Applied Materials, Inc.

S&eacute;bastien Raoux

Kevin P Fairbairn

Mark A Fodor

David Wingto Cheung

Tsutomu Tanaka

Judy H Huang

Hari K Ponnekanti

William N Taylor

Chau H Nguyen

Mandar Mudholkar

David Silvetti

A method for improving the corrosion resistance of ceramic parts in a substrate processing chamber by implanting the parts with rare-earth ions. The implanted ceramic parts are highly resistant to corrosive environments that can be formed in semiconductor manufacturing equipment including those found in high temperature applications and high density plasma applications. In a preferred embodiment of the method of the present invention, the ceramic parts are implanted with rare-earth ions using an implantation technique based on a metal vapor vacuum arc (MEVVA&trade;) ion source. The implanted ions are then reacted with fluorine radicals in a highly corrosive environment to form a layer of rare-earth fluoride material, RE:F , at the surface of the ceramic component. The sublimation temperature of such a RE:F layer is much higher than that of layers such as AlF that are formed on standard ceramic chamber components in such environments (e.g., up to 1100&deg; C. as compared to 600&deg; C.). At substrate processing temperatures less than the sublimation temperature, the formed RE:F layer acts as a passivation layer preventing consumption of the ceramic part during further substrate processing. A substrate processing chamber including at least one component implanted with rare-earth ions is provided. In various specific embodiments, the rare-earth-ion-implanted ceramic component is one or more of a chamber liner, a chamber dome, a cover plate, a gas manifold or faceplate and/or a substrate holder, such as a high temperature heater or an electrostatic chuck.

Implanatation process for improving ceramic resistance to corrosion

A substrate processing system that includes a ceramic substrate holder having an RF electrode embedded within the substrate holder and a gas inlet manifold spaced apart from the substrate holder. The gas inlet manifold supplies one or more process gases through multiple conical holes to a reaction zone of a substrate processing chamber within the processing system and also acts as a second RF electrode. Each conical hole has an outlet that opens into the reaction zone and an inlet spaced apart from the outlet that is smaller in diameter than said outlet. A mixed frequency RF power supply is connected to the substrate processing system with a high frequency RF power source connected to the gas inlet manifold electrode and a low frequency RF power source connected to the substrate holder electrode. An RF filter and matching network decouples the high frequency waveform from the low frequency waveform. Such a configuration allows for an enlarged process regime and provides for deposition of films, including silicon nitride films, having physical characteristics that were previously unattainable.

Mixed frequency CVD process

An apparatus and method for preventing particulate matter and residue build-up within a vacuum exhaust line of a semiconductor-processing device. The apparatus includes a vessel chamber having an inlet, an outlet and a fluid conduit between the two that fluidly couples the outlet with the inlet. The fluid conduit includes first and second collection sections. The first collection section includes a first plurality of electrodes aligned parallel to a first plane and the second collection section includes a second plurality of electrodes aligned parallel to a second plane that is substantially perpendicular to the first plane. The electrodes are connected to a voltage differential to form an electrostatic particle collector that traps electrically charged particles and particulate matter flowing through the fluid conduit. Particles are collected on the electrodes within the fluid conduit during substrate processing operations such as CVD deposition steps. Then, during a chamber clean operation, unreacted etchant gases used to clean the substrate processing chamber are exhausted through the foreline and into the apparatus of the present invention where they react with the collected particles and powder to convert the solid material into gaseous matter that can be pumped through the foreline without damaging the vacuum pump or other processing equipment.

Heated electrostatic particle trap for in-situ vacuum line cleaning of a substrated processing

Growing community of inventors

San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Sébastien Raoux

Growing community of inventors

San Francisco, CA, United States of America

S&eacute;bastien Raoux

Sébastien Raoux