Chamber cleaning with infrared absorption gas

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9925569-B2
Application number	US-201314010025-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 26, 2013
Priority date	Sep 25, 2012
Publication date	Mar 27, 2018
Grant date	Mar 27, 2018

Abstract

Methods for conditioning interior surfaces of a process chamber are provided herein. In one embodiment a method of conditioning interior surfaces of a process chamber is provided. The method comprises maintaining a process chamber at a first pressure and at a first temperature of less than about 800 degrees Celsius, providing a process gas to the process chamber at the first pressure and the first temperature, wherein the process gas comprises chlorine (Cl 2 ) and high IR absorption gas, and exposing the process gas to radiant energy to remove residue disposed on interior surfaces of the process chamber.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of conditioning interior surfaces of a process chamber, comprising:
maintaining a process chamber at a first pressure and at a first temperature of less than about 800 degrees Celsius, wherein the process chamber is susceptorless and includes a substrate support ring for supporting a substrate while exposing a backside of the substrate;
providing a silicon-free process gas to the process chamber at the first pressure and the first temperature, wherein the silicon-free process gas comprises chlorine (Cl 2 ) and hydrogen (H 2 ); and
exposing the silicon-free process gas to infrared radiation to remove residue disposed on interior surfaces of the process chamber via a thermal chemical process, wherein the silicon-free process gas is maintained in a non-plasma state, the exposing the silicon-free process gas to infrared radiation comprises reacting the chlorine (Cl 2 ) with the hydrogen (H 2 ) to form hot HCl, and the infrared radiation is generated by an infrared source positioned below the process chamber.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ratio of chlorine (Cl 2 ) to hydrogen (H 2 ) is greater than 1.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the silicon-free process gas comprises about 83 to about 99 percent chlorine (Cl 2 ) and about 1 to about 17 percent hydrogen (H 2 ) by volume.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ratio of hydrogen (H 2 ) to chlorine (Cl 2 ) is greater than 1.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the silicon-free process gas comprises about 90 to about 99.9 percent hydrogen (H 2 ) and about 0.1 to about 10 percent chlorine (Cl 2 ) by volume.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing an epitaxial deposition process prior to providing the silicon-free process gas to the process chamber.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the residue comprises at least one of silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge).

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the silicon-free process gas further comprises a carrier gas selected from nitrogen (N 2 ), argon, helium, neon, xenon, and combinations thereof.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reacting the chlorine (Cl 2 ) with the hydrogen (H 2 ) to form hot HCl generates heat, which activates remaining chlorine gas and the HCl formed from the reaction.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing a substrate from the process chamber prior to providing the silicon-free process gas to the process chamber at the first pressure and the first temperature.

11. A method of conditioning interior surfaces of a process chamber, comprising:
maintaining a process chamber at a first pressure and at a first temperature of less than about 800 degrees Celsius, wherein the process chamber is susceptorless and includes a substrate support ring for supporting a substrate while exposing a backside of the substrate;
providing a silicon-free process gas to the process chamber at the first pressure and the first temperature, wherein the silicon-free process gas comprises chlorine (Cl 2 ) and hydrogen (H 2 ); and
exposing the silicon-free process gas to infrared radiation to remove residue disposed on interior surfaces of the process chamber via a thermal chemical process, wherein the silicon-free process gas is maintained in a non-plasma state, the exposing the silicon-free process gas to infrared radiation comprises reacting the chlorine (Cl 2 ) with the hydrogen (H 2 ) to form hot HCl, and the infrared radiation is generated by an infrared source positioned below the process chamber; and
increasing the pressure in the process chamber from the first pressure to a second pressure while continuing to provide the silicon-free process gas to the process chamber.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the second pressure is about 160 to about 300 Torr.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
decreasing the pressure in the process chamber from the second pressure to a third pressure, wherein the third pressure is about 10 to about 40 Torr.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the ratio of hydrogen (H 2 ) to chlorine (Cl 2 ) is greater than 1.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the silicon-free process gas comprises about 90 to about 99.9 percent hydrogen (H 2 ) and about 0.1 to about 10 percent chlorine (Cl 2 ) by volume.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
performing an epitaxial deposition process prior to providing the silicon-free process gas to the process chamber.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the residue comprises at least one of silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge).

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the silicon-free process gas further comprises a carrier gas selected from nitrogen (N 2 ), argon, helium, neon, xenon, and combinations thereof.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein reacting the chlorine (Cl 2 ) with the hydrogen (H 2 ) to form hot HCl generates heat, which activates remaining chlorine gas, and the HCl formed from the reaction.

20. The method of claim 11 , further comprising removing a substrate from the process chamber prior to providing the silicon-free process gas to the process chamber at the first pressure and the first temperature.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Ye Zhiyuan

Classifications

• H01J37/32862

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

• B08B7/005 Primary

  by infrared radiation · CPC title

• C23C16/4405

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

• H01J37/32853

  Hygiene · CPC title

• C11D7/02

  Inorganic compounds · CPC title