Method of improving surface planarity
View Patent ↗A method of improving surface planarity of a wafer. The method includes forming a first thin-film layer on the wafer using CVD in a first thin film deposition apparatus having at least one gas injector, relative to which the wafer has a first orientation, and forming a second thin-film layer on the wafer using CVD. The second deposition takes place in a second thin film deposition apparatus having at least one second gas injector arranged the same as that in the first thin film deposition apparatus, the wafer having a second orientation relative to the gas injector in the second thin film deposition apparatus. A first angle between the two orientations results in the second apparatus' injector distributing material in a different area from that of the first gas injector.
1. A method of improving surface planarity of a wafer during deposition of thin-film layers thereon using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), comprising:
forming a first thin-film layer overlying the wafer using CVD in a first thin film deposition apparatus having at least one gas injector, the wafer having a first orientation relative to the first gas injector; and
forming a second thin-film layer overlying the wafer using CVD in a second thin film deposition apparatus having at least one gas injector arranged in the same way as that in the first thin film deposition apparatus, the wafer having a second orientation relative to the gas injector in the second apparatus, thereby providing a first angle between the two orientations, resulting in the second apparatus' injector distributing material in a different area from that of the first gas injector.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first thin film deposition apparatus comprises a plurality of gas injectors uniformly arranged in a circle.
3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the first angle is approximately A×(360°/M×N), wherein “N” is the number of gas injectors in the first thin film deposition apparatus, “M” is one of the factors of the number of thin-film layers other than 1, and “A” is an integer other than 0, M, or multiples of M.
4. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the first angle is approximately one of the odd multiples of (360°/2×N), wherein “N” is the number of gas injectors in the first thin film deposition apparatus.
5. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the number of gas injectors in the first thin film deposition apparatus is 8 or 12.
6. The structure as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the loading paths of the wafer into the first thin film deposition apparatus and second thin film deposition apparatus are effectively the same, and steps taken before loading the wafer into the second thin film deposition apparatus further comprise:
providing a wafer orientation control apparatus; and
rotating the wafer by a second angle effectively the same as the first angle, using the wafer orientation control apparatus;
wherein the wafer has the first orientation during deposition of the first thin-film layer using the wafer orientation control apparatus.
7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the thin-film layers are dielectric layers.
8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the wafer comprises an alignment design.
9. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the alignment design is a notch.
10. A method of improving surface planarity of a wafer during deposition of thin-film layers thereon using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), comprising:
forming a first thin-film layer overlying the wafer using CVD in a first thin film deposition apparatus having a plurality of gas injectors uniformly arranged in a circle, the wafer having a first orientation relative to the first gas injectors; and
forming a second thin-film layer overlying the wafer using CVD, in a second thin film deposition apparatus having a plurality of gas injectors with quantity and arrangement the same as those, of the first thin film deposition apparatus, the wafer having a second orientation relative to the gas injector in the second apparatus, thereby providing a first angle between the two orientations, resulting in gas injectors in the second thin film deposition apparatus having angles of incidence on the wafer different from those of the first thin film deposition apparatus.
11. The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the first angle is approximately A×(360°/M×N), wherein “N” is the number of gas injectors in the first thin film deposition apparatus, “M” is one of the factors of the number of thin-film layers to be deposited other than 1, and “A” is an integer other than 0, M, or a multiple of M.
12. The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the first angle is an odd multiple of (360°/2×N), wherein “N” is the number of gas injectors in the first thin film deposition apparatus.
13. The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the number of gas injectors in the first thin film deposition apparatus is 8 or 12.
14. The structure as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the loading paths of the wafer into the first thin film deposition apparatus and second thin film deposition apparatus are effectively the same, and steps taken before loading the wafer into the second thin film deposition apparatus further comprise:
providing a wafer orientation control apparatus; and
rotating the wafer by a second angle effectively the same as the first angle using the wafer orientation control apparatus;
wherein the wafer has the first orientation between depositing the first thin-film layer and using the wafer orientation control apparatus.
15. The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the thin-film layers are dielectric layers.
16. The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the wafer comprises an alignment design.
17. The method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the alignment design is a notch.