Method for cleaning a reactor using electron attachment
A method for cleaning, and/or enhancing the cleaning of, a reactor is disclosed herein. In one aspect, there is provided a method comprising: providing the reactor wherein a surface of the reactor is coated with a substance; providing a first and second electrode in close proximity to the reactor wherein the first and second electrode reside within a target area; passing a gas mixture comprising a reactive gas into the target area; supplying energy to at least one of the first or the second electrodes to generate electrons within the target area wherein at least a portion of the electrons attach to at least a portion of the reactive gas thereby forming a negatively charged cleaning gas; contacting the substance with the negatively charged cleaning gas wherein the negatively charged cleaning gas reacts with the substance and forms a volatile product; and removing the volatile product from the reactor.
1 . A method for removing a substance from a reactor, the method comprising:
providing the reactor wherein at least a portion of a surface of the reactor is coated with the substance;
providing a first and a second electrode that is in close proximity to the reactor wherein the first and the second electrode resides within a target area;
passing a gas mixture comprising a reactive gas into the target area wherein the reactive gas has an electron affinity greater than 0;
supplying energy to at least one of the first or the second electrodes to generate electrons within the target area wherein at least a portion of the electrons attach to at least a portion of the reactive gas thereby forming a negatively charged cleaning gas;
contacting the substance with the negatively charged cleaning gas wherein the negatively charged cleaning gas reacts with the substance and forms at least one volatile product; and
removing the at least one volatile product from the reactor.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the reactive gas comprises a halogen.
3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the reactive gas is at least one member selected from NF 3 , ClF 3 , ClF, SF 6 , a perfluorocarbon, a hydrofluorocarbon, an oxyfluorocarbon, a hypofluorite, a fluoroperoxide, a fluorotrioxide, COF 2 , NOF, F 2 , a compound having the formula NF n Cl 3-n , wherein n is a number ranging from 1 to 2, BCl 3 , Cl 2 , and combinations thereof.
4 . The method of claim 3 wherein the reactive gas is NF 3 .
5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the gas mixture comprises reactive species that were activated within a remote chamber.
6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the gas mixture further comprises an inert diluent gas.
7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the inert diluent gas comprises at least one selected from nitrogen, helium, argon, neon, xenon, krypton, radon, and mixtures thereof.
8 . The method of claim 6 wherein the inert diluent gas has an electron affinity that is less than the electron affinity of the reactive gas.
9 . The method of claim 1 wherein the energy in the supplying step is at least one source selected from the group consisting of an electric energy source, an electromagnetic energy source, a thermal energy source, an electric energy source, a photo energy source, or combinations thereof.
10 . The method of claim 9 wherein the energy is an electric energy source.
11 . The method of claim 1 wherein the first electrode is grounded.
12 . The method of claim 1 wherein the second electrode is grounded.
13 . The method of claim 1 wherein the target area resides within the reactor.
14 . The method of claim 1 wherein the target area is outside of the reactor.
15 . The method of claim 1 wherein the electrons are generated in the supplying step by at least one method selected from the group consisting of cathode emission, gas discharge, and combinations thereof.
16 . The method of claim 15 wherein the electrons are generated by a cathode emission method selected from the group consisting of field emission, thermal emission, thermal-field emission, photoemission, and electron beam emission.
17 . The method of claim 1 wherein the substance is at least one selected from a W, Ti, SiO 2 , TiO 2 , SiON, poly-silicon, amorphous silicon, SiN, WN, Al 2 O 3 , HfO 2 , ZrO 2 , HfSiO 4 , and mixtures thereof.
18 . A method of removing a substance from at least a portion of a surface of a reactor, the method comprising:
providing the reactor comprising at least one electrode and the surface wherein at least a portion of the surface is grounded;
introducing a gas mixture comprising a reactive gas and optionally an inert diluent gas into the reactor;
supplying voltage to the at least one electrode and/or the surface to generate electrons wherein at least a portion of the electrons attach to at least a portion of the reactive gas thereby forming a negatively charged cleaning gas;
contacting the substance with the negatively charged cleaning gas wherein the negatively charged cleaning gas reacts with the substance and forms at least one volatile product; and
removing the at least one volatile product from the reactor.
19 . The method of claim 18 wherein the gas mixture further comprises reactive species.
20 . The method of claim 18 wherein the reactive gas is at least one member selected from NF 3 , ClF 3 , ClF, SF 6 , a perfluorocarbon, a hydrofluorocarbon, an oxyfluorocarbon, a hypofluorite, a fluoroperoxide, a fluorotrioxide, COF 2 , NOF, F 2 , a compound having the formula NF n Cl 3-n , wherein n is a number ranging from 1 to 2, BCl 3 , Cl 2 , and combinations thereof.
21 . The method of claim 20 wherein the reactive gas is NF 3 .
22 . The method of claim 18 wherein the substance is at least one selected from SiO 2 , TiO 2 , SiON, W, poly-silicon, amorphous silicon, SiN, WN, Al 2 O 3 , HfO 2 , ZrO 2 , HfSiO 4 , HfSiO 4 , and mixtures thereof.
23 . The method of claim 18 wherein the voltage ranges from 0.01 to 50 kV.
24 . The method of claim 23 wherein the voltage ranges from 0.1 to 30 kV.
25 . The method of claim 18 wherein the voltage is pulsed.
26 . The method of claim 18 wherein the gas mixture is at a pressure ranging from 1 Torr to 20 psia.
27 . The method of claim 18 wherein the gas mixture comprises the inert diluent gas.
28 . The method of claim 18 wherein the amount of inert diluent gas ranges from 1 to 99% by volume.
29 . A method of removing a substance from at least a portion of a surface of a reactor, the method comprising:
providing a reactive gas into a remote chamber that is outside of the reactor,
activating the reactive gas in the remote chamber to form reactive species;
providing the reactor comprising at least one electrode and the surface wherein at least a portion of the surface is grounded;
introducing a gas mixture comprising a reactive gas, reactive species, and optionally an inert diluent gas into the reactor;
supplying voltage to the at least one electrode and/or the surface to generate electrons wherein at least a portion of the electrons attach to at least a portion of the reactive gas thereby forming a negatively charged cleaning gas;
contacting the substance with the negatively charged cleaning gas wherein the negatively charged cleaning gas reacts with the substance and forms at least one volatile product; and
removing the at least one volatile product from the reactor.
30 . The method of claim 29 wherein the activating step is conducted using power that ranges from 100 to 14,000 Watts.