KR20200066294A - Devices for dispensing cryogenic fluids - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for treating a surface of a microelectronic substrate, and in particular, an apparatus and method for scanning a microelectronic substrate through a cryogenic fluid mixture used to treat the exposed surface of the microelectronic substrate It is about. In particular, improved nozzle designs used to expand fluid mixtures are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the nozzle design includes a combination of two nozzle pieces to form a single nozzle design, where the two pieces are slightly misaligned to form a unique orifice design. In another embodiment, the two pieces are combined and aligned along the common axis of the fluid conduit. However, an offset piece is inserted between the two pieces and has a misaligned hole from the flow conduits of the two other pieces.

Description

Devices for dispensing cryogenic fluids

[Priority claim] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Non-Patent Patent Application No. 15/681,105, filed on August 18, 2017, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[Related applications] U.S. Non-Patent Application No. 15/681,105, filed on August 18, 2017, is part of the U.S. Non-Patent Application No. 15/197,450 filed on June 29, 2016, and claims priority to it. U.S. non-housing applications include U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/060,130 filed on October 6, 2014, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/141,026 filed on March 31, 2015, and October 6, 2015 It is a part of U.S. non-patent patent application 14/876,199 filed as a date and claims priority to it, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[Use field] The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for treating a surface of a microelectronic substrate, and particularly for removing objects from a microelectronic substrate using cryogenic fluids.

Advances in microelectronic technology have allowed integrated circuits (ICs) to be formed on microelectronic substrates (eg, semiconductor substrates) while continuously increasing the density of active components. IC fabrication may be performed by application and selective removal of various materials on a microelectronic substrate. One aspect of the manufacturing process may include exposing the surface of the microelectronic substrate to cleaning treatments to remove process residues and/or debris (eg, particles) from the microelectronic substrate. Various dry and wet cleaning techniques have been developed to clean microelectronic substrates.

However, advances in microelectronic IC manufacturing have made device features on the substrate smaller. Smaller device features have made devices more susceptible to damage from smaller particles than in the past. Thus, any technique that would allow for the removal of smaller particles and/or relatively larger particles without damaging the substrate would be desirable.

Various apparatus and methods are described herein that may use various different fluids or fluid mixtures to remove objects (eg, particles) from microelectronic substrates. In particular, fluids or fluid mixtures may be exposed to the microelectronic substrate in a manner that allows particles to be removed from the surface of the microelectronic substrate. Fluid mixtures expand from a high pressure environment (eg, greater than atmospheric pressure) to a lower pressure environment (eg, sub-atmospheric pressure) that may include a microelectronic substrate. Cryogenic aerosols and/or gas cluster jet (GCJ) sprays that may be formed by, but are not limited to.

The embodiments described herein provide particle removal efficiency for particles below 100 nm without compromising larger (eg, >100 nm) particle removal efficiency and/or without damaging microelectronic substrate features during particle removal. The improvement showed unexpected results. Reduction of damage may be possible by reducing the liquefaction of the fluid mixture prior to expansion (eg <1% by weight) or avoiding liquefaction. Additionally, the unexpected nozzle design showed improved particle u removal efficiency by affecting the lateral flow or fluid expansion properties of the expanded fluid across the microelectronic substrate.

Conventional nozzles or multi-stage nozzles are designed to have flow conduits aligned along a common axis to minimize flow obstructions between nozzle components. However, it has been found to include flow barriers within the nozzle design to improve particle removal efficiency from the microelectronic substrate. Flow blocks may be introduced in a number of ways and are not limited to the embodiments described herein. In some embodiments, flow blocking may be introduced by slightly misaligning the nozzle or flow conduit components. In other embodiments, fluid blocking may be introduced after the fluid leaves the nozzle or by adding blocking components to change the fluid flow path or properties within the nozzle.

