Epitaxy system integrated with high selectivity oxide removal and high temperature contaminant removal

1. A processing system, comprising:

a transfer chamber coupled to at least one vapor phase epitaxy chamber;

a vacuum chamber coupled to the transfer chamber, the vacuum chamber including an oxide removal chamber, the oxide removal chamber comprising:

a lid assembly, with a mixing chamber and a gas distributor;

a first gas inlet formed through a portion of the lid assembly and in fluid communication with the mixing chamber;

a second gas inlet formed through a portion of the lid assembly and in fluid communication with the mixing chamber;

a third gas inlet formed through a portion of the lid assembly and in fluid communication with the mixing chamber; and

a substrate support with

a substrate supporting surface;

a cooling channel; and

a lift member disposed in a recess of the substrate supporting surface and coupled through the substrate support to a lift actuator; and

a plasma contaminant removal chamber coupled to the transfer chamber, the plasma contaminant removal chamber comprising:

a remote plasma source; and

a substrate support operable to heat a substrate disposed thereon to a temperature between 25 degrees Celsius and 650 degrees Celsius.

2. The processing system of claim 1 , wherein the oxide removal chamber comprises a plasma generation source.

3. The processing system of claim 2 , wherein the plasma generation source comprises the remote plasma source that is configured to form a plasma therein by use of an RF source or a microwave source.

4. The processing system of claim 2 , wherein the remote plasma source is coupled to a lid of the oxide removal chamber.

5. The processing system of claim 1 , wherein the oxide removal chamber includes a remote plasma chamber.

6. The processing system of claim 1 , wherein the oxide removal chamber is a fluorine processing chamber, and the plasma contaminant removal chamber is a hydrogen processing chamber.

7. The processing system of claim 6 , further comprising a rapid thermal processing chamber coupled to the transfer chamber.

8. The processing system of claim 7 , further comprising an anneal chamber coupled to the transfer chamber.

9. A method of processing a substrate, comprising:

loading a substrate into a transfer chamber;

transferring the substrate from the transfer chamber to an oxide removal chamber coupled to the transfer chamber, wherein the oxide removal chamber comprises:

a lid assembly, with a mixing chamber and a gas distributor;

a first gas inlet formed through a portion of the lid assembly and in fluid communication with the mixing chamber;

a second gas inlet formed through a portion of the lid assembly and in fluid communication with the mixing chamber; and

a third gas inlet formed through a portion of the lid assembly and in fluid communication with the mixing chamber;

removing oxides from the substrate by a process that includes exposing the substrate to a processing gas comprising NH 3 , HF, and inert gases mixed in the mixing chamber;

transferring the substrate to a plasma contaminant removal vacuum chamber coupled to the transfer chamber and positioning the substrate on a substrate support in the plasma contaminant removal chamber;

heating the substrate on the substrate support to a temperature between 25 degrees Celsius and 650 degrees Celsius;

removing contaminants from the substrate by a process that includes exposing the substrate to hydrogen radicals introduced from a remote plasma source in fluid communication with the plasma contaminant removal chamber;

transferring the substrate from the plasma containment removal vacuum chamber to the transfer chamber;

transferring the substrate from the transfer chamber into a process chamber coupled to the transfer chamber; and

forming a film on the substrate by an epitaxy process within the process chamber.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising removing by-products of the oxide removal process from the substrate by a thermal treatment process.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the thermal treatment process is performed in the same chamber as the hydrogen radical exposure process.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the oxide removal process comprises:

disposing the substrate in the oxide removal chamber;

forming a plasma from an inert gas;

flowing the plasma into the mixing chamber with NH 3 and HF to form a reaction mixture;

flowing the reaction mixture into the oxide removal chamber, and

exposing the substrate to the reaction mixture.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the oxide removal process further comprises heating the substrate to a temperature of at least 100 degrees Celsius after the exposure to the reaction mixture.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein exposing the substrate to hydrogen radicals comprises:

removing ions from the plasma using a magnetic field.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

before exposing the substrate to a fluorine containing chemistry, disposing the substrate in a thermal treatment chamber;

flowing an inert gas into the thermal treatment chamber; and

heating the substrate to a temperature of 400 degrees Celsius or greater.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein exposing the substrate to hydrogen radicals comprises heating the substrate to a temperature of at least 400 degrees Celsius.

17. The processing system of claim 1 , wherein the transfer chamber is a first transfer chamber, and the vacuum chamber comprises a pass-through station, and the system further comprises:

a second transfer chamber coupled to the first transfer chamber by the pass-through station, wherein the oxide removal chamber is disposed in the pass-through station and the oxide removal chamber is a plasma chamber.