Patent ID: 8173980

Claim:
A processing system for irradiating a substrate with a gas cluster ion beam (GLIB), the system comprising: a vacuum vessel having an interior and configured to support the substrate therein; at least one nozzle for forming and emitting a gas cluster beam, and configured to direct the gas cluster beam within the vacuum vessel toward the substrate; an ionizer positioned in the interior, downstream of the at least one nozzle, for ionizing the gas cluster beam to form the GCIB; a main gas supply in fluid communication with the at least one nozzle for supplying gas thereto; and a plasma generating apparatus communicating with the interior of the vacuum vessel and configured to receive a cleaning gas to generate a plasma therefrom and to selectively emit the plasma for cleaning the interior of the vacuum vessel; wherein the plasma generating apparatus is an inductively coupled plasma generator including a dielectric tube configured to receive the cleaning gas and emit the plasma, and an induction coil extending around the dielectric tube, the induction coil being effective to excite molecules of the cleaning gas in the dielectric tube to thereby generate the plasma.