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:
Aug. 03, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 30, 2001
Duane Outka, Fremont, CA (US);
Yousun Kim, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Anthony Chen, Oakland, CA (US);
John Daugherty, Fremont, CA (US);
Lam Research Corporation, Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
A method of reducing aluminum fluoride deposits in a plasma etch reactor. The deposits can be reduced during a cleaning step wherein the cleaning gas includes BCl energized into a plasma such that dissociated and undissociated BCl are formed and the undissociated BCl reacts with aluminum fluoride deposits and forms volatile products which are removed from the chamber. The introduction of Cl into the cleaning gas allows control of the degree of BCl dissociation. The deposits can also be reduced during etching of an aluminum layer by controlling the amount of fluorocarbon used in the main etch and adding BCl during the overetch. The cleaning step may be performed without a substrate in the chamber and may be followed by a conditioning step.