The semiconductor Showerhead, with its Chinese names being spray head, gas distribution plate, or uniform gas distribution plate, serves as a core component in semiconductor manufacturing equipment and plays a crucial role in the semiconductor production process. It can be applied in semiconductor front-end equipment such as ETCH (etching) and CVD (chemical vapor deposition) equipment. It provides higher process consistency, stability, and repeatability.
• Structural Design
• Micro-hole Structure: The surface of a semiconductor Showerhead is covered with hundreds or even thousands of tiny through-holes, with diameters typically ranging from 0.2 to 6 mm. The size, distribution, shape, and injection angle of these micro-holes are precisely designed according to specific processes to ensure the uniform distribution of gases into the reaction chamber.
• Gas Channels: It features a complex internal gas channel structure designed to guide and distribute different gases, enabling thorough mixing and uniform distribution before they reach the reaction chamber, thus meeting the precise requirements of semiconductor processes for gas flow rates and concentrations.
• Material Classification
• Metal Showerhead: Materials include aluminum alloy, stainless steel, and nickel metal, among which aluminum alloy is the most widely used due to its excellent thermal conductivity, strong corrosion resistance, wide availability, and ease of processing.
• Non-metal Showerhead: Materials include silicon carbide (CVD-SiC), single-crystal silicon, quartz glass, and high-purity ceramics, primarily used in critical process positions of chip processing equipment. These materials and the quality of the processed parts, especially the consistency of the holes, are subject to extremely high requirements.
• Functional Roles
• Uniform Gas Distribution: It uniformly sprays various process gases onto the wafer surface within the reaction chamber, ensuring that different areas of the wafer are evenly "bathed" in the process gases, thereby improving production efficiency and product quality, and guaranteeing the uniformity and consistency of deposited film layers.
• Participation in Chemical Reactions: In processes such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), the Showerhead mixes and sprays different precursor gases onto the substrate surface, allowing them to undergo chemical reactions under specific conditions to form the desired films, such as silicon oxide, polycrystalline silicon, and metal oxides.
• Control of Reaction Environment: It is used to control the atmosphere and temperature within the reaction chamber, providing precise gas mixtures and generating uniform gases at the required locations, ensuring uniform gas distribution within the reaction chamber and achieving a stable deposition process.
• Formation of Uniform Electric Field: In plasma-assisted processes (such as PECVD and dry etching), the Showerhead, as part of the electrode, generates a uniform electric field through a radio-frequency power supply, promoting uniform plasma distribution and thereby enhancing the uniformity of etching or deposition.
• Application Areas
• Etching Process: In etching equipment, the Showerhead is used to precisely control the flow rate and distribution of etching gases, ensuring precise etching of the wafer surface to form the desired circuit patterns and structures.
• Deposition Process: In processes such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and physical vapor deposition (PVD), the Showerhead uniformly delivers precursor gases of deposition materials to the wafer surface, enabling film growth and deposition.
• Cleaning Process: In semiconductor cleaning equipment, the Showerhead can uniformly spray cleaning solutions or gases onto the wafer surface to remove impurities and contaminants, ensuring wafer cleanliness.
AMTD provides high-precision Showerhead services for core components, with products mainly including Shower head, Face plate, Blocker Plate, Top Plate, Shield, Liner, pumping ring, Edge Ring, and other core components for semiconductor equipment. These products are widely used in fields such as semiconductors and display panels, boasting excellent performance and high market recognition.
Information Source: Publicly available data
