DECONTAMINATION OF MOCVD CHAMBER USING NH3 PURGE AFTER IN-SITU CLEANING

• US 20100273291A1
• Filed: 03/24/2010
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Dong, Xizi, Nijwahan, Sandeep, Kryliouk, Olga, Grayson, Jacob, Su, Jie, Washington, Lori D., Griffin, Kevin, Jun, Sung Won, Poon, Tze
• Application Number:
  US12/731,030
• Publication Number:
  US 20100273291A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/99
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/303 Nitrides
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/4405 Cleaning of reactor or parts inside the reactor by using reactive gases
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45563 Gas nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/45574 Nozzles for more than one gas
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0237 Materials
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0254 Nitrides
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0262 Reduction or decomposition of gaseous compounds, e.g. CVD
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/007 comprising nitride compounds

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to methods and apparatus for removing unwanted deposition build-up from one more interior surfaces of a substrate processing chamber after a substrate is processed in a chamber to form, for example, Group III-V materials by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) deposition processes and/or hydride vapor phase epitaxial (HVPE) deposition processes. In one embodiment, a method for removing unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces of a substrate processing chamber is provided. The method comprises depositing one or more Group III containing layers over a substrate disposed in the substrate processing chamber, transferring the substrate out of the substrate processing chamber, and pulsing a halogen containing gas into the substrate processing chamber to remove at least a portion of the unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces of the substrate processing chamber.

Claims

1. A method for removing unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces of a metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) processing chamber, comprising:

depositing one or more Group III containing layers over a substrate disposed in the processing chamber;

transferring the substrate out of the processing chamber;

pulsing a halogen cleaning gas into the processing chamber to remove at least a portion of the unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces of the processing chamber; and

pulsing a purge gas into the processing chamber after pulsing the halogen cleaning gas to remove reaction by-products formed from the reaction of the halogen cleaning gas with the unwanted deposition build-up from the processing chamber, wherein the pulsing a purge gas immediately follows the pulsing a halogen cleaning gas to remove reaction by-products from the interior surfaces of the processing chamber before the reaction by-products condense on the interior surface of the substrate processing chamber.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

repeating the pulsing the halogen gas and flowing a purge gas into the substrate processing chamber until a desired portion of the unwanted deposition build-up is removed from the substrate processing chamber.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the halogen cleaning gas is pulsed into the processing chamber for a time period between five seconds and one minute to limit the amount of reaction by-products generated;

and

wherein the purge gas is pulsed into the processing chamber for a time period between about 5 seconds and about 30 seconds to limit the amount of reaction by-products generated.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the halogen cleaning gas comprises a halogen gas selected from the group comprising fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and combinations thereof.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein transferring the substrate out of the processing chamber comprises transferring the substrate to a loadlock chamber without exposing the substrate to atmosphere.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein transferring the substrate to a loadlock chamber comprises transferring the substrate in an environment having greater than 90% N₂.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the unwanted chamber deposits comprise Ga and GaN deposited on components of the processing chamber including a showerhead.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a chamber bake process in a nitrogen and/or hydrogen containing atmosphere at a temperature from about 950°

C. to about 1,050°

C. at a chamber pressure from about 0.001 Torr to about 5 Torr to ensure that any residual deposition from the chamber clean process is removed from the chamber.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

flowing ammonia (NH₃) into the substrate processing chamber at a flow rate between about 1,000 sccm to about 10,000 sccm at a temperature greater than 900°

C. and at a chamber pressure from about 100 Torr to about 760 Torr.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the flow rate and the chamber pressure are varied throughout the NH₃ treatment process to generate turbulent flow patterns inside the substrate processing chamber for efficient NH₃ reaction with the chamber coating.

12. A method for removing unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces of a substrate processing chamber, comprising:

positioning a substrate on a susceptor in a processing region of a substrate processing chamber comprising a showerhead for supplying processing gases to the processing region;

depositing one or more gallium containing layers over the substrate disposed in the processing region;

transferring the substrate out of the substrate processing chamber;

pulsing chlorine gas into the substrate processing chamber to remove at least a portion of the unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces and the showerhead of the substrate processing chamber; and

pulsing a first purge gas into the processing chamber to remove the chlorine gas and reaction by-products formed from the reaction of the chlorine gas with the unwanted deposition build-up from the substrate processing chamber.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the chlorine gas is flowed into the processing chamber at a flow rate from about 1,000 sccm to about 4,000 sccm, at a total chamber pressure from about 50 Torr to 100 Torr, a susceptor temperature from about 600°

C. to about 700°

C., and a showerhead temperature from about 100°

C. to about 200°

C.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the purge gas is pulsed into the processing chamber at a flow rate of about 1,000 sccm to about 5000 sccm, at a total chamber pressure of about 0.5 Torr to about 10 Torr, a susceptor temperature of about 900°

C., and a showerhead temperature of less than 100°

C.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the cleaning gas is pulsed into the processing chamber at a flow rate of about 3,000 sccm to about 5,000 sccm, at a total chamber pressure of about 300 Torr to about 700 Torr, a susceptor temperature of about 400°

C. to about 600°

C., and a showerhead temperature from about 260°

C. to about 400°

C.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein transferring the substrate out of the substrate processing chamber comprises transferring the substrate to a loadlock chamber in an atmosphere having greater than 90% N₂.

19. The integrated processing system of claim 16, further comprising:

a transfer region in transferable communication with the one or more substrate processing chambers;

a robot assembly disposed in the transfer region for transferring the one or more substrates; and

a loadlock chamber in transferable communication with the transfer region;

wherein transferring the one or more substrates comprises transferring the one or more substrates from the one or more substrate processing chambers to a loadlock chamber without exposing the substrate to atmosphere in an environment having greater than 90% N₂.

17. An integrated processing system for manufacturing compound nitride semiconductor devices comprising:

one or more substrate processing chambers operable to form one or more Group III compound nitride semiconductor layers on one or more substrates positioned in the substrate processing chamber;

a halogen gas source coupled with at least one of the one or more substrate processing chambers operable for pulsing a halogen gas into the substrate processing chamber to remove at least a portion of unwanted deposition build-up deposited when forming one or more Group III compound nitride semiconductor layers on the one or more substrates from one or more interior surfaces of the substrate processing chambers; and

a purge gas source coupled with at least one of the one or more substrate processing chamber operable for pulsing purge gas into the one or more substrate processing chamber to remove reaction by-products formed from the reaction of the halogen gas with the unwanted deposition build-up from the substrate processing chamber.

18. The integrated processing system of claim 17, wherein the halogen gas source comprises a halogen gas selected from the group comprising fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and combinations thereof.

20. The integrated processing system of claim 17, wherein the one or more substrate processing chamber are selected from one or more metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) chambers, one or more hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) chambers, and combinations thereof.