Patent ID: 7172657

Claim:
A method of a chamber of cleaning an interior of a treatment apparatus to remove a metal film formed on an inner wall of the chamber of the treatment apparatus, the treatment apparatus configured to form the metal film on a substrate, the treatment apparatus comprising (a) a first source supplying a treatment agent; (b) a second source supplying a cleaning agent comprising one of a carboxylic acid and a derivative of a carboxylic acid; (c) a vaporizer vaporizing the treatment agent and the cleaning agent; (d) a first pipe connecting the first source and the vaporizer, and supplying the treatment agent from the first source to the vaporizer; (e) a second pipe connecting the second source and the vaporizer, and supplying the cleaning agent from the second source to the vaporizer; (f) a chamber for forming the metal film on a substrate; (g) a susceptor mounting the substrate in the chamber; (h) a third pipe connecting the vaporizer and the chamber, and supplying the vaporized treatment agent or the vaporized cleaning agent from the vaporizer to the chamber; (i) a vacuum pump exhausting the chamber; and (j) a heat source heating the vaporizer, the third pipe, and the chamber, the method comprising: (i) forming the metal film inside the chamber; (ii) reducing a pressure in the chamber; (iii) heating the vaporizer, the third pipe, and the chamber by the heat source over a predetermined temperature; (iv) supplying the cleaning agent comprising one of the carboxylic acid and the derivative from the second source to the vaporizer through the second pipe to vaporize the cleaning agent; (v) supplying the vaporized cleaning agent from the vaporizer into the chamber through the third pipe; (vi) reacting the metal of the metal film and the vaporized cleaning agent to form a metal complex of the metal and the cleaning agent; (vii) subliming the metal complex by a heat of the heat source; and (viii) exhausting the sublimed metal complex by the vacuum pump to clean the chamber.