Method of determining an end point for a remote microwave plasma cleaning system
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
InventorRao Venkateswara Annapragada
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Abstract
A method of determining an end point for a remote microwave plasma cleaning system. In one embodiment, the method comprises several steps. The first step is to expose an electrical device to a deposition operation. Next, the electrical device is exposed to a plasma cleaning operation. In the following step, a value for a performance characteristic of the electrical device is measured. In the last step, an amount of cleaning performed on the electrical device is calculated based on a relationship between a baseline value of the performance characteristic and on the measured value of the performance characteristic of the electrical device.
Claims9
A method of determining an endpoint for a cleaning operation, comprising:
- performing a deposition operation in a deposition chamber, the deposition chamber including at least one electrical element disposed such that the at least one electrical element is exposed to the deposition operation;
- performing a cleaning operation in the deposition chamber, the at least one electrical element disposed such that the at least one electrical element is exposed to the cleaning operation;
- measuring, subsequent to a beginning of the cleaning operation, a characteristic of the at least one electrical element which is indicative of the amount of deposition and cleaning;
- and
- signalling an endpoint of the cleaning operation when the measured characteristic reaches a predetermined value;
- wherein the deposition operation comprises a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, the cleaning operation comprises exposing the chamber to a plasma, the at least one electrical element comprises at least one parallel plate capacitor, and the characteristic of the at least one electrical element that is measured is capacitance.
A method of determining an amount of cleaning performed in an apparatus used in a deposition operation, said method comprising:
- performing said deposition operation in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chamber;
- exposing a first electrical device to the deposition operation in said CVD chamber;
- exposing the CVD chamber to a cleaning operation;
- exposing the first electrical device to the cleaning operation in the CVD chamber;
- measuring a value for a performance characteristic of the first electrical device;
- and
- comparing a baseline value of the performance characteristic with the measured value for the performance characteristic in order to determine an amount of cleaning performed on the first electrical device;
- wherein said performance characteristic changes with deposition and cleaning, the first electrical device is a parallel plate capacitor, and the performance characteristic is a capacitance value for the first electrical device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.