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. 26, 2000
Filed:
Apr. 29, 1997
Akio Ui, Tokyo, JP;
Naruhiko Kaji, Yokohama, JP;
Hideshi Miyajima, Yokohama, JP;
Nobuo Hayasaka, Yokosuka, JP;
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, JP;
Abstract
There is provided a CVD apparatus and a cleaning method which can precisely perform cleaning at a high speed, in order to increase the throughput of a CVD apparatus. A film formation gas (e.g., SiH.sub.4 and O.sub.2 gases) is introduced from a source gas supply pipe into a chamber to form a silicon oxide film (SiO.sub.2) on a wafer placed on a susceptor by using a plasma or the like. A thin film (SiO.sub.2) mainly consisting of silicon and oxygen, an imperfect oxide film of silicon, or the like also attaches to a wall surface and the respective surfaces of a window plate, a vacuum seal portion, the susceptor, an electrode, an insulator, an exhaust pipe, and the like in the chamber. An HF-based gas supply system for a cleaning etching gas is arranged to clean the interior of the chamber of the CVD apparatus. Particularly, a film formed with a source gas of Si.sub.x H.sub.2x+2 (x=1, 2, 3) and O.sub.2 is more perfect than an imperfect oxide film (e.g., TEOS) formed with an organic silicon source gas, so that bonding is strong, and the etching rate decreases in plasma cleaning and the like. Cleaning with the HF gas according to this invention is very effective.