655 results about "Wet cleaning" patented technology

A method of a single wafer wet/dry cleaning apparatus comprising: a transfer chamber having a wafer handler contained therein; a first single wafer wet cleaning chamber directly coupled to the transfer chamber; and a first single wafer ashing chamber directly coupled to the transfer chamber.

Embodiments as described herein provide methods for depositing a material on a substrate during electroless deposition processes, as well as compositions of the electroless deposition solutions. In one embodiment, the substrate contains a contact aperture having an exposed silicon contact surface. In another embodiment, the substrate contains a contact aperture having an exposed silicide contact surface. The apertures are filled with a metal contact material by exposing the substrate to an electroless deposition process. The metal contact material may contain a cobalt material, a nickel material, or alloys thereof. Prior to filling the apertures, the substrate may be exposed to a variety of pretreatment processes, such as preclean processes and activations processes. A preclean process may remove organic residues, native oxides, and other contaminants during a wet clean process or a plasma etch process. Embodiments of the process also provide the deposition of additional layers, such as a capping layer.

A method of conditioning a processing chamber for a production process includes performing a conditioning step at a conditioning process recipe substantially different than a process recipe of the production process, and performing a warm-up process at a warm-up process recipe substantially the same as the process recipe of the production process. The method can be performed after a wet-cleaning process has been performed. The conditioning procedure can allow the maintenance time to be decreased and can cause the etched features to be more accurate.

A semiconductor processing member is provided, including a body and a plasma spray coating provided on the body. The coating is an ABO or ABCO complex oxide solid solution composition, where A, B and C are selected from the group consisting of La, Zr, Ce, Gd, Y, Yb and Si, and O is an oxide. The coating imparts both chlorine and fluorine plasma erosion resistance, reduces particle generation during plasma etching, and prevents spalling of the coating during wet cleaning of the semiconductor processing member.

The present invention is a method, process and apparatus for selective cleaning, drying, and modifying substrate surfaces and depositing thin films thereon using a dense phase gas solvent and admixtures within a first created supercritical fluid antisolvent. Dense fluids are used in combination with sub-atmospheric, atmospheric and super-atmospheric plasma adjuncts (cold and thermal plasmas) to enhance substrate surface cleaning, modification, precision drying and deposition processes herein. Moreover, conventional wet cleaning agents such as hydrofluoric acid and ammonium fluoride may be used with the present invention to perform substrate pre-treatments prior to precision drying and cleaning treatments described herein. Finally, dense fluid such as solid phase carbon dioxide and argon may be used as a follow-on treatment or in combination with plasmas to further treat a substrate surface.

An autonomous floor cleaning robot includes a transport drive and control system arranged for autonomous movement of the robot over a floor for performing cleaning operations. The robot chassis carries cleaning elements arranged to spray a liquid cleaning fluid onto the cleaning surface across a cleaning width. The cleaning fluid mixes with contaminated on the floor, which become emulsified or otherwise mixed with the cleaning fluid. The robot further include cleaning elements configured to suction up waste materials and particularly the liquid waste material generated by the mixing of the cleaning fluid and contaminates.

A cleaning method capable of processing at room temperatures without conducting heating, uses little chemicals and water, and does not require special devices or materials. The chemical cleaning processes and rinse processes employ pure water or ultrapure water in a semiconductor wet cleaning process, rinse water or chemicals which suppresses formation of surface oxide films, removes particles and prevent their redeposition, and aids in the hydrogen termination of the silicon atoms. The cleaning method of the resent invention includes cleaning which is conducted using pure water containing ozone, cleaning conducted using a cleaning liquid containing HF, H2O, and surfactant, while applying vibration having a frequency of 500 kHz or more, cleaning conducted using pure water containing ozone, cleaning conducted using a cleaning liquid containing HF and H2O in order to remove oxide films, and cleaning which is conducted using pure water. After cleaning a material to be cleaned using chemicals, rinsing is conducted using pure water or ultrapure water containing hydrogen gas in an amount of 0.5 ppm or more and containing oxygen gas in an amount of 100 ppb or less.

