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:
Dec. 12, 2000
Filed:
Oct. 08, 1998
Applicant:
Inventors:
Anand Gupta, Phoenix, AZ (US);
Srihari Ponnekanti, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Gana A Rimple, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Laxman Murugesh, Fremont, CA (US);
Assignee:
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
C23F / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
156345 ; 134-12 ; 1187 / ;
Abstract
An apparatus for processing substrates that is configured for a cleaning operation by loading a cleaning process wafer onto the susceptor before forming a cleaning plasma in the processing chamber. In one embodiment, a ceramic wafer is chosen to have a dielectric value sufficient to alter the electromagnetic field of the plasma, and spreads the plasma away from the susceptor during a cleaning operation, thus reducing damage to the susceptor. The plasma may be directed towards the walls of the chamber to reduce chamber cleaning time.