System and method of removing chamber residues from a plasma processing system in a dry cleaning process
First Claim
1. A method of removing fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue from a plasma processing system, comprising:
- introducing a process gas into a process chamber of the plasma processing system, the process gas consisting of CO, or CO in combination with inert Ar gas;
maintaining a pressure between 10 mTorr and 100 mTorr within the process chamber;
generating a plasma from the process gas;
exposing the fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue to the plasma in a waferless dry cleaning process to form a volatile reaction product from the residue, where a shield wafer is not provided on a substrate holder of the plasma processing system so that the substrate holder is cleaned by the waferless dry cleaning process; and
exhausting the reaction product from the process chamber, wherein the method of removing fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue using a process gas consisting of CO or CO in combination with Ar results in reduced chamber residue when compared to a method of removing fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue using a process gas consisting of Ar in combination with O2.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method is provided for removing chamber residues from a plasma processing system in a dry cleaning process. The dry cleaning process includes introducing a process gas including a gas containing carbon and oxygen in a process chamber of the plasma processing system, generating a plasma from the process gas, exposing the chamber residue to the plasma in a dry cleaning process to form a volatile reaction product, and exhausting the reaction product from the process chamber. The plasma processing system may be monitored to determine status of the processing system, and based upon the status from the monitoring, the method includes either continuing the exposing and monitoring, or stopping the dry cleaning process. The dry cleaning process can be a waferless dry cleaning (WDC) process, or a substrate may present on the substrate holder in the process chamber during the dry cleaning process.
17 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method of removing fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue from a plasma processing system, comprising:
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introducing a process gas into a process chamber of the plasma processing system, the process gas consisting of CO, or CO in combination with inert Ar gas; maintaining a pressure between 10 mTorr and 100 mTorr within the process chamber; generating a plasma from the process gas; exposing the fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue to the plasma in a waferless dry cleaning process to form a volatile reaction product from the residue, where a shield wafer is not provided on a substrate holder of the plasma processing system so that the substrate holder is cleaned by the waferless dry cleaning process; and exhausting the reaction product from the process chamber, wherein the method of removing fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue using a process gas consisting of CO or CO in combination with Ar results in reduced chamber residue when compared to a method of removing fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue using a process gas consisting of Ar in combination with O2. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21)
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19. A system for removing fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue from a plasma processing system, comprising:
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a gas introduction system configured to introduce a process gas into a process chamber of the plasma processing system, the process gas consisting of CO or CO in combination with inert Ar gas; a pressure maintaining system which maintains a pressure between 10 mTorr and 100 mTorr within the process chamber, a plasma generating system configured to generate a plasma from the process gas such that the fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue is exposed to the plasma in a waferless dry cleaning process to form a volatile reaction product from the residue, where a shield wafer is not provided on a substrate holder of the plasma processing system so that the substrate holder is cleaned by the waferless dry cleaning process; and a exhaustion system configured to exhaust the reaction product from the process chamber, wherein the system for removing fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue using a process gas consisting of CO or CO in combination with Ar provides reduced chamber residue when compared to a system for removing fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue using a process gas consisting of Ar in combination with O2. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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20. A system for removing fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue from a plasma processing system, comprising:
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means for introducing a process gas into a process chamber of the plasma processing system, the process gas consisting of CO or CO in combination with inert Ar gas; means for maintaining a pressure between 10 mTorr and 100 mTorr within the plasma processing system, means for generating a plasma from the process gas such that the fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue is exposed to the plasma in a dry cleaning process to form a volatile reaction product from the residue, where a shield wafer is not provided on a substrate holder of the plasma processing system so that the substrate holder is cleaned by the waferless dry cleaning process; and means for exhausting the reaction product from the process chamber, wherein the system for removing fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue using a process gas consisting of CO or CO in combination with Ar provides reduced chamber residue when compared to a system for removing fluoro-carbon polymer chamber residue using a process gas consisting of Ar in combination with O2. - View Dependent Claims (23)
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Specification