A chemical oxide film formed on a semiconductor substrate is formed by wet cleaning using a strongly acidic solution so that the adhesion of impurities to the chemical oxide film can be reduced between a wet cleaning process and an insulation film forming process. This makes it possible to prevent insulation degradation of a gate insulation film when the gate insulation film embracing the chemical oxide film is formed in the insulation film forming process in which low-temperature processing is conducted.

The present invention provides a substrate processing apparatus having a drying mechanism for removing water from the surface of a substrate which has been cleaned by a wet cleaning process, and a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method which are capable of efficiently removing an unnecessary thin film deposited on or adhering to a bevel or edge portion of a substrate. The substrate processing apparatus of this invention has a substrate holder for holding a substrate, and a dry gas supply section for turning an atmosphere to which at least a portion of a surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder is exposed into a humidity-controlled dry gas atmosphere.

An integrated substrate cleaning processes capable of removing residues and particulates from the surface of a photomask is described. In one embodiment, an ozonated de-ionized water treatment is the first wet cleaning operation. In an embodiment of the present invention, the substrate cleaning process includes a wet cleaning operation employing an ammonium hydroxide-based chemical cleaning solution diluted with hydrogenated de-ionized water. In another embodiment of the present invention, the substrate cleaning process uses a plasma treatment prior to the first wet cleaning operation.

A cleaning method following an opening etching is provided. First, a semiconductor substrate having a dielectric layer is provided. The hard mask layer includes at least a metal layer. The opening etch is then carried out to form at least an opening in the dielectric layer. A nitrogen (N2) treatment process is performed to clean polymer residues having carbon-fluorine (C—F) bonds remained in the opening. Finally, a wet cleaning process is performed.

A method of a single wafer wet/dry cleaning apparatus comprising: a transfer chamber having a wafer handler contained therein; a first single wafer wet cleaning chamber directly coupled to the transfer chamber; and a first single wafer ashing chamber directly coupled to the transfer chamber.

To produce a structure of a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) in a hermetic cavity (38) of a microelectronic device (50), a prepared cover (30) and substrate (10) are bonded by means of silicon direct bonding (SDB). To optimise the preparation of surfaces by means of wet cleaning without impairing the properties of the MEMS (22), i.e. without causing adhesions, the MEMS structure (22) is not released during bonding, but attached to the base (12) by means of a sacrificial intermediate layer (16). Said layer is removed once bonding has been carried out by injecting HF vapour via a vent (40) opening into the cavity (38).

A vacuum cleaner with a wet cleaning function comprises a main body, a brush assembly having a contaminant suction port facing a cleaning surface, a brush of the contaminant suction port to rotate in contact with the cleaning surface, and a water exhaust nozzle, the contaminants suction port is fluidly communicated with the main body, and a front and a rear block parts formed at a front and a rear of the brush on a bottom surface of the brush assembly to selectively open or block a contaminant suction path by a friction force against the cleaning surface.

A method for manufacturing a ferroelectric capacitor includes the steps of: forming a base dielectric film on a substrate, and forming a first plug conductive section in the base dielectric film at a predetermined position; forming, on the base dielectric film, a charge storage section formed from a lower electrode, a ferroelectric film and an upper electrode; forming a stopper film from an insulation material that covers the charge storage section; forming a hydrogen barrier film that covers the stopper film; forming an interlayer dielectric film on the base dielectric film including the hydrogen barrier film; forming, in the interlayer dielectric film, a first contact hole that exposes the first plug conductive section; forming a second contact hole that exposes the upper electrode of the charge storage section by successively etching the interlayer dielectric film, the hydrogen barrier film and the stopper film by using a resist pattern as a mask, and then removing the resist pattern by a wet cleaning treatment; forming an adhesion layer from a conductive material having hydrogen barrier property inside the second contact hole in a manner to cover an upper surface of the upper electrode; forming a second plug conductive section inside the first contact hole; and forming a third plug conductive section inside the second contact hole, wherein the stopper film is formed from a material having a lower etching rate for a cleaning liquid used for the wet cleaning treatment to remove the resist pattern than an etching rate of the hydrogen barrier film for the cleaning liquid.

