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AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsLi-Qun Xia, Himanshu Pokharrna, Tian-Hoe Lim
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A method of minimizing particle or residue accumulation within an exhaust line of a substrate processing chamber having a downstream plasma apparatus connected to the exhaust line. One embodiment of the method turns ON the downstream plasma apparatus during a substrate deposition step and a chamber clean operation, and switches the downstream plasma apparatus OFF at other times including the time during which purge gases are flowed into the chamber and various chamber set up or conditioning steps are performed. The method includes depositing a film over a substrate disposed in the substrate processing chamber by (i) flowing a deposition gas into the substrate processing chamber, exhausting at least some of the deposition gas from the processing chamber through an exhaust line and into the downstream plasma apparatus, and forming a plasma within the downstream plasma apparatus; and then (ii) stopping the flow of the deposition gas, turning the plasma OFF, and flowing a purge gas into the substrate processing chamber. After one or more film deposition steps, the chamber is cleaned to remove film deposition from the interior surfaces of the chamber by (i) flowing an etchant into the substrate processing chamber, exhausting the etchant from the substrate processing chamber through an exhaust line and into the downstream plasma apparatus, and forming a plasma within the downstream plasma apparatus; and then (ii) stopping the flow of the etchant, turning the plasma OFF, and flowing a purge gas into the substrate processing chamber.
A method of operating a substrate processing chamber, said method comprising:
A method of minimizing particle or residue accumulation within an exhaust line of a substrate processing chamber having a downstream plasma apparatus connected to the exhaust line, said method comprising:
A method of operating a substrate processing chamber of the type having a downstream plasma apparatus coupled to the exhaust of the chamber to convert at least one of particles and residue exhausted from the chamber to volatile products, said method comprising:
A method of minimizing particle or residue accumulation within an exhaust line of a substrate processing chamber having a plasma formation apparatus connected to the exhaust line, said method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.