HIGH THROUGHPUT EPITAXIAL DEPOSITION SYSTEM FOR SINGLE CRYSTAL SOLAR DEVICES

摘要

An epitaxial reactor enabling simultaneous deposition of thin films on a multiplicity of wafers is disclosed. During deposition, a number of wafers are contained within a wafer sleeve comprising a number of wafer carrier plates spaced closely apart. Process gases flow preferentially into the interior volume of the wafer sleeve, which is heated by one or more lamp modules. To improve uniformity, the direction of process gas flow may be varied in a cross-flow configuration and the wafers may be mounted at a small angle to the plane of the wafer carrier plates, wherein the wafers are configured in pairs along the direction of gas flow and wherein along the direction of gas flow the angular mounting of the wafers provides a smaller gap between opposed wafer surfaces on said parallel wafer carrier plates in the center of said wafer sleeve than at the periphery of said wafer sleeve.

主权项

1. A reactor for simultaneously processing a multiplicity of wafers, comprising:
a reactor frame; a first planar heating module attached to said reactor frame; and a wafer sleeve comprising a pair of closely spaced apart parallel wafer carrier plates, said multiplicity of wafers being mounted to interior surfaces of both of said pair of wafer carrier plates, wherein said multiplicity of wafers are mounted in mirror image configurations on each of said wafer carrier plates; a first gas plenum configured to supply process gases into the interior volume of said wafer sleeve; and a second gas plenum configured to exhaust gas from the interior volume of said wafer sleeve; wherein said first gas plenum and said second gas plenum are configured to provide process gas flow across the surfaces of all of said multiplicity of wafers; wherein said multiplicity of wafers are configured in pairs along the direction of gas flow between said first gas plenum and said second gas plenum, wherein each of said multiplicity of wafers are mounted at a small angle to the plane of said wafer carrier plates and wherein along said direction of gas flow the angular mounting of said multiplicity of wafers provides a smaller gap between opposed wafer surfaces on said parallel wafer carrier plates in the center of said wafer sleeve than at the periphery of said wafer sleeve; wherein said reactor is configured to provide a path for transporting said wafer sleeve through said reactor, said wafer carrier plates being parallel to said first planar heating module, and wherein said wafer sleeve is exposed to radiation from said first planar heating module within said reactor along a part of said path.