Patent ID: 7267724

Claim:
A thin-film deposition apparatus, comprising: a vacuum reaction chamber and a dividing plate, the vacuum reaction chamber is divided by the dividing plate into a plasma discharge space and a film deposition process space, the dividing plate having at least one internal space and a plurality of holes therein, the internal space is separated from said plasma discharge space and the internal space is connected with the film deposition process space, the plurality of holes connect the plasma discharge space with the film deposition process space, and a plasma is used to generate radicals in the plasma discharge space, which radicals are introduced into the film deposition process space through the plurality of holes in the dividing plate, and a precursor gas is directly introduced into the film deposition process space from the internal space, whereby the radicals and precursor gas introduced into the film deposition process space react together to deposit a film on a substrate disposed in the film deposition process space, the dividing plate is made of at least three plates laminated together by securely bonding them over substantially an entire area of their interfacial surfaces so as to separate the radicals generated in the plasma discharge space from the precursor gas while the precursor gas is in the internal space, wherein the internal space is divided at least into first and second diffusion sections by a middle one of the plates, and the middle plate includes a plurality of distribution holes interconnecting the first and second diffusion sections, wherein the first diffusion section includes an inlet through which the precursor gas is introduced into the first diffusion section, and the second diffusion section includes a plurality of discharge holes through which the diffused precursor gas can enter the film deposition process space, wherein the dividing plate is arranged in the vacuum reaction chamber such that the only communication between the plasma discharge space and the film deposition process space is through the plurality of holes, and wherein the plurality of holes have a diameter such that the precursor gas introduced into the film deposition process space is prevented from diffusing through the plurality of holes toward the plasma discharge space and are formed so as to satisfy the condition uL/D>1 during operation of the apparatus, where u is the gas flow velocity inside the holes, L is the effective length of the holes, and D is the gas interdiffusion coefficient.