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:
Jun. 02, 1998
Filed:
Mar. 13, 1995
Applicant:
Inventors:
Kenny King-Tai Ngan, Fremont, CA (US);
Jaim Nulman, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Assignee:
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
C23C / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
20419237 ; 20419235 ;
Abstract
A method of precleaning a silicon wafer to remove a layer of native silicon oxide thereon comprising adding a mixture of argon and oxygen to a plasma etch chamber including a wafer to be cleaned mounted on a cathode in said chamber, while maintaining the pressure in the chamber below about 3 millitorr. The oxygen is added to react with silicon atoms in the plasma but not with silicon atoms of the single crystal silicon wafer. The presence of oxygen in the plasma at low pressure ensures steady plasma generation and uniform etching across the wafer.