Treatment of etching chambers using activated cleaning gas

A method of etching a substrate and cleaning an etching chamber, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) etching a substrate in the etching chamber and thereby depositing etch residue on surfaces in the etching chamber;
• (b) providing a cleaning gas in a remote chamber and maintaining the cleaning gas at a pressure of from about 500 to about 3000 mTorr;
• (c) activating the cleaning gas in the remote chamber to form an activated gas using a power of from about 1500 watts to about 2500 watts;
• and
• (d) flowing the activated gas from the remote chamber into the etching chamber under flow conditions selected to remove the etch residue from surfaces in the etching chamber without excessive erosion of the surfaces, and maintaining the activated cleaning gas at a pressure of from about 0.1 to about 80 mTorr.

A method of cleaning a process chamber, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a cleaning gas in a remote chamber, the remote chamber being maintained at a pressure of from about 500 mTorr to about 3000 mTorr;
• (b) activating the cleaning gas in the remote chamber at a power level of from about 1500 watts to about 2500 watts, thereby forming activated gas;
• and
• (c) flowing the activated gas from the remote chamber into the process chamber, the process chamber being maintained at a pressure of from about 0.1 mTorr to about 80 mTorr.

A method of etching a substrate and cleaning an etching chamber, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) etching a substrate in the etching chamber and thereby depositing etch residue on surfaces in the etching chamber;
• (b) providing a cleaning gas in a remote chamber;
• (c) activating the cleaning gas in the remote chamber to form an activated cleaning gas;
• and
• (d) cleaning the etch residue on the surfaces in the etching chamber by introducing the activated cleaning gas into the etching chamber at a flow rate equivalent to a rate of from about 200 to about 2000 sccm for a chamber having a volume of about 40,000 cm3 and for a time period of from about 0.5 to about 100 seconds.

A method of etching a substrate and cleaning etch residue deposited on surfaces in an etching chamber, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) etching a substrate in the etching chamber and thereby depositing etch residue on the surfaces in the etching chamber;
• (b) providing a cleaning gas in a remote chamber;
• (c) activating the cleaning gas inside the remote chamber to form an activated cleaning gas;
• and
• (d) cleaning the etch residue on the surfaces of walls and components of the etching chamber by introducing the activated cleaning gas into the etching chamber, wherein the etching chamber is maintained at a pressure of from about 0.1 to about 80 mTorr, and the remote chamber is maintained at a pressure of from about 500 to about 3000 mTorr.