting a first precursor or reactant gas and injecting a second inert gas through channels in a chamber wall of the lower portion of the vacuum chamber into to the lower portion of the vacuum chamber.
 
10. A reactor for coating particles, comprising:
a stationary vacuum chamber to hold particles to be coated in a particle bed;
a paddle assembly including a rotatable drive shaft and one or more paddles in the vacuum chamber, the one or more paddles connected to the drive shaft such that rotation of the drive shaft by a motor stirs the particles in the particle bed;
a gas injection assembly to a deliver a first precursor or reactant gas and a second inert gas into a lower portion of the vacuum chamber;
at least one flow regulator to control a first flow rate of the first precursor or reactant gas and a second flow rate of the second inert gas into the lower portion of the vacuum chamber; and
a controller configured to cause the gas injection assembly to alternate between injecting the first precursor or reactant gas and injecting the second inert gas into to the lower portion of the vacuum chamber.