Oxygen-argon gas mixture for precleaning in vacuum processing equipment

摘要

A method for cleaning, or pre-cleaning, a process objet, such as a substrate, uses a process gas, such as argon, mixed with a quantity of oxygen. The process gas sputter etches material from the surface of the process object to clean or remove oxides, or other contaminants, therefrom. The oxygen reacts with the etched material to form stoichiometrically balanced compounds that deposit in a smooth film on a process kit. The process kit is periodically removed and replaced after a predetermined number of process objects have been processed, or cleaned.