Supercritical fluid technology for cleaning processing chambers and systems
The invention includes a method of cleaning a processing chamber by introducing supercritical fluid into the processing chamber. A residue over an internal chamber surface is contacted with the supercritical fluid to remove the residue from the surface. The invention also includes a method of removing deposited material from internal surfaces of a processing system. A cleaning agent comprising at least one of C 3 H 8 , C 2 H 6 and CH 4 is provided in supercritical phase into at least a portion of the processing system. A material deposited on an internal surface of the processing system is contacted with the cleaning agent to remove at least a portion of the deposited material.
1. A method of cleaning a processing chamber, comprising:
providing a processing chamber having a residue material over at least one internal chamber surface, the residue being formed over the at least one internal surface during one or more processing event conducted within the processing chamber selected from the group consisting of material deposition, etching, annealing, photolithography, ion implantation, and chemical mechanical polishing;
providing a supercritical fluid in the processing chamber, the supercritical fluid comprising at least one of C 3 H 8 , C 2 H 6 , and CH 4 ; and
contacting the residue material with the supercritical fluid, the contacting removing at least some of the residue material from over the at least one internal chamber surface.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the residue material comprises at least one member of the group consisting of, a hydrocarbon, aluminum oxide, copper, a copper-comprising material, TiN, Ta 2 O 5 , barium strontium titanate (BST), lead zirconate titanate (PZT), strontium bismuth titanate (SBT), NH 4 Cl, TiCl 4 , hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, a platinum rhodium alloy, ruthenium, ruthenium oxide, WN x , W, Pt, iridium, iridium oxide, HfN, Ta, TaN, aluminum nitride and Si x N y .
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the residue material comprises an organic material.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the residue material comprises an inorganic material.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the processing chamber is selected from the group consisting of a PVD chamber, a CVD chamber, an ALD chamber, a PECVD chamber, a pulsed-CVD chamber and a high density plasma chamber.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one internal surface includes a surface comprised by a disperser, a chamber wall or a substrate holder.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing the supercritical fluid comprises flowing a liquid into the processing chamber and generating the supercritical phase from the liquid within the processing chamber.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing the supercritical fluid comprises flowing a gas into the chamber and generating the supercritical fluid from the gas within the processing chamber.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing the supercritical fluid comprises introducing the supercritical fluid into the processing chamber in supercritical phase.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the supercritical fluid further comprises at least one of CO 2 , N 2 O, H 2 O, Ar and NH 3 .
11. The method of claim 1 wherein the supercritical fluid contains at least one of a co-solvent and a surf actant dispersed therein.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein the super critical fluid has a polar co-solvent dispersed therein.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein the chamber is maintained at a pressure greater than or equal to the critical pressure of the supercritical fluid throughout the cleaning.
14. The method of claim 1 wherein the chamber is maintained at a temperature greater than or equal to the critical temperature of the supercritical fluid throughout the cleaning.
15. The method of claim 1 wherein the chamber is maintained at a temperature of at least about 31° C. and a pressure of at least about 72.8 atm throughout the cleaning.