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:
Feb. 01, 2005
Filed:
Feb. 05, 2002
Krishnan Shrinivasan, San Jose, CA (US);
Souvik Banerjee, Fremont, CA (US);
Francisco Juarez, Fremont, CA (US);
Karen A. Reinhardt, San Jose, CA (US);
Sanjay Gopinath, Fremont, CA (US);
Krishnan Shrinivasan, San Jose, CA (US);
Souvik Banerjee, Fremont, CA (US);
Francisco Juarez, Fremont, CA (US);
Karen A. Reinhardt, San Jose, CA (US);
Sanjay Gopinath, Fremont, CA (US);
Novellus Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention pertains to a system for cleaning wafers that includes specialized pressurization, process vessel, recirculation, chemical addition, depressurization, and recapture-recycle subsystems, as well as methods for implementing wafer cleaning using such a system. A solvent delivery mechanism converts a liquid-state sub-critical solution to a supercritical cleaning solution and introduces it into a process vessel that contains a wafer or wafers. The supercritical cleaning solution is recirculated through the process vessel by a recirculation system. An additive delivery system introduces chemical additives to the supercritical cleaning solution via the solvent delivery mechanism, the process vessel, or the recirculation system. Addition of chemical additives to the sub-critical solution may also be performed. The recirculation system provides efficient mixing of chemical additives, efficient cleaning, and process uniformity. A depressurization system provides dilution and removal of cleaning solutions under supercritical conditions. A recapture-recycle system introduces captured-purified solvents into the solvent delivery mechanism.