CLEANING OF SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESSING SYSTEMS
First Claim
1. A method of cleaning at least one component of an ion implantation system, said method comprising:
- (a) introducing a gas-phase reactive material from a cleaning composition source container into at least a portion of the system comprising the at least one component to be cleaned;
(b) terminating introduction of the gas-phase reactive material into the at least a portion of the system upon attainment of a predetermined characteristic within the at least a portion of the system; and
(c) reacting the gas-phase reactive material with a residue in the at least a portion of the system for a sufficient time to at least partially remove the residue from the at least one component to be cleaned;
wherein the gas-phase reactive material reacts selectively with the residue on the at least one component.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for cleaning residue from components of semiconductor processing systems used in the fabrication of microelectronic devices. To effectively remove residue, the components are contacted with a gas-phase reactive material for sufficient time and under sufficient conditions to at least partially remove the residue. When the residue and the material from which the components are constructed are different, the gas-phase reactive material is selectively reactive with the residue and minimally reactive with the materials from which the components of the ion implanter are constructed. When the residue and the material from which the components are constructed is the same, then the gas-phase reactive material may be reactive with both the residue and the component part. Particularly preferred gas-phase reactive materials utilized comprise gaseous compounds such as XeF2, XeF4, XeF6, NF3, IF5, IF7, SF6, C2F6, F2, CF4, KrF2, Cl2, HCl, ClF3, ClO2, N2F4, N2F2, N3F, NFH2, NH2F, HOBr, Br2, C3F8, C4F8, C5F8, CHF3, CH2F2, CH3F, COF2, HF, C2HF5, C2H2F4, C2H3F3, C2H4F2, C2H5F, C3F6, and organochlorides such as COCl2, CCl4, CHCl3, CH2Cl2 and CH3Cl.
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Citations
120 Claims
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1. A method of cleaning at least one component of an ion implantation system, said method comprising:
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(a) introducing a gas-phase reactive material from a cleaning composition source container into at least a portion of the system comprising the at least one component to be cleaned; (b) terminating introduction of the gas-phase reactive material into the at least a portion of the system upon attainment of a predetermined characteristic within the at least a portion of the system; and (c) reacting the gas-phase reactive material with a residue in the at least a portion of the system for a sufficient time to at least partially remove the residue from the at least one component to be cleaned; wherein the gas-phase reactive material reacts selectively with the residue on the at least one component. - View Dependent Claims (6, 18, 24)
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2-5. -5. (canceled)
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7-17. -17. (canceled)
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19-23. -23. (canceled)
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25. A method of cleaning an ion source region of an ion implantation system, said method comprising:
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(a) introducing a gas-phase material from a cleaning composition source container into a vacuum chamber of the ion source region; (b) terminating introduction of the gas-phase material into the vacuum chamber upon attainment of a predetermined pressure within the vacuum chamber; (c) dissociating the gas-phase reactive material into reactive halide species in the vacuum chamber using a plasma in said vacuum chamber; and (d) reacting the reactive halide species with a residue in the vacuum chamber for a sufficient time to at least partially remove the residue from the vacuum chamber.
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26-31. -31. (canceled)
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32. A method of ex situ cleaning at least one component of a semiconductor processing system, said method comprising:
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(a) positioning the component in an ex situ vacuum chamber; (b) introducing a gas-phase reactive material from a cleaning composition source container into the ex situ vacuum chamber; (c) terminating introduction of the gas-phase reactive material into the vacuum chamber upon attainment of a predetermined characteristic in the vacuum chamber or continuously flowing a gas-phase reactive material from a cleaning composition source container into the ex situ vacuum chamber; and (d) reacting the gas-phase reactive material with a residue in the vacuum chamber for a sufficient time to at least partially remove the residue from the at least one component contained therein; wherein the gas-phase reactive material reacts selectively with the residue on the at least one component. - View Dependent Claims (119)
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33-46. -46. (canceled)
- 47. A method of cleaning one or more components of an ion implantation system for at least partial removal of an ionization-related deposit from said one or more components, said method comprising contacting said one or more components with a cleaning composition comprising a gas-phase reactive material, under conditions enabling reaction of the gas-phase reactive material with the deposits to effect said at least partial removal, wherein said gas-phase reactive material comprises XeF2.
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48-49. -49. (canceled)
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51. (canceled)
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53-63. -63. (canceled)
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65-88. -88. (canceled)
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90-99. -99. (canceled)
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100. An ion implantation method, comprising generating a plasma in an arc chamber of an ion implantation system from a dopant source gas flowed through the arc chamber to form dopant source ions for implantation, and during at least part of the time during which the dopant source gas is flowed through the arc chamber, flowing cleaning gas through the arc chamber concurrently with the dopant source gas, to effect cleaning in the ion implantation system, wherein the cleaning gas comprises gas-phase reactive material.
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101-102. -102. (canceled)
- 103. A method of forming a doped silicon substrate, comprising implanting Xe+ ions in a silicon substrate, and thereafter implanting dopant ions in the silicon substrate.
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107. (canceled)
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109-114. -114. (canceled)
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116-118. -118. (canceled)
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120-144. -144. (canceled)
Specification