Steam-assisted single substrate cleaning process and apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12106976-B2
Application number	US-202318213717-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 23, 2023
Priority date	Jan 5, 2021
Publication date	Oct 1, 2024
Grant date	Oct 1, 2024

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for cleaning a substrate. The method includes rotating a substrate disposed on a substrate support and spraying a front side of the substrate using steam through a front side nozzle assembly. A back side of the substrate is sprayed using steam through a back side dispenser assembly. A heated chemical is dispensed over the front side of the substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of cleaning a substrate comprising:
rotating a substrate disposed on a substrate support;
spraying a front side of the substrate using steam through a front side nozzle assembly;
spraying a back side of the substrate using steam through a back side dispenser assembly; and
dispensing a heated chemical over the front side of the substrate comprising mixing the heated chemical and a nitrogen gas in a chemical heating and dispensing nozzle (POU nozzle).

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein spraying the front side of the substrate comprises applying a top spray nozzle above the substrate support.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the POU nozzle is movable between a center of the substrate and an outer perimeter of the substrate.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the POU nozzle comprises:
a first conduit coupled to a heat exchanger, wherein the heat exchanger is coupled to a steam source and a cleaning chemical source, wherein the heat exchanger releases the heated chemical into the first conduit of the POU nozzle; and
a second conduit coupled to a nitrogen gas source.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein spraying the back side of the substrate comprises releasing steam through a center opening of a back plate disposed below the substrate.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
rinsing the front side of the substrate using deionized water (DIW) through the front side nozzle assembly; and
rinsing the back side of the substrate using DIW through the back side dispenser assembly.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein rinsing the back side and the front side of the substrate comprises spraying the back side and the front side with steam and DIW.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein spraying the front side and the back side of the substrate comprises heating the substrate to a temperature of about 90° C. and about 140° C.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein spraying the back side of the substrate comprises releasing steam through a plurality of perforations of a back plate.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying megasonic energy to the substrate, wherein one or more vibrating transducer elements are disposed within a back plate.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein dispensing the heated chemical comprises dispensing about 20 mL to about 50 mL of chemicals to cover the front side of the substrate.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising drying the substrate by dispensing isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and DIW at a substrate temperature of about 25° C. to about 40° C.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
applying a nitrogen blanket over the front side of the substrate; and
rinsing the front side of the substrate with carbon dioxide dissolved DIW.

14. A method of cleaning a substrate comprising:
rotating a substrate disposed on a substrate support;
spraying a front side of the substrate from above the substrate using steam through a front side nozzle assembly;
spraying a back side of the substrate using steam through a back side dispenser assembly; and
dispensing a heated chemical over the front side of the substrate using a point of use (POU) nozzle disposed above the substrate support, the POU nozzle comprising a first conduit coupled to a fluid source and a second conduit coupled to a nitrogen source.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein spraying the back side of the substrate comprises releasing steam through a plurality of perforations of a back plate.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising applying megasonic energy to the substrate, wherein one or more vibrating transducer elements are disposed within a back plate.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the substrate support is disposed within a chamber, the chamber comprising a front side nozzle assembly disposed above the substrate support, the front side nozzle assembly configured to be coupled to a first steam source and a first deionized water (DIW) source.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the substrate support is disposed within a chamber, the chamber comprising a back side dispenser assembly disposed below the substrate support, the back side dispenser assembly configured to be coupled to a second steam source and a second DIW source.

19. A method of cleaning a substrate comprising:
rotating a substrate disposed on a substrate support disposed within a chamber, the chamber comprising:
a point of use (POU) nozzle disposed above the substrate support, the POU nozzle comprising a first conduit configured to be coupled to a fluid source and a second conduit configured to be coupled to a nitrogen source;
a front side nozzle assembly disposed above the substrate support, the front side nozzle assembly configured to be coupled to a first steam source and a first deionized water (DIW) source; and
a back side dispenser assembly disposed below the substrate support, the back side dispenser assembly configured to be coupled to a second steam source and a second DIW source;

spraying a front side of the substrate using steam through the front side nozzle assembly;
spraying the back side of the substrate using steam through the back side dispenser assembly; and
dispensing a heated chemical over the front side of the substrate.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Tang Jianshe
• Lu Wei
• Wu Haosheng
• Sekine Taketo
• Chang Shou-Sung
• Soundararajan Hari N
• Pollard Chad

Classifications

• H10P72/0434

  mainly by convection · CPC title

• H10P70/277 Primary

  the processing being a planarisation of conductive layers · CPC title

• H10P70/20 Primary

  Cleaning during device manufacture · CPC title

• H10P52/402

  of semiconductor materials · CPC title

• H10P72/0414 Primary

  using mainly spraying means, e.g. nozzles · CPC title