In one embodiment, a cryogenic processing system may include one or more components of a nozzle forming a fluid conduit for a fluid or gas used to process or clean microelectronic substrates. Two or more components may be coupled together to form a fluid conduit that delivers a fluid or gas from a fluid source to a process chamber, where the nozzle can be disposed over or against the microelectronic substrate. In one particular embodiment, the nozzles are configured to take two gases to form a single fluid conduit that receives gas from the gas source and expands or conditions the gas such that the gas flows laterally across the microelectronic substrate as it leaves the nozzle. It may also include a two-stage nozzle design in which the components are coupled together.

The first piece of the nozzle may include a gas delivery component that includes a gas delivery conduit disposed along the longitudinal axis of the gas delivery component. The gas delivery conduit may include an initial orifice disposed at one end of the fluid conduit, and an outlet orifice disposed at the distal end. The size of the fluid conduit and corresponding orifices may vary in size depending on the embodiments described herein. Typically, the fluid conduit between the gas delivery component and the gas expansion component may be aligned along a longitudinal axis such that the outlet orifice of the gas delivery component and the inlet orifice of the gas expansion component provide additional turbulent gas flow at the interface of the two components. Does not cause or block gas flow. However, it has been found that introducing additional turbulent flow or flow blockage at the interface of components has improved particle removal efficiency in some cases disclosed herein. In this embodiment, the fluid conduit for the gas expansion component may have a diameter similar to that of the gas delivery fluid conduit, but the gas expansion fluid conduit may be slightly misaligned from the gas delivery conduit, such that a portion of the gas expansion conduit fluid flows It may also extend into the conduit to form a barrier to gas flowing into the vacuum chamber. The shut-off may be continuous or semi-continuous around the component interface, such that at least a portion of the gas flow is redirected or influenced by the shut-off to determine the properties of the gas (eg turbulence or flow profile, gas-cluster size and Density, etc.) to improve lateral gas flow across the microelectronic substrate as the gas exits the nozzle.

In other embodiments, a flow block in the nozzle may be introduced by adding an offset plate between the gas transfer component and the gas expansion component, such that the gas flow may be blocked without causing misalignment between the gas transfer component and the gas expansion component. have. However, in this embodiment, the fluid conduits of the gas delivery component and gas expansion component may not be misaligned as in the previous embodiment. The offset plate may comprise a relatively thin (eg <1.5 mm) piece of material made of a material similar to other nozzle components, and the total thickness of the gas from one side of the offset plate to the opposite side of the offset plate. It may include an offset orifice (for example, a circular hole) to flow through the offset plate. The offset orifice may have the same or similar diameter to the size of the orifices at the interface between the components, but is not required to be the same. The position and size of the offset orifice may be designed to form a barrier at the interface of the gas delivery component and the gas expansion component when the offset plate is secured between these two components. In this way, the offset orifice may be misaligned from the longitudinal axis of the fluid conduit of the nozzle to form a partial blockage in the fluid conduit. As a result of the offset orifice misalignment, a portion of the offset plate may extend through the nozzle into the gas flow path. The narrowing of the fluid conduit over a short distance of the total nozzle fluid conduit may introduce additional turbulence that may not normally be found in the nozzle without blocking the flow. It has been found that in addition to changes in the diameter of the offset orifice, the thickness of the offset plate can change the particle removal efficiency. It has been found that the use of blocked nozzles disclosed herein affects the lateral gas flow across the microelectronic substrate after the gas exits the nozzle. It has been found that the efficiency of particle removal is improved as a result of cleaning the microelectronic substrates using this nozzle.

In other embodiments, the offset orifice may be aligned along a common centerline between components forming a nozzle that delivers process gas to the process vacuum chamber. The diameter of the offset orifice may be smaller than the diameters of the fluid channels of the nozzle components. In this way, a higher pressure difference may be achieved than no offset plate is present.

