Air Products has worked with our NF3 and C2F6 semiconductor customers to optimize their current chamber cleans as well as develop new processes providing better performance. By adjusting the process, we have identified conditions that substantially reduce emissions and gas costs yet clean the chamber in the same amount of time.
CVD Chamber Cleaning is a critical step in the thin film deposition. Following chemical vapor deposition (CVD), residue deposited on the surfaces of the process chamber must be removed to prevent particle contamination and process drift. CVD Chambers are cleaned using a plasma etch process that volatilizes the CVD residue. While product wafers are not processed during the chamber clean, the step does impact the overall cost, emissions, and throughput of the film module. Air Products has worked with our semiconductor customers to optimize their current chamber clean as well as develop new processes providing better performance.
Older CVD Chambers are typically cleaned using C2F6/O2 plasma. When these processes were developed, emissions and cost were less important than they are today. By adjusting the process parameters, we have identified conditions that substantially reduce emissions and gas costs yet clean the chamber in the same amount of time. Optimized processes have been developed for many CVD tools used in semiconductor manufacturing.
Advanced equipment typically uses an NF3 plasma for chamber cleaning. NF3-based chamber cleans have reduced perfluorocompound (PFC) emissions by more than 90%, enabling the semiconductor industry to achieve its reduction targets for emissions of high global warming potential (GWP) gases. In addition to these environmental benefits, NF3 plasmas have faster clean times and are more effective since they can remove residue from remote areas. This is increasingly important for larger area deposition chambers (e.g., 300 mm, FPD).
For more information on Air Products CVD or Remote Chamber Clean of PFC Reductions, please download the following files:
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