Patent ID: 9388493
Filing Date: 2016-07-12
CPC Classification: C23C

Claim Text:
1. A chemical vapor deposition reactor comprising: (a) a reaction chamber having an interior and an entry port for insertion and removal of wafers, the reaction chamber defining top and bottom ends and a central axis extending in a vertical direction between the top and bottom ends; (b) a gas inlet manifold communicating with the interior of the chamber for admitting process gases to form a deposit on the wafers held within the interior; (c) a shutter mounted to the chamber and having a lower edge, an outer peripheral surface, and an inner peripheral surface extending around the central axis and generally defining a ring shape, the lower edge extending between the inner and outer peripheral surfaces, the inner peripheral surface extending at a transverse angle relative to the lower edge; (d) an exhaust manifold located at the bottom end of the reactor and having a passage and one or more ports, the passage communicating with the interior of the chamber through the one or more ports; and (e) one or more cleaning elements mounted to a top surface of the exhaust manifold, the cleaning elements including one or more plates each extending generally parallel to the central axis each having a contact element spaced apart from the exhaust manifold, and each having one or more guiding features extending from a top edge of the plate toward the central axis at a non-zero angle, wherein the shutter is movable between (i) a run position in which the contact elements are remote from the shutter and (ii) a cleaning position in which the contact elements engage with the shutter so that the contact elements remove deposited particles from the inner peripheral surface of the shutter upon movement of the shutter to the cleaning position.