Apparatus and method for removal of oxide and carbon from semiconductor films in a single processing chamber

1 . A method for processing a semiconductor substrate comprising:

providing a reaction chamber and a susceptor configured to hold a substrate;

providing the substrate, wherein the substrate comprises a first material comprising silicon, germanium, and oxygen;

performing an oxide conversion step on the substrate, the oxide conversion step comprising: (1) flowing a first gas into a first remote plasma unit to form a first radical gas comprising fluorine radicals; and (2) flowing the first radical gas onto the substrate;

performing an oxide sublimation step on the substrate, the oxide sublimation step comprising: (1) a first heating step comprising heating the substrate to a temperature greater than 100° C.; and (2) after the first heating step, a second heating step comprising heating the substrate to a temperature greater than 250° C.; and

performing a carbon removal step on the substrate, wherein the carbon removal step comprises flowing a second gas comprising hydrogen into a second remote plasma unit to form a second radical gas comprising hydrogen radicals, and flowing the second radical gas onto the substrate;

wherein a transport path connects the first remote plasma unit and the second remote plasma unit to the reaction chamber;

wherein the first remote plasma unit is dedicated for generating fluorine radicals and the second remote plasma unit is dedicated for generating hydrogen radicals;

wherein the oxide conversion step, the oxide sublimation step, and the carbon removal step are each performed in the reaction chamber; and

wherein any of the oxide conversion step, the oxide sublimation step, and the carbon removal step are repeated as needed.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the transport path comprises a first coating comprising at least one of: atomic layer deposition (ALD)-formed aluminum oxide; plasma sprayed Al 2 O 3 ; bare aluminum parts with native aluminum oxide; yttrium oxide stabilized zirconium oxide (YSZ); zirconium oxide (ZrO 2 ); lanthanum zirconium oxide (LZO); yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG); yttrium oxyfluoride (YOF); or yttrium oxide stabilized zirconium oxide (YSZ).

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the transport path further comprises quartz material.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the carbon removal step comprises heating the substrate to a temperature between 25° C. and 500° C.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first gas comprises WF 6 .

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second gas comprises at least one of: O 2 or O 3 .

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a second material comprising carbon, and wherein the carbon removal step comprises reacting the hydrogen radicals with carbon in the second material comprising carbon to produce gaseous hydrocarbons.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first material comprises silicon germanium oxide, wherein the oxide conversion step converts the silicon germanium oxide to a solid ammonium-hexafluorosilicate and a solid ammonium-hexafluorogermanate.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the first heating step comprises heating the substrate to a temperature greater than 125° C., and wherein the first heating step sublimates the solid ammonium-hexafluorosilicate.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the second heating step comprises heating the substrate to a temperature greater than 275° C., and wherein the second heating step sublimates the solid ammonium-hexafluorogermanate.

11 . A method for processing a semiconductor substrate comprising:

providing a reaction chamber and a susceptor configured to hold a substrate;

providing the substrate, wherein the substrate comprises a first material comprising carbon;

performing a carbon removal step on the substrate, wherein the carbon removal step comprises producing hydrogen radicals in a second remote plasma unit and reacting the hydrogen radicals with carbon in the first material comprising carbon to produce gaseous hydrocarbons;

after performing the carbon removal step, performing an oxide conversion step on the substrate, the oxide conversion step comprising: (1) flowing a first gas into a first remote plasma unit to form a first radical gas; and (2) flowing the first radical gas onto the substrate;

performing an oxide sublimation step on the substrate, the oxide sublimation step comprising: (1) a first heating step; and (2) a second heating step; and

wherein the carbon removal step, the oxide conversion step, and the oxide sublimation step are each performed in the reaction chamber;

wherein a transport path connects the first remote plasma unit and the second remote plasma unit to the reaction chamber;

wherein the first remote plasma is dedicated for generating fluorine radicals and the second remote plasma is dedicated for generating hydrogen radicals;

wherein the first gas comprises at least one of: COF 2 and WF 6 , and

wherein any of the carbon removal step, the oxide conversion step, and the oxide sublimation step are repeated as needed.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the carbon removal step comprises:

flowing a second gas comprising hydrogen into a second remote plasma unit to form a second radical gas comprising hydrogen radicals; and

flowing the second radical gas onto the substrate.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein a transport path connects the first remote plasma unit and the second remote plasma unit to the reaction chamber.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the first gas comprises WF 6 .

15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the second gas comprises at least one of: H 2 O, O 2 , or O 3 .

16 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the second gas comprises argon.

17 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the substrate further comprises a second material comprising silicon germanium oxide, wherein the oxide conversion step converts the silicon germanium oxide to a solid ammonium-hexafluorosilicate and a solid ammonium-hexafluorogermanate, and wherein the first heating step comprises heating the substrate to a temperature greater than 90° C. to sublimate the solid ammonium-hexafluorosilicate.

18 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the substrate further comprises a second material comprising silicon germanium oxide, wherein the oxide conversion step converts the silicon germanium oxide to a solid ammonium-hexafluorosilicate and a solid ammonium-hexafluorogermanate, and wherein the second heating step comprises heating the substrate to a temperature greater than 225° C. to sublimate the solid ammonium-hexafluorogermanate.

19 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the carbon removal step comprises heating the substrate to a temperature between 150° C. and 300° C.

20 . A method for processing a semiconductor substrate comprising:

providing an apparatus for processing a semiconductor substrate, comprising:

a reaction chamber;

a susceptor configured to hold a substrate;

a first gas source for providing a first gas;

a second gas source for providing a second gas, wherein the second gas comprises one or more of H 2 , NH 3 , or H 2 O, and one or more of O 2 and O 3 ;

a remote plasma unit configured to receive the first gas and produce a first radical gas;

a gas distribution device configured to flow the first radical gas and the second gas onto the substrate; and

a transport path connecting the remote plasma unit to the gas distribution device,

wherein the first radical gas passes through the gas distribution device onto the substrate;

wherein the gas distribution device, the reaction chamber, the transport path, and the susceptor are coated with at least one of: lanthanum zirconium oxide (LZO); yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG); yttrium oxyfluoride (YOF); or yttrium oxide stabilized zirconium oxide (YSZ) lanthanum zirconium oxide (LZO); yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG); yttrium oxyfluoride (YOF); or yttrium oxide stabilized zirconium oxide (YSZ);

performing an oxide conversion step on the substrate, the oxide conversion step comprising: (1) flowing the first gas into the remote plasma unit to form the first radical gas; and (2) flowing the first radical gas onto the substrate;

performing an oxide sublimation step on the substrate, the oxide sublimation step comprising: (1) a first heating step; and (2) a second heating step; and

performing a carbon removal step on the substrate, wherein the carbon removal step comprises forming flowing the second gas into the remote plasma unit to form the second radical gas;

wherein the oxide conversion step, the oxide sublimation step, and the carbon removal step are each performed in the reaction chamber; and

wherein any of the oxide conversion step, the oxide sublimation step, and the carbon removal step are repeated as needed,

wherein the first radical gas comprises F radicals, and

wherein the second radical gas comprises H radicals.