Aluminum fluoride mitigation by plasma treatment

A method for cleaning a substrate-processing chamber, consisting of:

• flowing a fluorine-containing cleaning gas mixture into a remote plasma source fluidly coupled with a substrate-processing chamber, wherein the substrate-processing chamber has a processing volume with one or more aluminum-containing interior surfaces having unwanted deposits formed on the one or more aluminum-containing interior surfaces;
• forming reactive fluorine species from the fluorine-containing cleaning gas mixture;
• transporting the reactive fluorine species into the processing volume;
• permitting the reactive fluorine species to react with the unwanted deposits and the one or more aluminum-containing interior surfaces of the substrate-processing chamber to form aluminum fluoride;
• after forming the aluminum fluoride, flowing a nitrogen-containing cleaning gas mixture into the processing volume;
• exposing the nitrogen-containing cleaning gas mixture to an in-situ plasma to form reactive nitrogen species, wherein the nitrogen-containing cleaning gas mixture consists of:
• a nitrogen-containing cleaning gas;
• and
• optionally a first inert gas;
• permitting the reactive nitrogen species to react with the aluminum fluoride to convert the aluminum fluoride to aluminum nitride, wherein the fluorine-containing cleaning gas mixture consists of:
• a fluorine-containing gas selected from the group consisting of:
• NF3, ClF3, F2, or a combination thereof;
• an oxygen-containing gas selected from the group consisting of:
• N2O, O2, or a combination thereof;
• and
• optionally a second inert gas, wherein the unwanted deposits are selected from silicon oxides, silicon nitrides, silicon oxynitrides, or a combination thereof.

A method for cleaning a substrate-processing chamber, consisting of:

• flowing a fluorine-containing cleaning gas mixture into a remote plasma source fluidly coupled with a substrate-processing chamber, wherein the substrate-processing chamber has a processing volume with one or more aluminum-containing interior surfaces including a heater pedestal having unwanted dielectric deposits formed thereon;
• heating the substrate-processing chamber to a temperature within a range from about 300 degrees Celsius to about 650 degrees Celsius;
• forming reactive fluorine species from the fluorine-containing cleaning gas mixture;
• transporting the reactive fluorine species into the processing volume;
• permitting the reactive fluorine species to react with the unwanted dielectric deposits and the one or more aluminum-containing interior surfaces of the substrate-processing chamber to form aluminum fluoride;
• after forming the aluminum fluoride, flowing a nitrogen-containing cleaning gas mixture into the processing volume;
• exposing the nitrogen-containing cleaning gas mixture to an in-situ plasma to form reactive nitrogen species, wherein the nitrogen-containing cleaning gas mixture consists of:
• a nitrogen-containing cleaning gas;
• and
• optionally a first inert gas;
• and
• permitting the reactive nitrogen species to react with the aluminum fluoride to convert the aluminum fluoride to aluminum nitride, wherein the fluorine-containing cleaning gas mixture consists of:
• a fluorine-containing gas selected from the group consisting of:
• NF3, ClF3, F2, or a combination thereof;
• an oxygen-containing gas selected from the group consisting of:
• N2O, O2, or a combination thereof;
• and
• optionally a second inert gas, wherein the unwanted dielectric deposits are selected from silicon oxides, silicon nitrides, silicon oxynitrides, or a combination thereof.