Laser assisted material deposition

Abstract

Apparatus is provided for a method of forming a film on a substrate that includes activating a gas precursor to deposit a material on the substrate by irradiating the gas precursor with electromagnetic energy at a frequency tuned to an absorption frequency of the gas precursor. The electromagnetic energy may be provided by an array of lasers. The frequency of the laser beam may be selected by switching from one laser in the array to another laser in the array. The laser array may include laser diodes, one or more tunable lasers, solid state lasers, or gas lasers. The frequency of the electromagnetic energy may be selected to impart specific amounts of energy to a gas precursor at a specific frequency that provides point of use activation of the gas precursor.

1 . A deposition system comprising: 
 a reaction chamber;    a source to provide a precursor gas into the reaction chamber;    a means for providing electromagnetic energy to interact with the precursor gas at selected locations in the reaction chamber; and    a means for controlling a frequency of the electromagnetic energy.    
   
   
       2 . The deposition system of  claim 1 , wherein the means for providing electromagnetic energy is configured to provide the electromagnetic energy substantially perpendicular to a flow of the precursor gas into the reaction chamber.  
   
   
       3 . The deposition system of  claim 1 , wherein the means for providing electromagnetic energy is configured to direct the electromagnetic energy to a location to interact with the precursor gas such that the location is at a distance from a substrate mounted in the reaction chamber that is within a mean free path from the substrate.  
   
   
       4 . The deposition system of  claim 1 , wherein the means for providing electromagnetic energy is configured to raster a location of interaction of the electromagnetic energy with the precursor gas along a surface of a substrate mounted in the reaction chamber.  
   
   
       5 . The deposition system of  claim 1 , wherein the deposition system includes a laser target mounted interior to the reaction chamber to retain electromagnetic energy incident upon it.  
   
   
       6 . The deposition system of  claim 1 , wherein the deposition system includes control optics mounted inside the reaction chamber.  
   
   
       7 . The deposition system of  claim 1 , wherein the means for providing electromagnetic energy includes an array of sources of electromagnetic energy, each source of the array at a different operating frequency.  
   
   
       8 . The deposition system of  claim 1 , wherein the means for controlling a frequency of the electromagnetic energy includes a switching circuit to select one of an array of sources of electromagnetic energy.  
   
   
       9 . The deposition system of  claim 1 , wherein the means for controlling a frequency of the electromagnetic energy includes circuitry to select an output frequency of a tunable laser.  
   
   
       10 . A deposition system comprising: 
 a reaction chamber;    a source to provide a gas into the reaction chamber;    an array of lasers to provide a laser beam to interact with the gas at a selected location in the reaction chamber; and    a switching circuit to select one or more lasers of the array of laser to provide the laser beam having a selected frequency.    
   
   
       11 . The deposition system of  claim 10 , wherein the array of lasers is configured to provide the laser beam substantially perpendicular to a flow of the gas into the reaction chamber.  
   
   
       12 . The deposition system of  claim 10 , wherein the selected location is within a mean free path from a substrate mounted in the reaction chamber.  
   
   
       13 . The deposition system of  claim 10 , wherein the array of lasers is configured to raster a location of interaction of the laser beam with the gas along a surface of a substrate mounted in the reaction chamber.  
   
   
       14 . The deposition system of  claim 10 , wherein the array of lasers is an array of diode lasers.  
   
   
       15 . The deposition system of  claim 10 , wherein the array of lasers includes a tunable laser.  
   
   
       16 . The deposition system of  claim 10 , wherein the deposition system includes multiple sources of gases and controls to operate the deposition system as a atomic layer deposition system.  
   
   
       17 . A deposition system comprising: 
 a reaction chamber;    a source to provide a gas into the reaction chamber;    an array of lasers to provide a laser beam to interact with the gas at a selected location in the reaction chamber;    a switching circuit to select one or more lasers of the array of laser to provide the laser beam having a selected frequency; and    optics to direct the laser beam.    
   
   
       18 . The deposition system of  claim 17 , wherein the optics include optics mounted exterior to the reaction chamber.  
   
   
       19 . The deposition system of  claim 17 , wherein the deposition system includes a laser target to retain light incident upon it from the laser beam substantially without reflection.  
   
   
       20 . The deposition system of  claim 17 , wherein the deposition system includes a laser target to manage redirection of light incident upon it from the laser beam, laser target configured to redirected the light to the gas.  
   
   
       21 . The deposition system of  claim 17 , wherein the deposition system includes a laser target configured such that light from the laser beam incident on the laser target is directed out of the reaction chamber.  
   
   
       22 . The deposition system of  claim 17 , wherein the array of lasers is an array of diode lasers.  
   
   
       23 . The deposition system of  claim 17 , wherein the deposition system includes an atomic layer deposition system.  
   
   
       24 . The deposition system of  claim 17 , wherein the optics includes optical filters correlated to an absorption frequency of the gas.  
   
   
       25 . The deposition system of  claim 17 , wherein the optics includes optical attenuators correlated to the gas.