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The ICP gate valve installed in your Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology FlexAL atomic layer deposition (ALD) system requires extended purging and frequent cleaning to help minimise particles caused by a build-up of deposition materials during processing.
As part of our programme of continuous innovation, we’re delighted to announce that we’ve now launched a product improvement that reduces the number of particles on processed wafers. This important product improvement also extends your system uptime and productivity by increasing the amount of mean-time between chamber cleans (MTBC).
Evidence from process tests conducted in our laboratory, using the new spacer collar configuration, shows that the behaviour of oxides, nitrides, and conductive films deposited is consistent with tests using the original FlexAL configuration.
Our tests also show that process specifications are preserved and particles on the wafer are reduced. Meanwhile, customers trialling our product improvement have reported multiple recipe successes.
Please note that the spacer collar improvement ensures the same plasma density and low damage conditions of the original FlexAL configuration because the distance between the source and table remains unchanged, meaning deposited material properties are maintained.
As a result of the success of this innovative design, this product improvement has become a standard feature in all new FlexAL platform builds.
Existing FlexAL ALD customers should upgrade now to:
This upgrade involves removing the ICP gate and ALD valves from the plasma source assembly and replacing these parts with a spacer collar (and a heater jacket).
With immediate effect, we’re delighted to extend this product improvement opportunity to existing FlexAL ALD platform customers by making this important design innovation available as an upgrade.
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