Method and hardware for cleaning uv chambers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016296981-A1
Application number	US-201615180514-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 13, 2016
Priority date	Aug 23, 2012
Publication date	Oct 13, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A cleaning method for a UV chamber involves providing a first cleaning gas, a second cleaning gas, and a purge gas to one or more openings in the chamber. The first cleaning gas may be an oxygen containing gas, such as ozone, to remove carbon residues. The second cleaning gas may be a remote plasma of NF 3 and O 2 to remove silicon residues. The UV chamber may have two UV transparent showerheads, which together with a UV window in the chamber lid, define a gas volume proximate the UV window and a distribution volume below the gas volume. A purge gas may be flowed through the gas volume while one or more of the cleaning gases is flowed into the distribution volume to prevent the cleaning gases from impinging on the UV transparent window.

First claim

1 . A method of cleaning a process chamber having an interior space, comprising:
providing a purge gas to a first portion of the interior space; providing a first cleaning gas to a second portion of the interior space; activating the first cleaning gas using ultraviolet (UV) radiation from UV lamps positioned outside the process chamber; providing a second cleaning gas to the second portion of the interior space; activating the second cleaning gas using the UV radiation; and exhausting the purge gas, the first cleaning gas, and the second cleaning gas through a side wall of the chamber.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first cleaning gas is an oxygen-containing gas and the second cleaning gas is a fluorine-containing gas.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the second cleaning gas is a remote plasma.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the second cleaning gas comprises NF 3 and O 2 .

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the first cleaning gas comprises O 3 .

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the purge gas flows from the first portion to the second portion to mix with the first cleaning gas and the second cleaning gas.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the purge gas comprises helium or argon.

8 . A method, comprising:
flowing a first gas to a gas volume inside of a process chamber; exposing the first gas to UV radiation in the gas volume using UV lamps positioned outside the process chamber; flowing the first gas to a distribution volume inside of the process chamber, wherein the first gas flows through a first UV transparent showerhead separating the gas volume and the distribution volume; exposing the first gas to the UV radiation in the distribution volume, wherein the UV radiation passes through the first UV transparent showerhead; flowing the first gas to an inner volume inside of the process chamber, wherein the first gas flows through a second UV transparent showerhead separating the distribution volume and the inner volume; and exposing the first gas to the UV radiation in the inner volume, wherein the UV radiation passes through the second UV transparent showerhead.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising flowing a second gas to the distribution volume, wherein the second gas is mixed with the first gas to form a mixed gas.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the mixed gas is exposed to the UV radiation in the distribution volume.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising flowing the mixed gas to the inner volume.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the mixed gas is exposed to the UV radiation.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the first gas is flowed through the first UV transparent showerhead via a first plurality of through holes.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the first gas is flowed through the second UV transparent showerhead via a second plurality of through holes.

15 . A method, comprising:
flowing a first gas to a gas volume inside of a process chamber; exposing the first gas to UV radiation in the gas volume using UV lamps positioned outside the process chamber; flowing the first gas to a distribution volume inside of the process chamber, wherein the first gas flows through a first UV transparent showerhead separating the gas volume and the distribution volume; exposing the first gas to the UV radiation in the distribution volume, wherein the UV radiation passes through the first UV transparent showerhead; flowing the first gas to an inner volume inside of the process chamber, wherein the first gas flows through a second UV transparent showerhead separating the distribution volume and the inner volume; exposing the first gas to the UV radiation in the inner volume, wherein the UV radiation passes through the second UV transparent showerhead; and exhausting the first gas through a side wall of the process chamber.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising flowing a second gas to the distribution volume, wherein the second gas is mixed with the first gas to form a mixed gas.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the mixed gas is exposed to the UV radiation in the distribution volume.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising flowing the mixed gas to the inner volume.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the mixed gas is exposed to the UV radiation.

20 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the first gas is flowed through the first UV transparent showerhead via a first plurality of through holes, and the first gas is flowed through the second UV transparent showerhead via a second plurality of through holes.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Baluja Sanjeev
• Demos Alexandros T
• Chan Kelvin
• Rocha-Alvarez Juan Carlos
• Hendrickson Scott A
• Kangude Abhijit
• Turevsky Inna
• Chhabra Mahendra
• Nowak Thomas
• Yao Daping
• Xie Bo
• Raj Daemian

Classifications

• B08B7/0057 Primary

  by ultraviolet radiation · CPC title

• C23C16/45565

  Shower nozzles · CPC title

• B08B7/0021 Primary

  by liquid gases or supercritical fluids · CPC title

• C23C16/4405 Primary

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

• C23C16/482

  using incoherent light, UV to IR, e.g. lamps · CPC title