Patent ID: 9238867
Filing Date: 2016-01-19
CPC Classification: C23C,C30B,H01L

Claim Text:
1. An atomic layer deposition apparatus, comprising: a first, lower wall; a second, upper wall parallel to the first wall and spaced apart from the first wall; two side walls connecting the first wall and the second wall; wherein the first wall, the second wall and the two side walls bound a process tunnel configured to allow a substantially flat substrate, oriented parallel to said first and second walls, to be accommodated in the process tunnel leaving a first narrow gap between an upper side of the substrate and the second wall and a second narrow gap between a lower side of the substrate and the first wall, the process tunnel having a longitudinal direction which, in use, is a transport direction of the substrate in the process tunnel, and the process tunnel having a lateral direction that is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and parallel to the first wall and the second wall, a lower, innermost boundary of the process tunnel is defined by the first wall and an upper, innermost boundary of the process tunnel is defined by the second wall; a plurality of gas injection channels, provided in both the first wall and the second wall of the process tunnel, wherein outflow openings of said plurality of gas injection channels are distributed over respective inner surfaces of the first and second walls in a spaced apart manner both along the transport direction and the lateral direction, whereby the outflow openings in the first, lower wall are configured to identically inject gas into the process tunnel to provide a first, lower gas bearing, while the outflow openings in the second, upper wall are configured to identically inject gas into the process tunnel to provide a second, upper gas bearing, said first and second gas bearings being configured to floatingly support and accommodate substrates; a plurality of gas exits accommodated in both of the two side walls and configured to exhaust gas from tunnel space regions between both lateral edges of the substrate and the respective side walls, the plurality of gas exits being the only gas exits of the process tunnel and are dimensioned to restrict an outflow of gas from the process tunnel during use so as to cause pressure buildup and to stabilize a lateral position of the substrate; wherein gas injection channels of the plurality of gas injection channels which are located in at least one of the first wall and the second wall, viewed in the transport direction, are connected successively to a first precursor gas source, a first purge gas source, a second precursor gas source and a second purge gas source, so as to create a tunnel segment that—in use—comprises, in succession along the transport direction, laterally extending zones including a first precursor gas, a first purge gas, a second precursor gas and a second purge gas, respectively, wherein two or more of such tunnel segments are disposed in succession in the transport direction; wherein positions of the plurality of gas injection channels and positions of the plurality of gas exits are configured to provide that said gases in said zones flow substantially in the lateral direction towards the plurality of gas exits; wherein a height of the first and second narrow gaps and an amount of the first and second purge gases that in use is supplied to the first and second narrow gaps are configured to provide that the lateral gas flows of the first and second purge gases have a relatively high velocity to create gas phase diffusion barriers that prevent the first and second precursor gases from mixing and that constitute the first and second purge gas zones; and wherein, viewed in the transport direction, at least one portion of the process tunnel has a downward slope (α), so as to enable gravity driven transport of the substrate through said at least one portion of the process tunnel.