Plasma clean with hydrogen gas

Claim 1

A method of removing material from the vias of an integrated circuit comprising: placing the integrated circuit within a reaction chamber, introducing a flow of argon into the reaction chamber, introducing a flow of hydrogen into the reaction chamber, where the flow of hydrogen is greater than the flow of argon, energizing the flows of argon and hydrogen with an RF power source operating at between twenty watts and 400 watts to form a plasma, applying a negative bias to the integrated circuit while it is within the plasma, of between ten volts and 600 volts, maintaining the reaction chamber at a temperature of between twenty-five °C. and 400° C., and keeping the integrated circuit within the plasma, thereby converting the material to gaseous byproducts, for a length of time sufficient to remove at least some of the material from the integrated circuit.

Claim 2

A method of removing material from the vias of an integrated circuit comprising: placing the integrated circuit within a reaction chamber, introducing a flow of argon into the reaction chamber, introducing a flow of hydrogen into the reaction chamber, where the flow of hydrogen is greater than the flow of argon, energizing the flows of argon and hydrogen with an RF power source operating at between twenty watts and 400 watts to form a plasma, applying a negative bias to the integrated circuit while it is within the plasma, of between ten volts and 600 volts, maintaining the reaction chamber at a temperature of between twenty-five °C. and 400° C., and keeping the integrated circuit within the plasma, thereby converting the material to gaseous byproducts, for a length of time sufficient to remove at least some of the material from the integrated circuit.

Claim 11

A method of removing polymers and oxides from the vias of an integrated circuit comprising: placing the integrated circuit within a reaction chamber, introducing a flow of argon into the reaction chamber of between one sccm and twenty sccm, introducing a flow of hydrogen into the reaction chamber of between one sccm and 100 sccm, where the ratio of the flow of hydrogen to the flow of argon is between 1:20 and 100:1, energizing the flows of argon and hydrogen by an RF power source operating at between twenty watts and 400 watts to form a plasma, maintaining the temperature within the reaction chamber at between twenty-five °C. and 400° C., keeping the integrated circuit within the plasma, thereby converting the polymers and oxides to water vapor, hydrocarbon gases, and SiH x , for a length of time of between five seconds and five minutes, applying a negative bias to the integrated circuit while it is within the plasma, of between ten volts and 600 volts, pumping the water vapor, hydrocarbon gases, and SiH x out of the reaction chamber, and removing the integrated circuit from the reaction chamber.

Claim 12

A method of removing polymers and oxides from the vias of an integrated circuit comprising: placing the integrated circuit within a reaction chamber, introducing a flow of argon into the reaction chamber of between one sccm and twenty sccm, introducing a flow of hydrogen into the reaction chamber of between one sccm and 100 sccm, where the ratio of the flow of hydrogen to the flow of argon is between 1:20 and 100:1, energizing the flows of argon and hydrogen by an RF power source operating at between twenty watts and 400 watts to form a plasma, maintaining the temperature within the reaction chamber at between twenty-five °C. and 400° C., keeping the integrated circuit within the plasma, thereby converting the polymers and oxides to water vapor, hydrocarbon gases, and SiH x , for a length of time of between five seconds and five minutes, applying a negative bias to the integrated circuit while it is within the plasma, of between ten volts and 600 volts, pumping the water vapor, hydrocarbon gases, and SiH x out of the reaction chamber, and removing the integrated circuit from the reaction chamber.

Claim 13

A method of removing polymers from high aspect ratio vias on an integrated circuit comprising: placing the integrated circuit within a reaction chamber, introducing a flow of argon into the reaction chamber, introducing a flow of hydrogen into the reaction chamber, where the flow of hydrogen is greater than the flow of argon, energizing the flows of argon and hydrogen with an RF power source operating at between twenty watts and 400 watts to form a plasma, penetrating the vias with the energized flows of argon and hydrogen, applying a negative bias to the integrated circuit while it is within the plasma, of between ten volts and 600 volts, maintaining the reaction chamber at a temperature of between twenty-five °C. and 400° C., maintaining the reaction chamber at a pressure of between one mtorr and twenty mtorr, and keeping the integrated circuit within the plasma, thereby converting the polymers to gaseous byproducts, for a length of time sufficient to remove at least some of the polymers from the integrated circuit.

Claim 14

A method of removing polymers from high aspect ratio vias on an integrated circuit comprising: placing the integrated circuit within a reaction chamber, introducing a flow of argon into the reaction chamber, introducing a flow of hydrogen into the reaction chamber, where the flow of hydrogen is greater than the flow of argon, energizing the flows of argon and hydrogen with an RF power source operating at between twenty watts and 400 watts to form a plasma, penetrating the vias with the energized flows of argon and hydrogen, applying a negative bias to the integrated circuit while it is within the plasma, of between ten volts and 600 volts, maintaining the reaction chamber at a temperature of between twenty-five °C. and 400° C., maintaining the reaction chamber at a pressure of between one mtorr and twenty mtorr, and keeping the integrated circuit within the plasma, thereby converting the polymers to gaseous byproducts, for a length of time sufficient to remove at least some of the polymers from the integrated circuit.

Claim 19

A method of removing silicon oxide from high aspect ratio vias on an integrated circuit comprising: placing the integrated circuit within a reaction chamber, introducing a flow of argon into the reaction chamber, introducing a flow of hydrogen into the reaction chamber, where the flow of hydrogen is greater than the flow of argon, energizing the flows of argon and hydrogen with an RF power source operating at between twenty watts and 400 watts to form a plasma, applying a negative bias to the integrated circuit while it is within the plasma, of between ten volts and 600 volts, maintaining the reaction chamber at a temperature of between twenty-five °C. and 400° C. maintaining the reaction chamber at a pressure of between one mtorr and twenty mtorr, penetrating the vias with the energized flows of argon and hydrogen, removing silicon oxide from the vias by reacting the silicon oxide with the energized flows of argon and hydrogen to form SiH x , pumping the SiH x out of the reaction chamber, discontinuing the plasma and flows of argon and hydrogen after a period of time of between five seconds and five minutes, and removing the integrated circuit from the reaction chamber.

Claim 20

A method of removing silicon oxide from high aspect ratio vias on an integrated circuit comprising: placing the integrated circuit within a reaction chamber, introducing a flow of argon into the reaction chamber, introducing a flow of hydrogen into the reaction chamber, where the flow of hydrogen is greater than the flow of argon, energizing the flows of argon and hydrogen with an RF power source operating at between twenty watts and 400 watts to form a plasma, applying a negative bias to the integrated circuit while it is within the plasma, of between ten volts and 600 volts, maintaining the reaction chamber at a temperature of between twenty-five °C. and 400° C. maintaining the reaction chamber at a pressure of between one mtorr and twenty mtorr, penetrating the vias with the energized flows of argon and hydrogen, removing silicon oxide from the vias by reacting the silicon oxide with the energized flows of argon and hydrogen to form SiH x , pumping the SiH x out of the reaction chamber, discontinuing the plasma and flows of argon and hydrogen after a period of time of between five seconds and five minutes, and removing the integrated circuit from the reaction chamber.