Vaporizing Solid Precursors: A fresh approach and new technology decrease cost of ownership

ProE-Vap^TM delivery system

After being approached by a large OEM, ATMI's scientists took a new look at the efficiency in vaporizing solid and semisolid precursors. With an eye toward technology and business needs, they outdistanced competitors with the ProE-VapT delivery system, which is targeted for ALD applications. By adding solid precursors and lowering required temperatures, the ProE-Vap system sharply improves choice of materials, material lifetime, and wafer yield while it reduces cost per wafer and tool downtime. The result—A dramatic decrease in cost of ownership that aided the adoption of ALD technology and helped ATMI win inclusion in the Technology Innovation Showcase for SEMICON West 2005.

The Problem: efficiency at the 65nm node
As semiconductor technology moves from 90nm to 65nm and smaller nodes, fresh challenges have arisen. Smaller chips require ever-thinner films, yet finding a way to deposit these using existing precursors and equipment-without sacrificing efficiency-was a problem that the industry had not yet solved.

Industry experts recognized that the solution would lie in atomic layer deposition (ALD) if only this technology could be made both practical and cost-effective. One of ATMI's OEM customers approached ATMI about creating a solid delivery system that would support this need.

"Without a fresh approach to solid precursor delivery and a new design, there was a significant barrier to using solids for ALD," noted Ishita Goswami, ATMI product marketing manager. "We decided it was time to surmount that barrier and enable the ALD users with a whole class of emerging solid precursors."

The Solution: A precise and reliable way to deliver solid precursors
This is the partnership that stands behind the ProE-Vap system, the innovative solid delivery system for ALD that has been proven in its pilot stage and is poised to change the face of 65nm production.

From the start, ATMI recognized that a solution that could deliver solid precursors for ALD would dramatically increase the variety of materials that could be used. Previous technologies had been unable to work with these solids, because of mass flow limitations and temperature-related issues. The result was a lack of a viable delivery system for solid precursors that would also perform well in high volume production.

The secret to the ProE-Vap system's success lay in its ability to vaporize solid precursors at lower temperatures (lower chances of material decomposition) while maintaining robust efficiency (repeatable, precise flow rates), with 85 percent to 90 percent of the precursor being vaporized and deposited. The solution was also designed to handle a significantly higher fill weight than its nearest competitor, allowing radically larger numbers of wafers to be produced. This also means that ampoules need less frequent changes, yet another lowering of costly equipment downtime.

ATMI also worked to ensure that the solution would work with fabricators' existing equipment. The ProE-Vap system is offered as an upgrade or can be retrofitted to current tool configurations, depending on the specific needs of a customer.

The Result: Lower cost of ownership and dramatic gains in efficiency
The ProE-VapT delivery system has demonstrated its benefits in pilot testing, indicating that it will soon prove to be the viable solution for critical and highly sensitive applications. ATMI's partner and customer OEM has been successfully using the ProE-Vap system and packaging the technology for its customers. Also, the technology is currently being used and evaluated by several end users and OEMs for different ALD applications for 65nm and 45nm.

The system's enormous benefits-higher wafer yields but also lower costs per wafer-alongside its technical ingenuity have also won independent recognition: the ProE-Vap delivery system has been included in the Technology Innovation Showcase for SEMICON West 2005.

Customers of both ATMI and the OEM are eager to see how the ProE-Vap system can work in their operations, while the partners continue to pursue new challenges. "The relationship has been a fruitful one," said Tod Higinbotham, general manager of ATMI's materials business. "Now we're looking for ways to extend it to new projects and new materials."

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