Cleaning process for removing boron-carbon residuals in processing chamber at high temperature

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10679830-B2
Application number	US-201715625721-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 16, 2017
Priority date	Jun 20, 2016
Publication date	Jun 9, 2020
Grant date	Jun 9, 2020

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention generally relate to methods for removing a boron-carbon layer from a surface of a processing chamber using water vapor plasma treatment. In one embodiment, a method for cleaning a surface of a processing chamber includes positioning the pedestal at a first distance from the showerhead, and exposing a deposited boron-carbon layer to a first plasma process where the first plasma process comprises generating a plasma that comprises water vapor and a first carrier gas by biasing a showerhead that is disposed over a pedestal, and positioning the pedestal at a second distance from the showerhead and exposing the deposited boron-carbon layer to a second plasma process where the second plasma process comprises generating a plasma that comprises water vapor and a second carrier gas by biasing the showerhead and biasing a side electrode relative to the showerhead.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for removing a boron-carbon layer from a surface of a processing chamber, comprising:
exposing a deposited boron-carbon layer to a first plasma process to remove residual layers formed on a surface of the process chamber, wherein the first plasma process comprises:
positioning a pedestal at a first distance from a showerhead, wherein the pedestal comprises a substrate support surface, a side surface and a bottom surface, and the side surface is disposed between the bottom surface and the substrate supporting surface;
generating a plasma that comprises water vapor and a first carrier gas by biasing the showerhead that is disposed over the positioned pedestal; and

exposing the deposited boron-carbon layer to a second plasma process to remove residual layers formed on a surface of the process chamber, wherein the second plasma process comprises:
positioning the pedestal at a second distance from the showerhead;
generating a plasma that comprises water vapor and a second carrier gas by biasing the showerhead; and
biasing a side electrode relative to the showerhead, wherein biasing the side electrode causes the plasma generated during the second plasma process to form around the side surface and the bottom surface of the pedestal to remove the residual boron carbon layer therefrom, wherein the side electrode is positioned adjacent a chamber wall and a distance from the chamber lid, and wherein the processing chamber further comprises an upper side electrode disposed adjacent to a processing volume defined between the substrate supporting surface, a chamber wall and a chamber lid assembly.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
exposing the deposited boron-carbon layer to a third plasma process at a reduced chamber pressure, wherein the reduced chamber pressure is less than the chamber pressure during the first and second plasma processes, and wherein the third plasma process comprises positioning the pedestal at a third distance from the showerhead and generating a plasma that comprises water vapor and a third carrier gas by biasing the showerhead and biasing a bottom electrode relative to the showerhead.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
exposing the deposited boron-carbon layer to a fourth plasma process, wherein the fourth plasma process comprises generating a plasma that essentially consists of oxygen and a fourth carrier gas by biasing the showerhead that is disposed over a pedestal.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the exposing the deposited boron-carbon layer to the fourth plasma process is provided between one or more of the first plasma process and second plasma process and the second plasma process and the third plasma process.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the second plasma comprises biasing a bottom electrode relative to the showerhead.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the water vapor is generated by a liquid evaporator.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the liquid evaporator comprises heating units to vaporize the water at high flow rates of 10 SLM or greater.

8. A method for removing a boron-carbon film from a surface of a chamber component within a processing chamber, comprising:
exposing a deposited residual boron-carbon film on the surface of the chamber component within the processing chamber to a first plasma process to remove the residual boron-carbon film on a top surface of the chamber component, wherein the first plasma process comprises:
positioning a pedestal at a first distance from a showerhead;
generating a first plasma that comprises water vapor and a first carrier gas by biasing the showerhead that is disposed over the positioned pedestal; and

exposing the deposited residual boron-carbon film to a second plasma process to remove the residual boron-carbon film on the surface of the chamber component, wherein the second plasma process comprises:
positioning the pedestal at a second distance from the showerhead; and
generating a second plasma that comprises water vapor and a second carrier gas by biasing the showerhead and biasing a side electrode relative to the showerhead causing the plasma to be generated in a different region of the plasma processing chamber to remove the residual boron-carbon film from the chamber component, wherein the side electrode is a first side electrode disposed adjacent a processing volume between a chamber wall and a chamber lid assembly and a second side electrode is positioned adjacent a chamber wall and a distance below the first side electrode.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
exposing the deposited boron-carbon film to a third plasma process, wherein the third plasma process comprises positioning the pedestal at a third distance from the showerhead and generating a plasma that comprises water vapor and a third carrier gas by biasing the showerhead and biasing a bottom electrode relative to the showerhead.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
exposing the deposited boron-carbon film to a fourth plasma process, wherein the fourth plasma process comprises generating a plasma that essentially consists of oxygen and a fourth carrier gas by biasing the showerhead that is disposed over a pedestal.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the exposing the deposited boron-carbon film to the fourth plasma process is provided between one or more of the first plasma process and second plasma process and the second plasma process and the third plasma process.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein generating the second plasma comprises biasing a bottom electrode relative to the showerhead.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the water vapor is generated by a liquid evaporator.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the liquid evaporator comprises heating units to vaporize the water at high flow rates of 10 SLM or greater.

15. A method for removing a film from a surface of a chamber component within a processing chamber, comprising:
exposing a deposited residual boron-carbon film on a surface of the chamber component within the processing chamber to a first plasma process to remove the residual boron-carbon film formed on a top surface of the chamber component, wherein the first plasma process comprises:
positioning a pedestal at a first distance from a showerhead;
generating a first plasma that comprises water vapor and a first carrier gas by biasing the showerhead that is disposed over the positioned pedestal; and

exposing the deposited residual boron-carbon film to a second plasma process to remove the residual boron-carbon film formed on the surface of the chamber component, wherein the second plasma process comprises:
positioning the pedestal at a second distance from the showerhead; and
generating a second plasma at a reduced chamber pressure that comprises water vapor and a second carrier gas by biasing the showerhead, biasing a bottom electrode and biasing a side electrode relative to the showerhead causing the plasma generated during the second plasma process to form around a side surface and a bottom surface of the chamber component to remove the residual boron-carbon film therefrom, wherein the reduced chamber pressure is less than the chamber pressure during the first plasma process, and wherein the side electrode is a first side electrode disposed adjacent a processing volume between a chamber wall and a chamber lid assembly and a second side electrode is positioned adjacent a chamber wall and a distance below the first side electrode.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the biasing of the side electrode causes a higher current to flo

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Bi Feng
• Kulshreshtha Prashant Kumar
• Lee Kwangduk Douglas
• Connors Paul

Classifications

• H01J37/32577

  Electrical connecting means · CPC title

• H01J37/32862 Primary

  In situ cleaning of vessels and/or internal parts · CPC title

• H01J37/32568

  Relative arrangement or disposition of electrodes; moving means · CPC title

• H10P72/0408

  for drying · CPC title

• H10P70/12 Primary

  by dry cleaning only (H10P70/52 takes precedence) · CPC title