Treatment of etching chambers using activated cleaning gas

Abstract

An apparatus and process for treating and conditioning an etching chamber , and cleaning a thin, non-homogeneous, etch residue on the walls and components of the etching chamber . In the etching step, a substrate is etched in the etching chamber to deposit a thin etch residue layer on the surfaces of the walls and components in the chamber. In the cleaning step, cleaning gas is introduced into a remote chamber adjacent to the etching chamber , and microwave or RF energy is applied inside the remote chamber to form an activated cleaning gas. A short burst of activated cleaning gas at a high flow rate is introduced into the etching chamber to clean the etch residue on the walls and components of the etching chamber. The method is particularly useful for cleaning etch residue that is chemically adhered to ceramic surfaces in the chamber, for example surfaces comprising aluminum nitride, boron carbide, boron nitride, diamond, silicon oxide, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, titanium oxide, titanium carbide, yttrium oxide, zirconium oxide, or mixtures thereof.