Cleaning method and recording medium for recording cleaning program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11530486-B2
Application number	US-202017016394-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2020
Priority date	Sep 13, 2019
Publication date	Dec 20, 2022
Grant date	Dec 20, 2022

Abstract

A cleaning method for a by-product including a refractory material or a metal compound includes a reforming process and an etching process. In the reforming process, a surface of the by-product is reformed using nitrogen-containing gas and hydrogen-containing gas. In the etching process, the reformed surface is etched using halogen-containing gas and inert gas.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for cleaning a chamber inner wall of an etching apparatus, the method comprising:
first reforming, by plasma generated from nitrogen-containing gas and hydrogen-containing gas, a surface oxide film of a refractory material or a metal compound attached to the chamber inner wall of the etching apparatus to form a reformed layer, and form a first damage layer below the reformed layer;
first etching, by plasma generated from halogen-containing gas and inert gas, the formed reformed layer and the first damage layer to expose the refractory material or the metal compound;
second reforming, by the plasma generated from the nitrogen-containing gas and the hydrogen-containing gas, the refractory material or the metal compound attached to the chamber inner wall of the etching apparatus to form a second damage layer; and
second etching, by the plasma generated from the halogen-containing gas and the inert gas, the formed second damage layer,
wherein the nitrogen-containing gas is N 2 .

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the second reforming and the second etching are repeated for a number of times after the first etching.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the halogen-containing gas is chlorine-containing gas,
the first reforming includes reducing a surface oxide film of the refractory material using the nitrogen-containing gas and the hydrogen-containing gas, and
the first etching includes etching the reduced surface oxide film using the chlorine-containing gas and the inert gas.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein
the chlorine-containing gas is Cl 2 .

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the refractory material is cobalt.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the halogen-containing gas is fluorine-containing gas,
the first reforming and the second reforming include reducing a surface of the metal compound using the nitrogen-containing gas and the hydrogen-containing gas, and
the first etching and the second etching include etching the reduced surface using the fluorine-containing gas and the inert gas.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein
the fluorine-containing gas is CF 4 .

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the metal compound is a metal oxide.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein
the metal oxide is TiO.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the hydrogen-containing gas is H 2 .

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the refractory material is zirconium (Zr) or hafnium.

12. The method according to claim 8 , wherein
the metal oxide is zircon (ZrSiO 4 ).

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
The halogen-containing gas is bromine-containing gas or iodine-containing gas.

14. A method for cleaning a chamber inner wall of an etching apparatus, the method comprising:
first reforming, by plasma generated from nitrogen-containing gas and hydrogen-containing gas, a surface oxide film of a refractory material or a metal compound attached to the chamber inner wall of the etching apparatus to form a reformed layer, and form a first damage layer below the reformed layer;
first etching, by plasma generated from fluorine-containing gas and inert gas, the formed reformed layer and the first damage layer to expose the refractory material or the metal compound;
second reforming, by the plasma generated from the nitrogen-containing gas and the hydrogen-containing gas, the refractory material or the metal compound attached to the chamber inner wall of the etching apparatus to form a second damage layer; and
second etching, by the plasma generated from the fluorine-containing gas and the inert gas, the formed second damage layer, wherein
the first reforming and the second reforming include reducing a surface of the metal compound using the nitrogen-containing gas and the hydrogen-containing gas,
the first etching and the second etching include etching the reduced surface using the fluorine-containing gas and the inert gas, and
the second reforming and the second etching are repeated for a number of times after the first etching,
wherein the nitrogen-containing gas is N 2 .

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein
the hydrogen-containing gas is H 2 .

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Shirasawa Daisuke
• Sato Naoki

Classifications

• C23F1/46

  Regeneration of etching compositions · CPC title

• C23C16/4405

  Cleaning of reactor or parts inside the reactor by using reactive gases · CPC title

• H01J2237/335

  Cleaning · CPC title

• C23F1/12 Primary

  Gaseous compositions · CPC title

• C23F4/00 Primary

  Processes for removing metallic material from surfaces, not provided for in group C23F1/00 or C23F3/00 · CPC title