Chamber recovery after opening barrier over copper
US7575007B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 23, 2006 |
| Grant date | Aug 18, 2009 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 6, 2026 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01J37/32862
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A chamber dry cleaning process particularly useful after a dielectric plasma etch process which exposes an underlying copper metallization. After the dielectric etch process, the production wafer is removed from the chamber and a cleaning gas is excited into a plasma to clean the chamber walls and recover the dielectric etching characteristic of the chamber. Preferably, the cleaning gas is reducing such as hydrogen gas with the addition of nitrogen gas. Alternatively, the cleaning gas may an oxidizing gas. If the wafer pedestal is vacant during the cleaning, it is not electrically biased. If a dummy wafer is placed on the pedestal during cleaning, the pedestal is biased. The cleaning process is advantageously performed every wafer cycle.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.