Patent ID: 6858264

Claim:
A chemical vapor deposition method comprising: providing a chemical vapor deposition chamber having a vacuum exhaust line extending therefrom, a deposition vacuum pump in fluid communication with the vacuum exhaust line; first depositing material over a first plurality of substrates within the deposition chamber under conditions effective to deposit effluent product over internal walls of the vacuum exhaust line; isolating at least a portion of the vacuum exhaust line from the deposition chamber; while isolating, flowing a cleaning fluid to the vacuum exhaust line effective to at least reduce thickness of the effluent product over the internal walls within the vacuum exhaust line from what it was prior to initiating said flowing, at least some of said flowing bypassing the deposition vacuum pump; and after said flowing, providing the portion of the vacuum exhaust line and the deposition chamber in fluid communication with one another and second depositing material over a second plurality of substrates within the deposition chamber under conditions effective to deposit effluent product over internal walls of the vacuum exhaust line.