Patent ID: 8758858
Filing Date: 2014-06-24
Classification: C23C,H01J,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of creating a thermal oxide coating on a surface of an apparatus for use in a semiconductor processing environment, said method comprising: exposing at least a surface of a semiconductor processing apparatus having a homogeneous composition formed from yttrium metal or a metal alloy of yttrium in combination with a metal selected from the group consisting of neodymium, samarium, terbium, dysprosium, erbium, ytterbium, scandium, hafnium, niobium, aluminum, and combinations thereof to an ambient atmosphere comprising oxygen, and forming said thermal oxide coating using a time temperature profile which includes heating at an initial rapid heating rate ranging from about 20° C./min to about 100° C./min, holding said metal or metal alloy substrate at a maximum temperature ranging from about 700° C. to about 1050° C. for a time period ranging from about 5 minutes to about 5 hours, followed by a decrease in temperature from said maximum temperature at a rate ranging from about 10° C./min to about 0.5° C./min until an oxidation reaction has essentially stopped, to produce an oxide coating which is columnar in nature, where a grain size of coating crystals produced is larger at an exterior surface of said coating than at an interface between said thermal oxide coating and said metal or metal alloy substrate, and wherein said thermal oxide coating has a thickness ranging from about 10 μm up to about 500 μm.