Fsi International, Inc.

John M Heitxinger

Robert T Fayfield

Apparatus and method for direct delivery of enabling chemical gas from a liquid source and of HF gas in a hydrogen fluoride/enabling chemical based cleaning or etching process, such as a silicon dioxide film etching process. The liquid enabling chemical is temperature controlled to generate a vapor pressure which is sufficient to operate a mass flow controller at a desired processing pressure without a carrier gas. Prior to entering the process chamber, the enabling chemical gas is pre-mixed with HF and optionally, a carrier gas, all of which are supplied at flow rates independent of each other. By controlling the vapor pressure of the solvent in this way, solvent/HF/carrier mixtures which are not physically possible with carrier gas systems are attainable allowing access to a larger process space.

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St. Louis Park, MN, United States of America

John M Heitxinger