Patent ID: 8080109
Filing Date: 2011-12-20
Classification: B08B,C23C,H01L,Y02C,Y02P,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A method of using a vertical film formation apparatus in a semiconductor process for performing a film formation process on a plurality of target substrates together at a time inside a reaction chamber having an inner surface consisting essentially of a material selected from the group consisting of quartz and silicon carbide, the method comprising: setting an idling state where the reaction chamber accommodates no product target substrates therein; and then, performing a purging process of removing contaminant metal present in the inner surface of the reaction chamber under the idling state by supplying a purging process gas into the reaction chamber while exhausting gas from inside the reaction chamber, and causing radicals generated by activating the purging process gas to act on the inner surface of the reaction chamber, wherein the contaminant metal includes one or more metals selected from the group consisting of iron, copper, and nickel, the purging process as contains oxygen gas and hydrogen gas such that a combined flow rate of the oxygen gas and the hydrogen gas relative to a total flow rate of the purging process gas is set at a ratio of 90 to 100% and a flow rate of the hydrogen gas relative to the combined flow rate of the oxygen gas and the hydrogen gas is set at a ratio of 50 to 70%, and the purging process employs therethrough a purging process temperature of 400 to 1,050° C. and a purging process pressure of 13.3 to 133 Pa, both set inside the reaction chamber to promote discharge of the contaminant metal from the inner surface of the reaction chamber.