Decontamination of mocvd chamber using nh3 purge after in-situ cleaning

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to methods and apparatus for removing unwanted deposition build-up from one more interior surfaces of a substrate processing chamber after a substrate is processed in a chamber to form, for example, Group III-V materials by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) deposition processes and / or hydride vapor phase epitaxial (HVPE) deposition processes. In one embodiment, a method for removing unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces of a substrate processing chamber is provided. The method comprises depositing one or more Group III containing layers over a substrate disposed in the substrate processing chamber, transferring the substrate out of the substrate processing chamber, and pulsing a halogen containing gas into the substrate processing chamber to remove at least a portion of the unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces of the substrate processing chamber.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61 / 173,552 (14309L), filed Apr. 28, 2009, which is herein incorporated by reference it its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to methods and apparatus for removing unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces of a substrate processing chamber after a substrate is processed in the chamber to form, for example, Group III-V materials by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) deposition processes and / or hydride vapor phase epitaxial (HVPE) deposition processes.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]Group III-V films are finding greater importance in the development and fabrication of a variety of semiconductor devices, such as short wavelength Light-emitting diodes (LEDs), laser diodes (LDs), and electronic devices including high power, hig...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to methods and apparatus for removing unwanted deposition build-up from one more interior surfaces of a substrate processing chamber after a substrate is processed in a chamber to form, for example, Group III-V materials by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) deposition processes and / or hydride vapor phase epitaxial (HVPE) deposition processes. In one embodiment, a method for removing unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces of a metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) processing chamber is provided. The method comprises depositing one or more Group III containing layers over a substrate disposed in the processing chamber, transferring the substrate out of the processing chamber, pulsing a halogen cleaning gas into the processing chamber to remove at least a portion of the unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces of the processing chamber, and pulsing a purge gas into the processing chamber after pulsing the halogen cleaning gas to remove reaction by-products formed from the reaction of the halogen cleaning gas with the unwanted deposition build-up from the processing chamber, wherein the pulsing a purge gas immediately follows the pulsing a halogen cleaning gas to remove reaction by-products from the interior surfaces of the processing chamber before the reaction by-products condense on the interior surface of the substrate processing chamber.

[0011]In another embodiment, a method for removing unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces of a substrate processing chamber is provided. The method comprises positioning a substrate on a susceptor in a processing region of a substrate processing chamber comprising a showerhead for supplying processing gases to the processing region, depositing one or more gallium containing layers over the substrate disposed in the processing region, transferring the substrate out of the substrate processing chamber, pulsing chlorine gas into the substrate processing chamber to remove at least a portion of the unwanted deposition build-up from one or more interior surfaces and the showerhead of the substrate processing chamber, and pulsing a first purge gas into the processing chamber to remove the chlorine gas and reaction by-products formed from the reaction of the chlorine gas with the unwanted deposition build-up from the substrate processing chamber.

[0012]In yet another embodiment, an integrated processing system for manufacturing compound nitride semiconductor devices is provided. The integrated processing system comprises one or more substrate processing chambers operable to form one or more Group III compound nitride semiconductor layers on one or more substrates positioned in the substrate processing chamber, a halogen gas source coupled with at least one of the one or more substrate processing chambers operable for pulsing a halogen gas into the substrate processing chamber to remove at least a portion of unwanted deposition build-up deposited when forming one or more Group III compound nitride semiconductor layers on the one or more substrates from one or more interior surfaces of the substrate processing chambers, and a purge gas source coupled with at least one of the one or more substrate processing chamber operable for pulsing purge gas into the one or more substrate processing chamber to remove reaction by-products formed from the reaction of the halogen gas with the unwanted deposition build-up from the substrate processing chamber.

Problems solved by technology

Such unwanted deposition may create particles and flakes within the chamber, resulting in the drift of process conditions and more importantly affecting the process reproducibility and uniformity.

This is a very cumbersome process, and represents an unreasonable limitation on any high-throughput, substrate processing system.

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