Plasma vessel cleaning for ion beam system
AssigneeVeeco Instruments Inc.
InventorsMohammad Saghayezhian, Binyamin Rubin
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Abstract
An in situ cleaning of the vessel of an ion deposition/etching system that includes utilizing the E-mode of the system and increasing plasma potential to remove material deposited on the vessel walls. The method includes operating the system with plasma only, no grid bias, minimal gas flow and high RF power level. During this cleaning mode, radially moving capacitively coupled ions impinge on the vessel inner wall, etching undesired back scattered material from the wall.
Claims19
A method of in-situ cleaning a plasma vessel of an ion beam source of an ion beam deposition system, the plasma vessel remote from a process chamber, the method comprising, via the ion beam deposition system:
- maintaining a plasma in the plasma vessel at an initial low RF power and an initial low gas flow;
- while maintaining the plasma, turning off any grid bias on any apertured grid of the ion beam deposition system;
- and
- after turning off any grid bias, increasing the RF power to the plasma to at least 500 W and providing a gas flow of 2-30 sccm.
A method of in situ cleaning of a plasma vessel of an ion beam source of an ion beam deposition system, the plasma vessel remote from a process chamber, the method comprising:
- transitioning the system from an H-mode to an E-mode;
- increasing plasma potential after turning off any grid bias;
- and
- increasing RF power and impinging energized ions on an inner wall of the vessel.
A method of in situ cleaning of a plasma vessel of an ion beam source of an ion beam deposition system, the plasma vessel remote from a process chamber, the method comprising impinging ions onto a metal coating on an inner wall of the vessel after a transition from an H-mode to an E-mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.