Patent ID: 11915923
Assignee: LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC C  H | IPC H

Claim 9:
10. A capacitively-coupled plasma processing system, comprising:
a processing chamber having an upper electrode coupled to ground and a substrate support coupled to an RF power source, the processing chamber having inner surfaces that surround the substrate support;
a hydrogen gas supply and a hydrocarbon gas supply;
a first mass flow controller (MFC) for controlling hydrogen gas flow into the processing chamber and a second MFC for controlling hydrocarbon gas flow into the processing chamber;
the RF power source for generating plasma at the processing chamber, the plasma is for etching a film of tin oxide (SnO2) formed on the inner surfaces of the processing chamber during prior substrate etching; and
a controller for regulating the first MFC and the second MFC such that hydrocarbon gas flow to the hydrogen gas flow into the processing chamber is between 1% and 8% when SnH4 is produced during said etching SnO2, and wherein the RF power source is set by the controller to operate at power levels between 500 watts and 5000 watts;
wherein between 1% and 8% hydrocarbon gas flow to the hydrogen gas flow reduces formation of carbonaceous polymers instead of producing an organotin compound that is volatilizable and removed for cleaning the inner surfaces of the processing chamber.