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:
Jan. 31, 2006
Filed:
Jan. 15, 2003
Takenao Nemoto, Kanagawa, JP;
Emmanuel Guidotti, Gilbert, AZ (US);
Gert Leusink, Hopewell Junction, NY (US);
Takenao Nemoto, Kanagawa, JP;
Emmanuel Guidotti, Gilbert, AZ (US);
Gert Leusink, Hopewell Junction, NY (US);
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A cleaning method is provided using a cleaning gas mixture of hydrogen and inert gas, for example a mixture in which the hydrogen content is between 20 percent and 80 percent by volume, provided to the chamber of a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus and an ICP power source only to generate a high density plasma in the gas mixture without biasing the surface to be cleaned. In examples of the invention, Si and SiOcontaminants or CFx contaminants are cleaned from a silicon contact prior to subsequent metal deposition. In another example of the invention, silicon residue is cleaned from internal chamber surfaces before oxide etching to recover the baseline oxide etch rate.