Dry process for cleaning residues/polymers after metal etch

Abstract

An all dry, low temperature process, for complete removal of organics and inorganic residues after metal etch of a microelectronic device comprising: rinsing a microelectronic device having a metallization layer after metal etch with a solution of ammonium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide; subjecting the rinsed metallization layer to a low temperature GaSonics cleaning by exposing photoresist residue surface of the metallization layer to a fluorine containing reactive gas to form volatile compounds in the presence of a radio frequency input followed by photoresist stripping in an oxygen plasma at low temperature; subjecting the low temperature GaSonics treated residue surface to a gaseous SO3 strip at low temperature to remove additional residue; and rinsing the SO3 stripped material with de-ionized water to remove any remaining resist and residue.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.