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:
Dec. 20, 2011
Filed:
Oct. 07, 2008
Nobutake Nodera, Nirasaki, JP;
Jun Sato, Nirasaki, JP;
Masanobu Matsunaga, Nirasaki, JP;
Kazuhide Hasebe, Nirasaki, JP;
Nobutake Nodera, Nirasaki, JP;
Jun Sato, Nirasaki, JP;
Masanobu Matsunaga, Nirasaki, JP;
Kazuhide Hasebe, Nirasaki, JP;
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A method for using a film formation apparatus for a semiconductor process to form a thin film on a target substrate inside a reaction chamber includes performing a cleaning process to remove a by-product film deposited on a predetermined region in a gas route from a film formation gas supply system, which supplies a film formation gas contributory to film formation, through the reaction chamber to an exhaust system, by alternately repeating an etching step and an exhaust step a plurality of times in a state where the reaction chamber does not accommodate the target substrate. The etching step includes supplying a cleaning gas in an activated state for etching the by-product film onto the predetermined region, thereby etching the by-product film. The exhaust step includes stopping supply of the cleaning gas and exhausting gas by the exhaust system from a space in which the predetermined region is present.