METHOD FOR ACTIVATING REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES FOR CLEANING CARBON-BASED FILM DEPOSITION

• US 20090246399A1
• Filed: 03/28/2008
• Published: 10/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ASM Japan K.K. (ASM International NV)
• Original Assignee: ASM Japan K.K. (ASM International NV)
• Inventors: Masashi, Yamaguchi, Goundar, Kamal Kishore
• Application Number:
  US12/058,629
• Publication Number:
  US 20090246399A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 427/488
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/26 Deposition of carbon only
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4405 Cleaning of reactor or parts inside the reactor by using reactive gases
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/505 using radio frequency discharges

Abstract

A method of continuously forming carbon-based films on substrates includes: (i) forming a carbon-based film on a substrate in a reactor a pre-selected number of times; (ii) exciting an inert gas, an oxygen gas, and a nitrogen tri-fluoride gas to generate a plasma for cleaning; (iii) cleaning an inside of the reactor with the plasma after step (i) to remove particles accumulated during step (i) on the inside of the reactor.

Claims

1. A method of continuously forming carbon-based films on substrates, comprising:

(i) forming a carbon-based film on a substrate in a reactor a pre-selected number of times;

(ii) exciting an inert gas, an oxygen gas, and a nitrogen fluoride gas to generate a plasma for cleaning;

(iii) cleaning an inside of the reactor with the plasma after step (i) to remove particles accumulated during step (i) on the inside of the reactor.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein step (ii) comprises supplying the inert gas, the oxygen gas, and the nitrogen fluoride gas in a remote plasma unit.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein step (ii) is conducted in the reactor.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein in step (ii), the nitrogen fluoride gas is nitrogen tri-fluoride gas.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the inert gas is Ar gas.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the oxygen gas is O₂ gas.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein in step (ii), a flow rate of the oxygen gas is set at 100 to 5,000 sccm.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein in step (ii), a flow rate of the inert gas is set at 1,000 to 10,000 sccm.

9. The method according to claim 4, wherein in step (ii), a flow rate of the nitrogen tri-fluoride gas is set at 5 to 1000 sccm.

10. The method according to claim 4, wherein in step (ii), a flow rate of the nitrogen tri-fluoride gas is set at 10 to 500 sccm.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein in step (ii), a flow rate of the nitrogen fluoride gas is set at a value which is less than 5% of total flow rates of the inert gas, the oxygen gas, and the nitrogen fluoride gas.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein in steps (i) to (iii), a susceptor on which the substrate is placed is controlled at a temperature of about 200°

C. or higher.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining a priority area of cleaning inside the reactor prior to step (iii).

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein step (iii) comprises controlling pressure inside the reactor according to the priority area of cleaning.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein step (iii) comprises controlling pressure inside the reactor in a range of about no control state to about 500 Pa.

16. The method according to claim 13, wherein step (iii) comprises controlling a gap between an upper electrode and a lower electrode according to the priority area of cleaning.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the carbon-based polymer film in step (i) is a carbon polymer film formed by:

vaporizing a hydrocarbon-containing liquid monomer (C_α

H_β

X_γ

, wherein α and

β

are natural numbers of 5 or more;

γ

is an integer including zero;

X is O, N or F) having a boiling point of about 20°

C. to about 350°

C. which is not substituted by a vinyl group or an acetylene group;

introducing said vaporized gas into a CVD reaction chamber inside which a substrate is placed; and

forming a hydrocarbon-containing polymer film on said substrate by plasma polymerization of said gas.

18. A method of continuously forming carbon-based films on substrates, comprising:

(i) forming a carbon-based film on a substrate in a reactor a pre-selected number of times;

(ii) exciting a cleaning gas comprised of an oxygen-containing gas and a fluorine-containing gas to generate a plasma for cleaning, wherein a flow ratio of the fluorine-containing gas to the oxygen-containing gas is 3/100 to 15/100; and

(iii) cleaning an inside of the reactor with the plasma after step (i) to remove particles accumulated during step (i) on the inside of the reactor.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the fluorine-containing gas is nitrogen tri-fluoride.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein in step (ii), an inert gas is added in an amount greater than the oxygen gas.

21. A method of continuously forming carbon-based films on substrates, comprising:

(i) forming a carbon-based film on a substrate in a reactor a pre-selected number of times;

(ii) exciting a cleaning gas comprised of an oxygen-containing gas and a fluorine-containing gas to generate a plasma for cleaning, wherein the cleaning gas contains the fluorine-containing gas in an amount effective to increase a cleaning rate 40-fold or higher when using the plasma for cleaning an inside of the reactor as compared with a cleaning rate obtained without the fluorine-containing gas; and

(iii) cleaning an inside of the reactor with the plasma after step (i) to remove particles accumulated during step (i) on the inside of the reactor.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the fluorine-containing gas is constituted solely by nitrogen tri-fluoride.

23. The method according to claim 21, wherein the oxygen-containing gas is constituted solely by oxygen.

24. The method according to claim 21, wherein in step (ii), argon is added in an amount greater than the oxygen gas

25. A processing reactor apparatus programmed to conduct the method of claim 21.