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:
Sep. 05, 1989
Filed:
Sep. 26, 1988
Applicant:
Inventors:
Dean W Freeman, Garland, TX (US);
Cecil J Davis, Greenville, TX (US);
Assignee:
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L / ; B44C / ; C03C / ; C03C / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
156646 ; 134-1 ; 134102 ; 156643 ; 156662 ; 156345 ; 20419232 ; 204298 ;
Abstract
The described embodiment of the present invention provides a method and device for cleaning the surface of a silicon wafer using dry gases. At least one of the gases provided is excited by passing the gas through a microwave plasma generator or by heating the wafer thereby exciting the gases near the surface of the wafer. The excitation of the gases causes chemical reactions similar to those induced by ionization of the nongaseous cleaning materials in water. After a suitable etching period, the etching chamber is purged using an insert gas, such as nitrogen, which helps carry away the remaining reacted contaminants.