Patent ID: 6905547

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a processing chamber to subject a substrate to atomic layer deposition to deposit a film layer, the processing chamber including at least one inlet port; a gas switching manifold coupled to the processing chamber and configured to include at least first and second conduits and corresponding at least first and second flow restrictors, wherein a first reactant and a neutral specie stream are mixed in the first conduit and a second reactant and the neutral specie stream are mixed in the second conduit, the first and second conduits in fluid communication downstream from the neutral specie stream and the first and second flow restrictors configured to control flow of mixed reactant from the first and second conduits, respectively, through the at least one inlet port into the processing chamber; and an upstream gas source and pressure setting apparatus including at least a first inject port and a second inject port coupled respectively to the first conduit and the second conduit and respectively to at least a first reactant source and a second reactant source, and including a neutral specie source coupled to provide the neutral specie stream, wherein the upstream gas source and pressure setting apparatus further includes at least one pressure controller configured to provide a cascade of continuing, decreasing pressures to the processing chamber.