Cleaning CVD chambers following deposition of porogen-containing materials

1 . A process for cleaning equipment surfaces in a semiconductor material processing chamber after deposition of a porous film containing a porogen, comprising;

contacting the equipment surfaces with a proton donor containing atmosphere to react with the porogen deposited on the equipment surfaces;

contacting the equipment surfaces with a fluorine donor containing atmosphere to react with the film deposited on the equipment surfaces.

2 . The process of claim 1 wherein the contacting with the proton donor containing atmosphere is followed by contacting with the fluorine donor containing atmosphere.

3 . The process of claim 1 wherein the contacting with the fluorine donor containing atmosphere is followed by contacting with the proton donor containing atmosphere.

4 . The process of claim 1 wherein the contacting with the fluorine donor containing atmosphere is simultaneous with the contacting with the proton donor containing atmosphere.

5 . The process of claim 1 wherein the proton donor containing atmosphere comprises an agent selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, methane, ethane, ammonia, water, C x H y where x=1-5 and y=4-12, and mixtures thereof.

6 . The process of claim 1 wherein the proton donor atmosphere comprises a reducing atomosphere.

7 . The process of claim 1 wherein the fluorine donor containing atmosphere comprises a fluorine compound selected from the group consisting of F 2 , NF 3 , CF 4 , C 2 F 6 , C 3 F 8 , C 4 F 8 , C 4 F 8 O, CHF 3 , COF 2 , bisfluoroxydifluoromethane, or other C x hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons and oxygenated fluorocarbons where x=1-6, and mixtures thereof.

8 . The process of claim 1 wherein the porogen can be at least one member selected from the group consisting of:

(a) at least one cyclic hydrocarbon having a cyclic structure and the formula C n H 2n , where n is 4 to 14, a number of carbons in the cyclic structure is between 4 and 10, and the at least one cyclic hydrocarbon optionally contains a plurality of simple or branched hydrocarbons substituted onto the cyclic structure;

(b) at least one linear or branched, saturated, partially or fully unsaturated hydrocarbon having the formula C n H (2n+2)−2y where n=2-20 and where y=0-n;

(c) at least one singly or multiply unsaturated cyclic hydrocarbon having a cyclic structure and the formula C n H 2n−2x , where x is a number of unsaturated sites, n is 4 to 14, a number of carbons in the cyclic structure is between 4 and 10, and the at least one singly or multiply unsaturated cyclic hydrocarbon optionally contains a plurality of simple or branched hydrocarbons substituents substituted onto the cyclic structure, and contains unsaturation inside endocyclic or on one of the hydrocarbon substituents;

(d) at least one bicyclic hydrocarbon having a bicyclic structure and the formula C n H 2n−2 , where n is 4 to 14, a number of carbons in the bicyclic structure is from 4 to 12, and the at least one bicyclic hydrocarbon optionally contains a plurality of simple or branched hydrocarbons substituted onto the bicyclic structure;

(e) at least one multiply unsaturated bicyclic hydrocarbon having a bicyclic structure and the formula C n H 2n−(2+2x) , where x is a number of unsaturated sites, n is 4 to 14, a number of carbons in the bicyclic structure is from 4 to 12, and the at least one multiply unsaturated bicyclic hydrocarbon optionally contains a plurality of simple or branched hydrocarbons substituents substituted onto the bicyclic structure, and contains unsaturation inside endocyclic or on one of the hydrocarbon substituents;

(f) at least one tricyclic hydrocarbon having a tricyclic structure and the formula

(a) C n H 2n−4 , where n is 4 to 14, a number of carbons in the tricyclic structure is from 4 to 12, and the at least one tricyclic hydrocarbon optionally contains a plurality of simple or branched hydrocarbons substituted onto the cyclic structure;

and mixtures thereof.

9 . The process of claim 1 wherein the porogen comprises a compound selected from the group consisting of alpha-terpinene, limonene, cyclohexane, 1,2,4-trimethylcyclohexane, 1,5-dimethyl-1,5-cyclooctadiene, camphene, adamantane, 1,3-butadiene, substituted C x dienes where x=2-18, decahydronaphthelene, and mixtures thereof.

