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:
Apr. 03, 2001
Filed:
Jun. 11, 1997
Chan-Syun David Yang, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Yun-Yen Jack Yang, San Jose, CA (US);
Lam Research Corporation, Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and compositions for treating a wafer's layer stack following metal etching are provided. The methods involve providing a semiconductor wafer layer stack in a plasma processing system following metal etch, and treating the layer stack with one or more process gases in a plasma processing system, where at least one of the process gases contains helium and water and/or oxygen, or comparable gases. The methods and compositions reduce corrosion and polymer fence for a wafer's layer stack relative to conventional passivation and strip processes without helium, decrease the time necessary for passivation, increase the strip rate, and/or improve strip uniformity.