Patent ID: 7709391

Claim:
A method of processing a wafer during a film-forming process in a reaction chamber comprising: introducing a hydrogen-containing reactant gas into the reaction chamber; introducing an etch chemical reactant that is spontaneously reactive with the hydrogen-containing gas in a separate conduit isolated from the hydrogen containing gas into the reaction chamber to provide reactant gas concentrations for the hydrogen containing gas and the etch chemical; controlling one or more of the chamber partial pressure, temperature and the reactant gas concentrations below a value to prevent spontaneous reaction of the hydrogen containing gas and the etch chemical; changing one or more of the chamber partial pressure, temperature and the reactant gas concentrations to react the hydrogen-containing gas and the etch chemical under controlled reaction conditions to form a metastable specie adjacent a surface of the wafer; and utilizing the metastable specie in a subsequent growth or etch reaction.