Granted Patent B2

US 12,221,694 · App. 16/601,400 · Granted Feb 11, 2025

Inventors: Pramit Manna (Sunnyvale, CA); Swaminathan T. Srinivasan (Pleasanton, CA); Timothy J. Franklin (Campbell, CA)

Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.

C23C16/4405B08B9/0321C23C16/4404C23C16/45565C23C16/505H01J37/32082H01J37/32449H01J37/32862

Abstract

Claims (27)

1. A method for cleaning one or more interior surfaces of a processing chamber, the method comprising:

introducing a first cleaning chemistry comprising at least one of steam, chlorine, hydrochloride, or plasma into the processing chamber to generate a first internal pressure of about 1.5 atm to about 10 atm during a first cleaning period within the processing chamber and remove deposited contaminants from one or more interior surfaces of the processing chamber;

removing the first cleaning chemistry from the processing chamber; and

generating a second internal pressure within the processing chamber during a second cleaning period, wherein the second cleaning period is subsequent to the first cleaning period, and wherein the second internal pressure is 1 atm or less, and wherein generating the second internal pressure within the processing chamber comprises introducing a second cleaning chemistry different than the first cleaning chemistry into the processing chamber.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing a seasoning process that comprises depositing one or more seasoning layers on the one or more interior surfaces of the processing chamber.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising processing a substrate, wherein the substrate is processed at a processing pressure less than the first internal pressure.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising processing a substrate, wherein the substrate is processed at a processing pressure greater than or equal to the internal first pressure.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first internal pressure is at least 2 atm.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first cleaning chemistry is chlorine.

7. A method for processing a substrate in a processing chamber, the method comprising:

transferring the substrate for processing into the processing chamber;

processing the substrate by depositing one or more materials onto the substrate;

removing the processed substrate from the processing chamber;

introducing a first cleaning chemistry comprising at least one of steam, chlorine, plasma, or hydrochloride, into the processing chamber to generate a first internal pressure of about 1.5 atm to about 10 atm during a first cleaning period within the processing chamber and remove deposited contaminants from one or more interior surfaces of the processing chamber;

removing the first cleaning chemistry from the processing chamber; and

introducing a second cleaning chemistry into the processing chamber to generate a second internal pressure within the processing chamber during a second cleaning period, wherein the second cleaning period is subsequent to the first cleaning period, and wherein the second internal pressure is 1 atm or less.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the second cleaning chemistry is different than the first cleaning chemistry.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the substrate is processed at a processing pressure less than the first internal pressure.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first cleaning chemistry comprises steam.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first cleaning chemistry comprises chlorine.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first cleaning chemistry comprises plasma.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first cleaning chemistry comprises hydrochloride.

14. A method for cleaning one or more interior surfaces of a processing chamber, the method comprising:

introducing a first cleaning chemistry into the processing chamber to generate a first internal pressure of about 1.5 atm to about 10 atm within the processing chamber and remove deposited contaminants from one or more interior surfaces of the processing chamber; and

removing the first cleaning chemistry from the processing chamber;

wherein the first cleaning chemistry is steam.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (24)