Claims
- 1. A process for cleaning semiconductor fabrication equipment parts comprising:placing a part to be cleaned into a chamber; heating a liquid organic solvent to produce a vapor phase organic solvent within said chamber wherein said vapor phase of the organic solvent contacts said part to be cleaned purging said enclosed chamber with an inert gas; then and removing said part from said chamber.
- 2. A process of claim 1 further comprising:inspecting said part for a presence of visible contaminants; and re-introducing said part to said organic solvent vapor if said inspection indicates said presence of visible contaminants.
- 3. A process of claim 2 further comprising:testing said part for a presence of non-visible contaminants; and re-introducing said part to said organic solvent vapor if said presence of non-visible contaminants is above an acceptable impurity level.
- 4. A process of claim 1 further comprising removing a polymer from said part after said part is removed from said organic solvent.
- 5. A process of claim 4 wherein said polymer removal is achieved by scraping said polymer off with a spatula.
- 6. A process of claim 1 further comprising immersing said part in a dilute acid mixture to remove a presence of metallic contamination.
- 7. A process of claim 6 wherein said metallic contamination removal is done in a separate dilute bath.
- 8. A process of claim 3 wherein said presence of non-visible contaminants is comprised of at least one of organic, metallic and particulate impurities.
- 9. A process of claim 4 wherein an acceptable impurity level for organic impurities on said part is about less than about 1014 carbon atoms/cm2.
- 10. A process of claim 4 wherein an acceptable impurity level for particle impurities on said part is about less than 300,000 particles/cm2.
- 11. A process of claim 4 wherein an acceptable impurity level for metallic impurities on said part is about less than about 1013 atoms/cm2.
- 12. A process of claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein said organic solvent is heated in a temperature range from above room temperature to about 100° C.
- 13. A process of claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein said organic solvent is heated in a temperature range from above room temperature to about 60° C.
- 14. A process of claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein said organic solvent is at about room temperature.
- 15. A process of claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein said organic solvent is comprised of at least one of pyrrole-based, amine-based, fluoro/ether-based, hydrocarbon ether-based and glycol ether acetate based solvents.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of provisional application U.S. Ser. No. 60/229,615, filed on Aug. 31, 2000, entitled “Cleaning of Semiconductor Process Equipment Chamber Parts Using Organic Solvents”, incorporated herein by reference and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent application entitled “System and Method for Cleaning Semiconductor Fabrication Equipment Parts”, filed on Aug. 10, 2001, incorporated herein by reference.
US Referenced Citations (11)
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
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0 571 015 |
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EP |
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JP |
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Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60/229615 |
Aug 2000 |
US |