32847results about "Hollow article cleaning" patented technology

The present invention provides a micro-robot for use inside the body during minimally-invasive surgery. The micro-robot includes an imaging devices, a manipulator, and in some embodiments a sensor.

To provide a cleaning method for an etching apparatus for a metal film that efficiently removes an etching residue deposited in an etching process chamber, assures the reproducibility of the etching performance, and keeps the etching process chamber in a low-dust-emission condition. Each time one workpiece with a metal film is etched (S1), the interior of the vacuum chamber is cleaned by replacing the workpiece with a dummy substrate (S2), performing a first step of plasma processing using oxygen (O2) and carbon tetrafluoride (CF4) to remove a carbon-based deposit pile (S3), and performing a second step of plasma processing using boron trichloride (BCl3) and chlorine (Cl2) to remove a residue that could not be removed by the first step and an etching residue of the metal film (S4).

After a processing chamber is used to deposit a refractory metal film on a substrate, the chamber is plasma-treated with a gas including either nitrogen and / or hydrogen and in-situ cleaned. By plasma-treating the chamber with a gas including nitrogen, the refractory metal film that forms on interior surfaces of the chamber during substrate processing is nitrided. The nitrided refractory metal film can be removed from the chamber during the in-situ cleaning. By plasma-treating the chamber with a gas including hydrogen, reaction by-products generated in the chamber is diluted and removed. The chamber may be plasma-treated in a gas ambient including both nitrogen and hydrogen. Also, the plasma treatment may be performed before and after the in-situ cleaning.

A method of cleaning a UV irradiation chamber includes steps of: (i) after completion of irradiating a substrate with UV light transmitted through an optical transmitted window provided in the UV irradiation chamber, generating radical species of a cleaning gas outside the UV irradiation chamber; and (ii) introducing the radical species from the outside of the UV irradiation chamber into the UV irradiation chamber, thereby cleaning the optical transmitted window.

A method for cleaning a reaction chamber is conducted after depositing an oxide, nitride, or oxynitride film on a substrate in a reaction chamber having interior surfaces on which oxide, nitride, or oxynitride is accumulated as a result of the deposition, said oxide, nitride, or oxynitride being selected from the group consisting of silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, metal oxide, metal nitride, and metal oxynitride. The method includes: oxidizing or nitriding the oxide, nitride, or oxynitride is accumulated on the interior surfaces of the reaction chamber, by RF-excited plasma of an oxygen- or nitrogen-containing gas in the absence of halide gas as a pre-cleaning step; and cleaning the interior surfaces of the reaction chamber, by RF-excited plasma of a halide cleaning gas.

A method for in-situ cleaning of a dielectric dome surface having been used in pre-clean processes is provided. Carbon containing deposits are removed by providing a plasma of one or more oxidizing gases which react with the carbon containing films to form volatile carbon containing compounds.

A remote plasma process for removing unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces of a substrate processing chamber after processing a substrate disposed in the substrate processing chamber. In one embodiment, the substrate is transferred out of the substrate processing chamber and a flow of a fluorine-containing etchant gas is introduced into a remote plasma source where reactive species are formed. A continuous flow of the reactive species from the remote plasmas source to the substrate processing chamber is generated while a cycle of high and low pressure clean steps is repeated. During the high pressure clean step, reactive species are flown into the substrate processing chamber while pressure within the substrate processing chamber is maintained between 4-15 Torr. During the low pressure clean step, reactive species are flown into the substrate processing chamber while reducing the pressure of the substrate processing chamber by at least 50 percent of a high pressure reached in the high pressure clean step.

An exhaust foreline for purging fluids from a semiconductor fabrication chamber is described. The foreline may include a first, second and third ports independently coupled to the chamber. A semiconductor fabrication system is also described that includes a substrate chamber that has a first, second and third interface port. The system may also include a multi-port foreline that has a first, second and third port, where the first foreline port is coupled to the first interface port, the second foreline port is coupled to the second interface port, and the third foreline port is coupled to the third interface port. The system may further include an exhaust vacuum coupled to the multi-port foreline.

Provided are gas distribution apparatus with a delivery channel having an inlet end, an outlet end and a plurality of apertures spaced along the length. The inlet end is connectable to an inlet gas source and the outlet end is connectible with a vacuum source. Also provided are gas distribution apparatus with spiral delivery channels, intertwined spiral delivery channels, splitting delivery channels, merging delivery channels and shaped delivery channels in which an inlet end and outlet end are configured for rapid exchange of gas within the delivery channels.

The present invention provides a micro-robot for use inside the body during minimally-invasive surgery. The micro-robot may include various sensors, imaging devices or manipulators.

A configurable robotic apparatus and system is disclosed that is remotely operable in difficult, hazardous, subterranean, or submerged environs. The apparatus merges diverse disciplines to effect inspecting, cleaning, treating, repairing or otherwise maintaining a wide variety of materials and conditions. Deployment environments include power, municipal water and wastewater plants, surface and submerged infrastructures (pipes, lines, conduits), and like industrial applications. Extensible and articulating modules, configurable through standardized and interchangeable connectors, provide unique flexibility, scalability and versatility to accommodate a wide range of shapes, surfaces, and obstacles. In-module intelligence and instrumentation eliminates the need for constant manual control through autonomous operation capable of simultaneous optimization and synchronization of multiple work processes, but manual override and remote control is provided to overcome unanticipated limitations. Benefits include improved efficiency, cost, and safety over prior art. High-performance, one-pass operation reduces facility downtime while incorporating environmentally responsible debris recovery.