Polymer removal from top surfaces and sidewalls of a semiconductor wafer

US5780359A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Applied Materials, Inc. · US

Inventors

• William R. Brown · Brecksville, US
• Harald Herchen · Los Altos, US
• Walter R. Merry · Cupertino, US
• Michael Welch · Pleasanton, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 11, 1995
• Grant date: Jul 14, 1998
• Expiry date: Dec 11, 2015

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01L21/31138
• WIPO field: Semiconductors
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A process for producing a strip removes photoresist and extraneous deposits of polymer residue on the top surface and sidewalls of a post-metal etch wafer. The photoresist and residue are processed simultaneously by a chemical mechanism comprising reactive species derived from a microwave-excited fluorine-containing downstream gas, and a physical mechanism comprising ion bombardment that results from a radio frequency excited plasma and accompanying wafer self bias. A vacuum pump draws stripped photoresist and residues from the surface of the wafer and exhausts them from the chamber.