Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) - Page 2 of 2

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There are many ways of describing or classifying a CVD reactor.  For instance, a reactor is said to be 'hot-wall' if it uses a heating system that heats up not only the wafer, but the walls of the reactor itself, an example of which is radiant heating from resistance-heated coils.  'Cold-wall' reactors use heating systems that minimize the heating up of the reactor walls while the wafer is being heated up, an example of which is heating via IR lamps inside the reactor.  In hot-wall reactors, films are deposited on the walls in much the same way as they are deposited on wafers, so this type of reactor requires frequent wall cleaning.

Another way of classifying CVD reactors is by basing it on the range of their operating pressure.  Atmospheric pressure CVD (APCVD) reactors operate at atmospheric pressure, and are therefore the simplest in design.  Low-pressure CVD (LPCVD) reactors operate at medium vacuum (30-250 Pa) and higher temperature than APCVD reactors.  Plasma Enhanced CVD (PECVD) reactors also operate under low pressure, but do not depend completely on thermal energy to accelerate the reaction processes. They also transfer energy to the reactant gases by using an RF-induced glow discharge.

The glow discharge used by a PECVD reactor is created by applying an RF field to a low-pressure gas, creating free electrons within the discharge region.  The electrons are sufficiently energized by the electric field that gas-phase dissociation and ionization of the reactant gases occur when the free electrons collide with them.  Energetic species are then adsorbed on the film surface, where they are subjected to ion and electron bombardment, rearrangements, reactions with other species, new bond formation, and film formation and growth.    

Table 1 compares the characteristics of typical APCVD, LPCVD, and PECVD reactors.

Table 1. APCVD, LPCVD, and PECVD Comparisons