10 . The process of claim 1 wherein the fluorine donor containing atmosphere includes a source of oxygen.

11 . The process of claim 1 wherein the fluorine donor containing atmosphere includes a source of oxygen selected from the group consisting of oxygen, ozone, water, nitric oxide, nitrous oxide, nitrogen dioxide, silicon dioxide and mixtures thereof.

12 . The process of claim 1 wherein a precursor for the film and the porogen are contained in the same molecule.

13 . The method of claim 1 wherein the porous film is selected from the group consisting of diethoxymethylsilane, dimethoxymethylsilane, di-isopropoxymethylsilane, di-t-butoxymethylsilane, methyltriethoxysilane, methyltrimethoxysilane, methyltri-isopropoxysilane, methyltri-t-butoxysilane, dimethyldimethoxysilane, dimethyldiethoxysilane, dimethyldi-isopropoxysilane, dimethyldi-t-butoxysilane, 1,3,5,7-tetramethylcyclotatrasiloxane, octamethyl-cyclotetrasiloxane, tetraethoxysilane, and mixtures thereof.

14 . The process of claim 1 wherein the porous film comprises an organosilicon glass with the composition represented by the formula Si v O w C x H y F z , where v+w+x+y+z=100%, v is from 5 to 35 atomic %, w is from 10 to 65 atomic %, x is from 5 to 70 atomic %, y is from 10 to 70 atomic %, and z is from 0 to 15 atomic %.

15 . A process for cleaning equipment surfaces in a semiconductor material CVD processing chamber after deposition of a porous dielectric film containing a porogen, comprising;

evacuating a zone contacting the equipment surface;

maintaining the zone under plasma conditions;

contacting the equipment surfaces with a proton donor containing atmosphere to react with the porogen deposited on the equipment surfaces;

evacuating the zone contacting the equipment surface;

contacting the equipment surfaces with a fluorine donor and oxygen source containing atmosphere to react with the dielectric film deposited on the equipment surfaces to clean the equipment surfaces.

16 . The process of claim 15 wherein the proton donor containing atmosphere includes an inert gas.

17 . The process of claim 15 wherein the fluorine donor containing atmosphere includes an inert gas.

18 . The process of claim 15 wherein plasma is generated by radio frequency of 500 to 5000 Watts.

19 . The process of claim 15 wherein the evacuating is conducted to a pressure no greater than 600 torr.

20 . A process for cleaning equipment surfaces in a semiconductor material CVD processing chamber after deposition of a porous dielectric film from diethoxymethylsilane containing an alph-terpinene porogen, comprising;

(a) evacuating a zone contacting the equipment surface to a pressure no greater than 600 torr;

(b) maintaining the zone under plasma conditions generated by radio frequency of 1000 to 2000 Watts;

(c) contacting the equipment surfaces with hydrogen to react with the alph-terpinene porogen deposited on the equipment surfaces; then,

(d) evacuating the zone contacting the equipment surface to a pressure no greater than 600 torr; and then,

(e) contacting the equipment surfaces with NF 3 and O 2 to react with the dielectric film deposited on the equipment surfaces to clean the equipment surfaces.

21 . A process for cleaning equipment surfaces in a semiconductor material CVD processing chamber after deposition of a porous dielectric film from diethoxymethylsilane containing an alph-terpinene porogen, comprising;

(a) evacuating a zone contacting the equipment surface to a pressure no greater than 600 torr;

(b) maintaining the zone under plasma conditions generated by radio frequency of 1000 to 2000 Watts;

(c) contacting the equipment surfaces with hydrogen to react with the alph-terpinene porogen deposited on the equipment surfaces; then,

(d) evacuating the zone contacting the equipment surface to a pressure no greater than 600 torr; and then,

(e) contacting the equipment surfaces with C 2 F 6 and O 2 to react with the dielectric film deposited on the equipment surfaces to clean the equipment surfaces.