Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T20:31:54.060Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Single Step Low Temperature In-Situ Substrate Cleaning for Silicon Processing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

Juergen Ramm
Affiliation:
Balzers Ltd., FL-9496 Balzers, Principality of Liechtenstein
Eugen Beck
Affiliation:
Balzers Ltd., FL-9496 Balzers, Principality of Liechtenstein
Franz-Peter Steiner
Affiliation:
Balzers Ltd., FL-9496 Balzers, Principality of Liechtenstein
Ralph E. Pixley
Affiliation:
Physik-Institut der Universität, CH-8001 Zürich, Switzerland
Ignaz Eisele
Affiliation:
Universität der Bundeswehr, D-8014 Neubiberg, Germany
Get access

Abstract

Silicon wafers as obtained from the manufacturer are immersed in a large area argon/hydrogen plasma for surface cleaning. The plasma discharge is maintained between a heated cathode and the grounded process chamber at discharge voltages of about 30 V for which discharge currents up to 100 A can be chosen. In this regime, neither the chamber walls nor the substrates are sputtered. Chemical reactions at the wafer surface are assumed to be mainly stimulated by low energy electron bombardment. The etch rates for diamond-like carbon (DLC) on silicon wafers were determined for selected discharge parameters and compared with the previously obtained results for SiO2. It was found that 5 minutes in-situ cleaning prepares the silicon wafers for homoepitaxy at 500 °C and higher substrate temperatures, whereas a short anneal at 500 °C was necessary to obtain low temperature homoepitaxy at 300 °C on (100) and 400 °C on (111) silicon. This seems to be due to hydrogen passivation of silicon during the cleaning procedure.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Higashi, G.S., Chabal, Y.J., Trucks, G.W., and Raghavachari, K., Appl.Phys.Lett. 56(7), 656 (1990)Google Scholar
2. Eaglesham, D.J., Higashi, G.S., and Cerullo, M., Appl.Phys.Lett. 59(6), 685 (1991)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Chang, R.P.H., Chang, C.C., and Darack, S., J.Vac.Sci.Technol. 20(1), 45 (1982)Google Scholar
4. Anthony, B., Breaux, L., Hsu, T., Banerjee, S., and Tasch, A., J.Vac.Sci.Technol. B7, 621 (1989)Google Scholar
5. Shibata, T., Kondo, N. and Nanishi, Y., J. Electrochem.Soc. 136 (11), 3459 (1989)Google Scholar
6. Nara, Y., Sugita, Y., Nakayama, N., and Ito, T., J.Vac.Sci.Technol. B10(1), 274 (1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7. Delfino, M., Salimian, S., Hodul, D., Ellingboe, A., and Tsai, W., J.Apl.Phys. 71(2), 1001 (1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. Hattangady, S.V., Rudder, R.A., Mantini, M.J., Fountain, G.G., Posthill, J.B., and Markunas, R.J., J.Appl.Phys. 68(3), 1233 (1990)Google Scholar
9. Ramm, J., Beck, E., and Zueger, A., Mat.Res.Soc.Symp.Proc., Vol.220, 15 (1991)Google Scholar
10. Chu, W.K., Mayer, J.W. and Nicolet, M.A., Backscatterinq Spectrometry (Academic, New York 1978)Google Scholar
11. Ramm, J., Beck, E., Dommann, A., Eisele, I., Lorenz, H., and Zueger, A., Proc. Silicon Ultra Clean Processing Workshop, Sept. 1991, Oxford, UK Google Scholar