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:
Nov. 12, 2002
Filed:
Apr. 07, 1998
Iku Shiota, Isehara, JP;
Shoichi Abe, Sagamihara, JP;
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo-To, JP;
Abstract
A wafer is mounted on a mounting stand that is provided with an electrostatic chuck. Then an SiOF film is formed by creating a plasma of a processing gas and heating the wafer W to approximately 350° C. while the surface of the mounting stand is heated to 200° C. After ten wafers W have been processed, cleaning is performed to remove a film S that has adhered to the interior of the film-formation chamber, and then a pre-coat is formed. A protective plate made of aluminum nitride is placed on the mounting stand during the cleaning and pre-coating steps. The protective plate protects the surface of the electrostatic chuck during the cleaning and prevents the formation of a film on the mounting stand during the pre-coating. In addition, since the protective plate is electrostatically attracted to the mounting stand and it is also strong with respect to thermal shocks, there is no need to lower the temperature of the mounting stand during the cleaning, which improves throughput.