Deposition system with integrated carrier cleaning modules

Abstract

A method of cleaning wafer carriers includes the steps of: 1) loading a wafer carrier in need of cleaning into a cleaning chamber; injecting one or more cleaning gases into the cleaning chamber; 2) activating the one or more cleaning gases at a temperature ranging from about 400°C to about 1000°C under a pressure ranging from about 100 Torr to about 760 Torr; 3) exposing surfaces of the wafer carrier to the activated one or more cleaning gases; and 4) inspecting the wafer carrier surfaces using one or more surface characterization tools to determine if the wafer carrier has been cleaned.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.