CLEANING OF PLASMA CHAMBER WALLS USING NOBLE GAS CLEANING STEP
First Claim
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1. A method for removing water residues from a surface of a material in a plasma chamber, the method comprising:
- exposing a surface of a material in a plasma chamber to a noble gas plasma, wherein the noble gas plasma emits at least one of extreme ultra violet and vacuum ultra violet photons having sufficient energy to cause photolysis of water molecules adsorbed to the surface of the material, so as to release at least one of oxygen radicals, hydrogen radicals, and hydroxyl radicals; and
removing the radicals from the reaction chamber, such that re-deposition of water residues on the surface of the material is avoided.
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Abstract
An improved reaction chamber cleaning process is provided for removing water residues that makes use of noble-gas plasma reactions. The method is easy applicable and may be combined with standard cleaning procedure. A noble-gas plasma (e.g. He) that emits high energy EUV photons (E>20 eV) which is able to destruct water molecules to form electronically excited oxygen atoms is used to remove the adsorbed water.
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Citations
7 Claims
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1. A method for removing water residues from a surface of a material in a plasma chamber, the method comprising:
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exposing a surface of a material in a plasma chamber to a noble gas plasma, wherein the noble gas plasma emits at least one of extreme ultra violet and vacuum ultra violet photons having sufficient energy to cause photolysis of water molecules adsorbed to the surface of the material, so as to release at least one of oxygen radicals, hydrogen radicals, and hydroxyl radicals; and removing the radicals from the reaction chamber, such that re-deposition of water residues on the surface of the material is avoided. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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Specification