Patent ID: 6815362
Filing Date: 2004-11-09
Classification: B08B,C23C,H01J

Abstract:
A method for determining an endpoint of an in-situ cleaning process of a semiconductor processing chamber, the method comprising:providing an optical emission spectrometer (OES) configured to monitor selected wavelength signals; determining baseline OES threshold signal intensities for each of the selected wavelength signals; determining an endpoint time of each step of the in-situ cleaning process, the determining an endpoint time including: executing a process recipe to process a semiconductor substrate within the processing chamber; executing the in-situ cleaning process for the semiconductor processing chamber by first removing a silicon based by-product from an inner surface of the chamber through a fluorine based plasma and upon completion of the removal of the silicon based by-product, removing a carbon based by-product from the inner surface of the chamber through an oxygen based plasma ; and recording the endpoint time for both the silicon based by-product removal step and the carbon based by-product removal step of the in-situ cleaning process; and establishing nominal operating times for each removal step of the in-situ cleaning process.