Patent ID: 7279398

Claim:
A method of depositing a material on a microfeature workpiece, comprising: positioning a plurality of microfeature workpieces within an enclosure of a processing system, each of the microfeature workpieces having a surface; exposing the surfaces of the microfeature workpieces to a first precursor gas at a first enclosure pressure to allow at least a monolayer of the first precursor gas to be adsorbed on the surfaces of the microfeature workpieces; reducing pressure within the enclosure to a second, lower enclosure pressure in a pump-down process, the pump-down process comprising withdrawing gas from the enclosure while introducing a purge gas at a first flow rate of no greater than about 250 sccm for a first period of time, the pump-down process reducing a partial pressure of the first precursor gas within the enclosure; and after the pump-down process, purging the enclosure in a purge process, the purge process comprising introducing the purge gas at a second flow rate of at least about 1000 sccm for a second period of time and allowing the enclosure pressure to increase to a third enclosure pressure that is greater than the second enclosure pressure.