Chamber-accumulation extension via in-situ passivation

A system for passivating accumulated films and reducing film shedding in a process chamber, the system comprising:

• a process chamber having internal components;
• a showerhead disposed within the process chamber;
• a substrate-support assembly disposed within the process chamber and configured to support a substrate;
• and
• a controller including one or more processors and one or more memory devices storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the system to:
• form a dielectric film layer on successive substrates of a plurality of substrates within the process chamber;
• make a determination as to whether a pre-determined number of substrates to be processed has been reached, the pre-determined number being based on both a material used to form the dielectric film layer and a thickness of the dielectric film layer, and the pre-determined number being determined by measuring a cumulative thickness of dielectric film accumulated on the internal components of the process chamber;
• based on a determination that the pre-determined number has not been reached, process an additional one of the plurality of substrates;
• and
• based on a determination that the pre-determined number has been reached, passivate the accumulated films on the internal components of the process chamber to reduce the film shedding.

A system to reduce film shedding from components internal to a process chamber, the system comprising:

• a process chamber having components internal to the process chamber;
• a showerhead disposed within the process chamber;
• a substrate-support assembly disposed within the process chamber and configured to support a substrate;
• and
• a controller including one or more processors and one or more memory devices storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the system to:
• form a dielectric film layer on successive substrates of a plurality of substrates within the process chamber;
• make a determination as to whether a pre-determined cumulative accumulation value of the dielectric film layer on each of the plurality of substrates on which a dielectric layer has been formed has at least been reached, the pre-determined cumulative accumulation value being based on both a material used to form the dielectric film layer and a thickness of the dielectric film layer, and the pre-determined cumulative accumulation value being determined by measuring a cumulative thickness of dielectric film accumulated on the components internal to the process chamber;
• based on a determination that the pre-determined cumulative accumulation value has not been reached, process an additional substrate;
• and
• based on a determination that the pre-determined cumulative accumulation value has at least been reached, passivate accumulated films on the components internal to the process chamber.