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:
May. 09, 1995
Filed:
Jul. 08, 1993
John G Langan, Wescosville, PA (US);
Scott E Beck, Kutztown, PA (US);
Brian S Felker, Allentown, PA (US);
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Allentown, PA (US);
Abstract
A method has been developed for the removal of silicon nitride and silicon dioxide, or other semiconductor materials from a surface of a wafer or CVD reactor. The method uses NF.sub.3, mixed with an electropositive diluent, preferably argon, at a given range of concentration, pressure, flowrate, and power to obtain the fastest possible etch rates. The etch rates of the film being processed can be caused to increase even as the concentration of NF.sub.3 in the diluent is decreased by choosing the proper diluent and operating conditions. Not only does this method increase the etch rate, thereby increasing the throughput of the reactor using this process, it also accomplishes this task at low concentrations of NF3 resulting in a lower cost.