System for treatment of deposition reactor

Abstract

A system and method for treating a deposition reactor are disclosed. The system and method remove or mitigate formation of residue in a gas-phase reactor used to deposit doped metal films, such as aluminum-doped titanium carbide films or aluminum-doped tantalum carbide films. The method includes a step of exposing a reaction chamber to a treatment reactant that mitigates formation of species that lead to residue formation.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This Application is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14 / 987,420, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TREATMENT OF DEPOSITION REACTOR,” filed Jan. 4, 2016; the '420 Application is a Divisional Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14 / 166,462, entitled “METHOD FOR TREATMENT OF DEPOSITION REACTOR,” filed Jan. 28, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,228,259; the '462 Application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 759,990, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TREATMENT OF DEPOSITION REACTOR,” filed Feb. 1, 2013. The disclosures of the foregoing are hereby incorporated by reference herein.FIELD OF INVENTION[0002]The disclosure generally relates to methods and systems for treating deposition reactors. More particularly, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods and systems for mitigating or removing buildup in gas-phase deposition reactors.BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE[0003]Doped met...

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Benefits of technology

[0007]Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide an improved method and system for removing or mitigating the formation of residue in a deposition reactor or otherwise transforming the residue, such that it generates fewer particles. More particularly, exemplary systems and methods mitigate formation of transform, or remove residue resulting from the use of one or more precursors used in the deposition of doped metal films, such as metal films including carbon, boron, silicon, nitrogen, aluminum, or any combination thereof, in a gas-phase deposition reactor. While the ways in which the various drawbacks of the prior art are discussed in greater detail below, in general, the method and system use a gas-phase reactant to mitigate the formation of transform, or remove unwanted residue within a reactor chamber. By mitigating the formation of transforming, or removing the unwanted residue, fewer particles are formed within the reactor and thus fewer defects are formed within deposited films. In addition, substrate throughput of the reactor is increased and the cost of operating the reactor is decreased.

[0008]In accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure, a method of treating a reactor includes the steps of providing a metal halide chemistry to a reaction chamber of the deposition reactor, providing a metal CVD precursor selected from the group consisting of organometallic compound chemistry and aluminum CVD compound chemistry to the reaction chamber, forming a doped metal film, providing a treatment reactant chemistry to the reaction chamber, exposing the reaction chamber to the treatment reactant chemistry to mitigate particle formation of particles comprising decomposition products of the metal CVD precursor (e.g., by mitigating residue buildup or by transforming the residue to material that is less likely to form particles within the reactor), and purging the reaction chamber. Deposition steps of the method may be repeated to deposit a desired amount of doped metal film or process a desired number of substrates prior to treatment of the reactor with the treatment reactant. In accordance with exemplary aspects of these embodiments, the treatment reactant source comprises a compound selected from the group consisting of compounds comprising one or more hydrogen atoms and compounds comprising a halogen (e.g., chlorine, HCl). In accordance with various aspects, the treatment reactant source comprises a compound selected from the group consisting of ammonia, hydrogen, silanes (e.g., silane, disalane, or higher order silanes), methane, silicon hydrides, boron hydrides, halosilanes, haloboranes, alkenes (e.g., ethylene), alkynes, and hydrazine and its derivatives, such as alkyl hydrazines etc. And, in accordance with yet further aspects, the treatment reactant source comprises a compound with the same chemical formula as a decomposition product of the metal CVD source. The treatment reactant may be exposed to remote or direct thermal or plasma activation to form activated species.

Problems solved by technology

In addition, substrate throughput of the reactor is increased and the cost of operating the reactor is decreased.

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