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:
Mar. 26, 2002
Filed:
Mar. 16, 1998
Wing-kei Au, San Antonio, TX (US);
Ramiro Solis, Bandera, TX (US);
VLSI Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention is a method of suppressing etchrate of quartz hardware in semiconductor processing chamber during plasma-enhanced cleaning. In one embodiment, the method of the present invention includes the steps of: (a) introducing a mixture of fluorocarbon gas, oxygen, and water vapor into the chamber; and (b) activating the mixture to form a quartz-safe plasma cleaning gas. According to the present invention, the presence of water vapor substantially suppresses etching of quartz hardware. Etchrate of the polymer contaminants, however, is substantially unaffected. In one embodiment of the invention, the fluorocarbon gas includes CF , and, water vapor is introduced at a rate of at least 60 standard cubic centimeters per minute (SCCM).