Granted Patent B2

US 12,601,051 · App. 18/447,199 · Granted Apr 14, 2026

Inventors: Fengyuan Lai (Sherwood, OR); Bo Gong (Sherwood, OR); Guangbi Yuan (Beaverton, OR); Chen-Hua Hsu (Sherwood, OR); Bhadri Varadarajan (Beaverton, OR)

Assignee: Lam Research Corporation

C23C16/401C23C16/4404C23C16/45536C23C16/505H01L21/0262H01J37/32522H01J37/32816

Abstract

Claims (23)

1 . A method for conditioning a substrate processing chamber, the method comprising:

depositing, in a substrate processing chamber, a preconditioning film by atomic layer deposition (ALD) onto internal surfaces of the substrate processing chamber,

depositing a multi-layer composite protective film onto the preconditioning film of the substrate processing chamber, comprising:

depositing, in the substrate processing chamber and without a wafer inside the substrate processing chamber, a silicon oxycarbide (SiCO) layer by remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD) onto the internal surfaces of the substrate processing chamber; and

depositing, in the substrate processing chamber and without a wafer inside the substrate processing chamber, a protective layer by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) onto the SiCO layer, wherein the protective layer comprises silicon, oxygen, and carbon, and has a different carbon content than the SiCO layer.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting a monitored condition meeting or transgressing a threshold value in the substrate processing chamber, wherein depositing the preconditioning film, depositing the SiCO layer, and depositing the protective layer occur in response to detection of the monitored condition meeting or transgressing the threshold value.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the monitored condition includes a film stress value or defect performance of the substrate processing chamber.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the monitored condition includes a thickness of a film accumulation on the internal surface of the substrate processing chamber.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

striking an oxygen-based plasma in the substrate processing chamber prior to depositing the preconditioning film.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

repeating the depositing of the SiCO layer and the protective layer successively to form paired layers of an SiCO layer and a protective layer to form the multi-layer composite protective film, the multi-layer composite protective film comprising the preconditioning film and successive paired layers of the SiCO layer and the protective layer.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

repeating the depositing of the protective layer onto the SiCO layer.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

detecting film accumulation on the internal surfaces of the substrate processing chamber has reached a threshold amount, wherein repeating the depositing of the protective layer occurs in response to detection of film accumulation reaching the threshold amount.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the protective layer has a greater carbon content than the SiCO layer and is oxidation-resistant.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the protective layer has a thickness between about 50 nm and about 1 μm.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a chemical used in a reaction of the CVD for deposition of the protective layer includes a silicon-containing species.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the silicon-containing species includes silane or disilane.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the protective layer is an oxidation-resistant protective layer including 30% to 45% by weight carbon.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a pressure in the substrate processing chamber during deposition of the protective layer is between 0.1 Torr and 10 Torr, and wherein a temperature of the substrate processing chamber during deposition of the protective layer is between 100° C. and 600° C.

Continuity (3)

References Cited (400)