Process for cleaning an electrostatic chuck of a plasma etching apparatus
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsYuan-Chang Huang, Shzh-Kuei Yen
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Abstract
A method of cleaning an electrostatic chuck, wherein a soft, particle adherent, sheet of material is affixed to a dummy wafer. The dummy wafer is then placed on the electrostatic chuck, and DC power applied to the chuck electrode to build up an electrostatic force between the chuck and wafer. After the power is turned off, the wafer and sheet of material with the adhered particle contamination is removed.
Claims7
A process for cleaning debris and contamination from the surface of an electrostatic chuck of a plasma etching apparatus having a process chamber, a source of RF power, an electrostatic wafer chuck within the process chamber, a chuck electrode, and a source of DC power connected to said chuck electrode comprising;
- attaching a flexible, soft sheet of material to the backside of a dummy semiconductor wafer,
- placing the dummy wafer on the electrostatic wafer chuck within the process chamber with the sheet of material in direct contact with the wafer chuck,
- applying a source of DC power to the chuck electrode that is sufficient to build up a high electrostatic force between the wafer and wafer chuck,
- terminating the DC power to the chuck electrode, and
- removing the dummy wafer and contamination debris that are stuck to the sheet of material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.