Method and apparatus for sputter etch conditioning a ceramic body

A method for removing contaminants from a surface of an ceramic chuck in a wafer processing chamber of a semiconductor wafer processing system, the wafer processing chamber having a vacuum pump, an anode and a cathode, the method comprising the steps of:

• ceasing processing of wafers within said processing chamber removing a wafer from the surface of the ceramic chuck;
• maintaining the wafer processing chamber at a vacuum using the vacuum pump,
• introducing argon gas into the processing chamber,
• energizing the anode and cathode with RF power to ignite the gas into a plasma,
• reducing chamber pressure to optimize a sputter rate, and
• sputter etching the chuck surface with ions from the plasma to remove contaminants therefrom.

A sputter etch cleaning chamber for conditioning a surface of a ceramic body comprising:

• a vacuum chamber having walls that form an anode;
• a pedestal, supported within the vacuum chamber, forming a cathode and for supporting said ceramic body within said vacuum chamber;
• an RF source, coupled to said anode and cathode, for supplying an RF voltage;
• and
• a gas supply, coupled to the chamber, for supplying a gas to said vacuum chamber to form a plasma in response to the RF voltage and being capable of sputter etching said surface of said ceramic body.