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:
May. 20, 2003
Filed:
Sep. 15, 2000
Wei Liu, San Jose, CA (US);
Scott Williams, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Stephen Yuen, Santa Clara, CA (US);
David Mui, San Jose, CA (US);
Meihua Shen, Fremont, CA (US);
Applied Materials Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method for processing a substrate disposed in a substrate process chamber having a source power includes transferring the substrate into the substrate process chamber. A trench is etched on the substrate by exposing the substrate to a plasma formed from a first etchant gas by applying RF energy from the source power system and biasing the plasma toward the substrate. Byproducts adhering to inner surfaces of the substrate process chamber are removed by igniting a plasma formed from a second etchant gas including a halogen source in the substrate process chamber without applying bias power or applying minimal bias power. Thereafter, the substrate is removed from the chamber. At least 100 more substrates are processed with the etching-a-trench step and removing-etch-byproducts step before performing a dry clean or wet clean operation on the chamber.