Patent ID: 8486845

Claim:
A method for depositing a metallic film on a substrate using a plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) process, comprising: disposing said substrate in a process chamber configured to facilitate said PEALD process; introducing a first process material within said process chamber; introducing a second process material within said process chamber after the introduction of the first process material within said process chamber; coupling electromagnetic power to said process chamber during introduction of the second process material in order to generate a plasma that facilitates a reduction reaction between the first and second process materials at a surface of said substrate, the reduction reaction depositing the metallic film on the substrate in a solid state; and performing a cleaning step, after the completion of the reduction reaction between the first and second process materials which deposited the metallic film on the substrate in a solid state, by introducing within the process chamber a third material which is a reactive gas that chemically reacts with contaminants in said process chamber to release the contaminants from at least one of a process chamber component or said substrate, the cleaning step being performed between cycles of the PEALD process.