Plasma cleaning of deposition chamber residues using duo-step wafer-less auto clean method
First Claim
1. A method for cleaning a processing chamber comprising:
- flowing a first gaseous composition into a processing chamber, the first gaseous composition including at least about 75% of a fluorine-containing compound of the formula XyFz;
forming a plasma from the first gaseous composition to provide a first etchant plasma which removes silicon and silicon based compounds from interior surfaces of the processing chamber;
flowing a second gaseous composition into a processing chamber, the second gaseous composition including at least about 50% O2 ; and
forming a plasma from the second gaseous composition to provide a second etchant plasma which removes carbon and carbon based compounds from interior surfaces of the processing chamber.
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Abstract
A method involving plasma cleaning of deposit residues in process chamber using duo-step wafer-less auto clean method is detailed. Specifically, the method involves cleaning the processing chamber by flowing a first gaseous composition with at least about 75% of fluorine-containing compound of the formula XyFz, into a processing chamber and then forming a first etchant plasma which removes silicon and silicon based byproducts from the interior surfaces of the processing chamber. The method then involves flowing a second gaseous composition into the processing chamber with a composition of at least about 50% O2 and forming a plasma from the second gaseous composition to provide a second etchant plasma which removes carbon and carbon based byproducts from the interior surfaces of the processing chamber. A system configured to execute the two step cleaning process is also provided.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method for cleaning a processing chamber comprising:
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flowing a first gaseous composition into a processing chamber, the first gaseous composition including at least about 75% of a fluorine-containing compound of the formula XyFz;
forming a plasma from the first gaseous composition to provide a first etchant plasma which removes silicon and silicon based compounds from interior surfaces of the processing chamber;
flowing a second gaseous composition into a processing chamber, the second gaseous composition including at least about 50% O2 ; and
forming a plasma from the second gaseous composition to provide a second etchant plasma which removes carbon and carbon based compounds from interior surfaces of the processing chamber. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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13. A method for processing wafers comprising:
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first cleaning interior surfaces of a process chamber with a fluoride plasma including at least about 75% of a fluorine-containing compound of the formula XyFz, said fluoride plasma being optimized to remove silicon and silicon compounds;
second cleaning said interior surfaces of said process chamber with an oxygen plasma including at least about 50% O2, said oxygen plasma being optimized to remove carbon and carbon compounds; and
processing a wafer within said process chamber after said first cleaning and said second cleaning.
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25. A process for cleaning interior surfaces of a processing chamber, comprising:
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first flowing an etchant process gas with a fluorine-containing compound of the formula XyFz, said fluorine-containing compound being optimized to remove silicon and silicon compounds;
forming a plasma from said etchant process gas;
maintaining a pressure of the processing chamber between about 2 mTorr and about 5 mTorr; and
monitoring said process for silicon and silicon compounds on interior surfaces of said processing chamber for reaching a predetermined level.
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27. A method for cleaning interior surfaces of a processing chamber, comprising:
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first flowing an etchant process gas containing oxygen, said process gas being optimized to remove carbon based compounds and an optional fluorine-containing compound of the formula XyFz, said fluorine-containing compound being optimized to remove silicon and silicon compounds;
forming a plasma from said etchant process gas;
maintaining a pressure in the processing chamber between about 10 mTorr and about 100 mTorr; and
monitoring said process for carbon-based compounds on interior surfaces of said processing chamber for reaching a predetermined level.
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32. A plasma processing system for executing a two step in-situ cleaning process, comprising:
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a processing chamber having;
a gas inlet for introducing a first cleaning gas and a second cleaning gas, the first cleaning gas optimized to remove silicon based byproducts deposited on inner surfaces of the processing chamber, the second cleaning gas optimized to remove carbon based byproducts on the inner surfaces of the processing chamber; and
a top electrode for creating a first plasma from the first cleaning gas to perform a first step of the in-situ cleaning process and then a second plasma from the second cleaning gas upon completion of the first step;
a variable conductance meter for controlling a pressure inside the processing chamber independently of a flow rate of the process gases, the variable conductance meter positioned on an outlet of the processing chamber;
an optical emission spectrometer (OES) for detecting an endpoint for each step of the two step in-situ cleaning process performed in the processing chamber, the OES in communication with the processing chamber; and
a pumping system for evacuating the processing chamber between each step of the two step cleaning process. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35)
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Specification