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. 18, 1994
Filed:
Jan. 03, 1994
LAM Research Corporation, Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
A plasma cleaning method for removing residues previously formed in a plasma treatment chamber by dry etching layers such as photoresist, barriers, etc., on a wafer. The method includes introducing a cleaning gas mixture of an oxidizing gas and a chlorine containing gas into the chamber followed by performing a plasma cleaning step. The plasma cleaning step is performed by activating the cleaning gas mixture and forming a plasma cleaning gas, contacting interior surfaces of the chamber with the plasma cleaning gas and removing residues on the interior surfaces. The cleaning gas mixture can also include a fluorine-based gas. For instance, the cleaning gas can include Cl.sub.2 and O.sub.2 and optionally CF.sub.4. An advantage of the cleaning method is that it is not necessary to open the plasma treatment chamber. Also, it is possible to completely remove all residues and prevent by-products formed during the cleaning step from remaining after the cleaning step.