The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 03, 2023
Filed:
May. 12, 2022
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Xi Cen, San Jose, CA (US);
Yakuan Yao, Campbell, CA (US);
Yiming Lai, San Jose, CA (US);
Kai Wu, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Avgerinos V. Gelatos, Scotts Valley, CA (US);
David T. Or, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Kevin Kashefi, San Ramon, CA (US);
Yu Lei, Belmont, CA (US);
Lin Dong, San Jose, CA (US);
He Ren, San Jose, CA (US);
Yi Xu, San Jose, CA (US);
Mehul Naik, San Jose, CA (US);
Hao Chen, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Mang-Mang Ling, San Jose, CA (US);
APPLIED MATERIALS, INC., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods for pre-cleaning substrates having metal and dielectric surfaces are described. The substrate is exposed to a strong reductant to remove contaminants from the metal surface and damage the dielectric surface. The substrate is then exposed to an oxidation process to repair the damage to the dielectric surface and oxidize the metal surface. The substrate is then exposed to a weak reductant to reduce the metal oxide to a pure metal surface without substantially affecting the dielectric surface. Processing tools and computer readable media for practicing the method are also described.