Method for removing carbon-containing residues from a substrate

1. A process for removing residue comprising silicon and carbon from at least a portion of a surface of a substrate, the process comprising:

providing a process gas comprising an oxygen source, a fluorine source, and optionally an additive gas wherein the molar ratio of oxygen to fluorine contained within the process gas ranges from about 2 to about 8;

activating the process gas using at least one energy source to provide reactive species; and

contacting the surface of the substrate with the reactive species to volatilize and remove the residue from the surface.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the activating step occurs in a location outside of where the contacting step is conducted.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the activating step and contacting step occur in the same location.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein the oxygen source comprises at least one selected from oxygen, ozone, nitric oxide, nitrous oxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water, and mixtures thereof.

5. The process of claim 1 wherein the activating step uses a remote plasma energy source.

6. The process of claim 5 wherein the activating step uses in situ plasma.

7. The process of claim 1 wherein the fluorine source comprises at least one selected from F 2 ; HF, NF 3 ; SF 6 ; COF 2 ; NOF; C 3 F 3 N 3 ; C 2 F 2 O 2 ; a perfluorocarbon; a hydrofluorocarbon; an oxyfluorocarbon; an oxygenated hydrofluorocarbon; a hydrofluoroether; a hypofluorite; a fluoroperoxide; a fluorotrioxide; a fluoroamine; a fluoronitrile; and mixtures thereof.

8. The process of claim 1 wherein at least one of the oxygen source and the fluorine source are the same compound.

9. The process of claim 8 wherein the same compound is at least one selected from a hypofluorite, a fluoroperoxide, a fluorotrioxide, and mixtures thereof.

10. The process of claim 1 wherein the process gas comprises an additive gas.

11. The process of claim 10 wherein the additive gas is one selected from H 2 , N 2 , He, Ne, Kr, Xe, Ar, and mixtures thereof.

12. A process for removing residues comprising silicon and carbon from a surface of a process chamber wherein the process chamber is used to deposit a composite organosilicate material, the process comprising:

providing the process chamber wherein the chamber comprises a surface at least partially coated with residues;

providing a process gas comprising an oxygen source, a fluorine source, and optionally an additive gas wherein the molar ratio of oxygen to fluorine contained within the process gas ranges from about 2 to about 8;

activating the process gas using at least one energy source to form reactive species;

contacting the residues with the reactive species to form at least one volatile product; and

removing the at least one volatile product from the process chamber.

13. The process of claim 12 wherein at least a portion of the activating step is conducted in a location outside of the process chamber.

14. The process of claim 13 wherein the contacting step is conducted at a pressure of 5 torr or less.

15. A process for removing residues comprising silicon and carbon from a surface of a process chamber wherein the process chamber is used to deposit a composite organosilicate material, the process comprising:

providing the process chamber wherein the chamber comprises a surface at least partially coated with residues;

providing a process gas comprising an oxygen source, a fluorine source, and optionally an additive gas wherein the molar ratio of oxygen to fluorine contained within the process gas ranges from about 2 to about 8;

activating the process gas by applying at least one energy source to form reactive species wherein at least a portion of the process gas is activated within the process chamber and at least another portion of the process gas is activated in a location outside of the process chamber;

contacting the residues with the reactive species to form at least one volatile product; and

removing the at least one volatile product from the process chamber.

16. A process for removing residues comprising silicon and carbon from a surface of a process chamber wherein the process chamber is used to deposit a composite organosilicate material, the process comprising:

providing the process chamber wherein the chamber comprises a surface at least partially coated with residues;

providing a process gas comprising an oxygen source, a fluorine source, and optionally an additive gas wherein the molar ratio of oxygen to fluorine contained within the process gas ranges from about 2 to about 8;

activating the process gas by applying at least one energy source to form reactive species wherein a first portion of the process gas is activated outside of the process chamber and introduced into the process chamber and a second portion of the process gas is activated within the process chamber;

contacting the residues with the reactive species to form at least one volatile product wherein the contacting step is conducted at a pressure of 5 torr or less; and

removing at least one volatile product from the process chamber.

17. The process of claim 16 wherein the composite organosilicate film is produced from the deposition of a pore-forming precursor and a structure-forming precursor.

18. The process of claim 17 where the pore-forming precursor is at least one selected from alpha-terpinene, limonene, cyclohexane, 1,2,4-trimethylcyclohexane, 1,5-dimethyl-1,5-cyclooctadiene, camphene, adamantane, 1,3-butadiene, substituted dienes, decahydronaphthelene, and mixtures thereof.

19. The process of claim 17 wherein the structure forming precursor is at least one selected from 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, and tetraethoxysilane.

20. A process for the deposition of an composite organosilicate film on a substrate, the process comprising:

placing the substrate into a process chamber;

depositing the composite organosilicate film onto the substrate and a silicon and carbon-containing residue onto at least one surface within the chamber using a pore-forming precursor and a structure-forming precursor wherein the depositing step is conducted by a process selected from chemical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition, vacuum deposition, spray pyrolysis and combinations thereof;

providing a process gas comprising an oxygen source, a fluorine source, and optionally an additive gas wherein the molar ratio of oxygen to fluorine contained within the process gas ranges from about 2 to about 8;

activating the process gas by applying at least one energy source to form reactive species;

contacting the residues with the reactive species to form at least one volatile product; and

removing from the reactor the at least one volatile product to clean the reactor.