Epitaxial deposition process and apparatus

US7494545B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Applied Materials, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Andrew Lam · San Francisco, US
• Yihwan Kim · San Jose, US
• Satheesh Kuppurao · San Jose, US
• See-Eng Phan · San Jose, US
• Xinliang Lu · Fremont, US
• Chien-Teh Kao · Sunnyvale, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 3, 2006
• Grant date: Feb 24, 2009
• Expiry date: Feb 3, 2026

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01L21/67069
• WIPO field: Surface technology, coating
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

An epitaxial deposition process including a dry etch process, followed by an epitaxial deposition process is disclosed. The dry etch process involves placing a substrate to be cleaned into a processing chamber to remove surface oxides. A gas mixture is introduced into a plasma cavity, and the gas mixture is energized to form a plasma of reactive gas in the plasma cavity. The reactive gas enters into the processing chamber and reacts with the substrate, forming a thin film. The substrate is heated to vaporize the thin film and expose an epitaxy surface. The epitaxy surface is substantially free of oxides. Epitaxial deposition is then used to form an epitaxial layer on the epitaxy surface.