Dry chamber clean using thermal and plasma processes

{
  "publication_number": "US2026106122A1",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "A1",
  "title": "Dry chamber clean using thermal and plasma processes",
  "abstract": "A metal-containing photoresist film may be deposited on a semiconductor substrate. Unintended metal-containing material may form on internal surfaces of a process chamber during deposition, bevel and backside cleaning, exposure, baking, development, etch, or other photolithography operations. A dry chamber clean may remove some of the unintended metal-containing material by exposure to plasma. A dry chamber clean may remove some of the unintended metal-containing material and modify some of the unintended metal-containing material by exposure to an etch gas at an elevated temperature without striking a plasma. The dry chamber clean may remove the modified metal-containing material using plasma having a chemistry configured to form volatile products of the modified metal-containing material. In some embodiments, the plasma includes a halide-containing plasma, hydrogen-containing plasma, hydrocarbon-containing plasma, inert gas-containing plasma, or mixtures thereof.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A method of cleaning a process chamber, the method comprising: providing, in the process chamber, a semiconductor substrate with a metal-containing resist film on a surface of the semiconductor substrate, wherein organometallic material is formed on one or more internal surfaces of the process chamber; exposing, without the semiconductor substrate in the process chamber, the one or more internal surfaces of the process chamber to a non-plasma etch gas in the process chamber to remove first portions of the organometallic material; and exposing, without the semiconductor substrate in the process chamber, the one or more internal surfaces of the process chamber to a first plasma to remove second portions of the organometallic material. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein exposing the one or more internal surfaces to the non-plasma etch gas converts unremoved portions of the organometallic material to a nonvolatile byproduct, wherein the second portions comprise the nonvolatile byproduct. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first plasma comprises a halide-containing plasma, a hydrogen-containing plasma, a hydrocarbon-containing plasma, an inert gas-containing plasma, or a combination thereof. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first plasma comprises a chlorine (Cl 2) plasma. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-plasma etch gas comprises a hydrogen halide, boron tribromide, boron trichloride, or combinations thereof. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the non-plasma etch gas comprises hydrogen chloride (HCl) or hydrogen bromide (HBr). 7. The method of claim 1, wherein introducing the non-plasma etch gas comprises: heating the one or more internal surfaces of the process chamber to an elevated temperature, wherein the elevated temperature is between about −15° C. and about 200° C.; and flowing the non-plasma etch gas into the process chamber. 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: exposing the one or more internal surfaces of the process chamber to a second plasma to remove one or both of residual gases and residual organic material from the process chamber. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second plasma comprises an oxygen-containing plasma or hydrogen-containing plasma. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first plasma is configured to form volatile products with the second portions of the organometallic material. 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating the first plasma in a remote plasma source coupled to the process chamber. 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating the first plasma directly in the process chamber. 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the metal-containing resist film comprises a metal oxide-containing EUV photoresist material. 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the organometallic material comprises at least tin oxide. 15. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the semiconductor substrate comprises depositing the metal-containing resist film on the surface of the semiconductor substrate in the process chamber. 16. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the semiconductor substrate comprises baking the metal-containing resist film on the surface of the semiconductor substrate in the process chamber. 17. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the semiconductor substrate comprises dry developing the metal-containing resist film on the surface of the semiconductor substrate in the process chamber. 18. A method of cleaning a process chamber, the method comprising: providing, in the process chamber, a semiconductor substrate with a metal-containing resist film on a surface of the semiconductor substrate, wherein organometallic material is formed on one or more internal surfaces of the process chamber; exposing, without the semiconductor substrate in the process chamber, the one or more internal surfaces of the process chamber to a first plasma in the process chamber to remove first portions of the organometallic material; and exposing, without the semiconductor substrate in the process chamber, the one or more internal surfaces of the process chamber to a non-plasma etch gas to remove second portions of the organometallic material. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein exposing the one or more internal surfaces to the first plasma converts unremoved portions of the organometallic material to a nonvolatile byproduct, wherein the second portions comprise the nonvolatile byproduct. 20. A method of cleaning a process chamber, the method comprising: providing, in the process chamber, a semiconductor substrate with a metal-containing resist film on a surface of the semiconductor substrate, wherein organometallic material is formed on one or more internal surfaces of the process chamber; and exposing, without the semiconductor substrate in the process chamber, the one or more internal surfaces of the process chamber to a first plasma in the process chamber to remove at least a substantial portion of the organometallic material. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first plasma comprises a halide-containing plasma, a hydrogen-containing plasma, a hydrocarbon-containing plasma, an inert gas-containing plasma, or a combination thereof. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first plasma comprises Cl 2, CH 4, Ar, or a mixture thereof. 23. The method of claim 21, wherein the first plasma comprises HBr, Ar, or a mixture thereof. 24. The method of claim 21, wherein a chamber pressure of the process chamber during exposure to the first plasma is between about 1 mTorr and about 20 Torr. 25. The method of claim 21, further comprising: exposing, without the semiconductor substrate in the process chamber, the one or more internal surfaces of the process chamber to a second plasma to remove one or both of residual gases and residual organic material from the process chamber. 26.- 39. (canceled)"
  ],
  "cpc": [
    "H01J 37/32862",
    "G03F 7/0043",
    "G03F 7/168",
    "H01J 37/32357"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2023-10-05",
  "publication_date": "2026-04-16",
  "application_number": "US-202319116865-A"
}