In damascene process integration, a reducing plasma is applied after the etch stop or barrier layer is opened over a copper layer. Currently known methods for opening barrier layers suffer from the disadvantage that they cause at least some of the underlying copper to oxidize to copper oxide.. Because copper oxide is selectively removed by subsequent wet cleaning, voids can form where damaged copper (e.g., copper oxide) is removed, thus compromising the reliability of metal-to-metal contact in vias. The present invention advantageously overcomes this and other disadvantages of the prior art through the use of a hydrogen plasma following the barrier layer opening step, which repairs damaged copper (e.g., reduces copper oxide to copper), thus preventing and/or diminishing defects in metal-to-metal contacts in vias and concomitantly improving the reliability of the same.

The invention provides a method for pulverized coal gasification for gas generation and direct reduction metallurgy of a gas-based shaft furnace. According to the method, feed coal is ground and then enters a gasification furnace in a form of pulverized coal; the pulverized coal reacts with a gasification agent oxygen and water vapor to generate crude gas rich in CO and H2; the high-temperature raw gas generated by the gasification furnace is subjected to cooling and wet cleaning for dust removal to obtain crude synthesis gas mainly containing CO and H2; the crude synthesis gas is adjusted into a reducing agent for a gas-based shaft furnace through water vapor conversion and purification; and the reducing agent enters the shaft furnace and reacts with lump ores or pellets to generate reducing iron. Through the invention, the coal gasification is combined with a gas-based direct reduction shaft furnace technology, thus the limitation on total natural gas of a gas-based direct reducing method is overcome, and large-scale production is realized; and the method has the advantages of low energy consumption, little pollution and the like.

HF-originated radicals generated in a plasma-forming chamber are fed to a treatment chamber via feed holes, while HF gas molecules as the treatment gas are supplied to the treatment chamber from near the radical feed holes to suppress the excitation energy, thereby increasing the selectivity to Si to remove a native oxide film. Even with the dry-treatment, the surface treatment provides good surface flatness equivalent to that obtained by the wet-cleaning which requires high-temperature treatment, and further attains growth of Si single crystal film on the substrate after the surface treatment. The surface of formed Si single crystal film has small quantity of impurities of oxygen, carbon, and the like. After sputtering Hf and the like onto the surface of the grown Si single crystal film, oxidation and nitrification are applied thereto to form a dielectric insulation film such as HfO thereon, thus forming a metal electrode film. All through the above steps, the substrate is not exposed to atmospheric air, thereby suppressing the adsorption of impurities onto the interface, and thus obtaining a C-V curve with small hysteresis. As a result, good device characteristics are obtained in MOS-FET.

The invention provides a method for the cleaning of a soiled substrate, the method comprising treating the substrate with a solid particulate cleaning material and wash water, the treatment being carried out in an apparatus comprising a drum comprising perforated side walls and having a capacity of between 5 and 50 litres for each kg of fabric in the washload, wherein said solid particulate cleaning material comprises a multiplicity of polymeric particles at a particle to fabric addition level of 0.1:1-10:1 by mass, each particle being substantially cylindrical or spherical in shape and having an average density in the range of 0.5-2.5 g/cm³ and an average volume in the range of 5-275 mm³, and wherein said drum comprising perforated side walls is rotated at a speed which generates G forces in the range of from 0.05 to 900 G. The polymeric particles may comprise foamed or unfoamed polymeric materials which may comprise either linear or crosslinked polymers. Preferably, at least one detergent is employed in the cleaning process. The invention provides optimum cleaning performance as a result of improved mechanical interaction between substrate and cleaning media and is preferably used for the cleaning of textile fabrics. The method allows for significant reductions in the consumption of detergents, water and energy when compared with the conventional wet cleaning of textile fabrics, and also facilitates reduced washing-related textile fabric damage. The invention also envisages a cleaning composition comprising a solid particulate cleaning composition and at least one additional cleaning agent. In particular embodiments of the invention, the solid particulate cleaning material is separated and recovered and then re-used in subsequent cleaning processes. Typically, the solid particulate cleaning material is itself cleaned intermittently in order to maintain its efficacy.