The content of this invention is provided for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to limit the scope of the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed herein.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the general description of the invention given above, and the detailed description given below, serve to explain the invention. Additionally, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.
1 includes a schematic illustration of a cleaning system in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present disclosure and a cross-sectional view of a process chamber of a cleaning system.
2A and 2B include cross-sectional illustrations of two-stage gas nozzles according to at least two embodiments of the present disclosure.
3 includes a cross-sectional illustration of a single stage gas nozzle according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.
4 includes a cross-sectional illustration of a flush gas nozzle in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.
5 includes an illustration of a gap distance between a gas nozzle and a microelectronic substrate, according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.
6A and 6B include illustrations of phase diagrams providing an indication of process conditions that may maintain a cryogenic fluid in a liquid or gaseous state, according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.
7 includes a flow diagram presenting a method of processing a microelectronic substrate with a fluid, in accordance with various embodiments.
8 includes a flow diagram presenting another method of processing a microelectronic substrate with a fluid, in accordance with various embodiments.
9 includes a flow diagram presenting another method of processing a microelectronic substrate with a fluid, in accordance with various embodiments.
10 includes a flow diagram presenting another method of processing a microelectronic substrate with a fluid, in accordance with various embodiments.
11 includes a flow diagram presenting another method of processing a microelectronic substrate with a fluid, in accordance with various embodiments.
12 includes a flow diagram presenting another method of processing a microelectronic substrate with a fluid, in accordance with various embodiments.
13 includes a bar chart of improving particle removal efficiency between a non-liquid containing fluid mixture and a liquid-containing fluid mixture, according to various embodiments.
14 includes particle maps of microelectronic substrates illustrating a larger cleaning area based at least in part on a smaller gap distance between the nozzle and the microelectronic substrate.
15 includes pictures of microelectronic substrate features showing different feature damage differences between the previous techniques and those disclosed herein.
16 includes a cross-sectional illustration of a nozzle design that includes a gas delivery component coupled to a gas expansion component, according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.
17 includes an enlarged cross-sectional view of an interface between a coupled gas delivery component and a gas expansion component, according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.
18 includes a cross-sectional illustration of a nozzle design that includes a gas delivery component, a gas expansion component, and an offset plate disposed between two previously mentioned components, according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.
19 includes a cross-sectional illustration of a nozzle design comprising a coupled gas delivery component, a gas expansion component, and an offset plate disposed therebetween, in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.
20 includes a top-down view of a cross-sectional diagram illustrating embodiments illustrated in at least FIGS. 17 and 18 of the present disclosure.
21 includes a cross-sectional illustration of a nozzle design that includes a coupled gas delivery component, a gas expansion component, and an offset plate disposed therebetween, in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

Methods for selectively removing objects from a microelectronic substrate are described in various embodiments. Those skilled in the art will recognize that various embodiments may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or using other alternatives and/or additional methods, materials, or components. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of various embodiments of the present disclosure. Similarly, for purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are presented to provide a thorough understanding of systems and methods. Nevertheless, systems and methods may be practiced without specific details. In addition, it is understood that the various embodiments shown in the figures are exemplary representations and are not necessarily drawn to scale, except for FIGS. 6A and 6B.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” refers to a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment of at least one of the present invention. It is meant to be included in the examples, but does not indicate that they are present in all examples. Thus, the appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment of the invention. In addition, certain features, structures, materials, or properties may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Various additional layers and/or structures may be included and/or the described features may be omitted in other embodiments.

“Microelectronic substrate” as used herein generally refers to an object that is processed in accordance with the present invention. The microelectronic substrate may include any material portion or structure of a device, particularly a semiconductor or other electronic device, for example a base substrate structure, such as a semiconductor substrate, or a layer on or over the base substrate structure, For example, it may be a thin film. Accordingly, the substrate is not intended to be limited to any particular base structure, bottom layer or top layer that is patterned or unpatterned, but rather rather any such layer or base structure, and any combination of layers and/or base structures It is considered to include. The description below may refer to certain types of substrates, but this is for illustrative purposes only, not limitation. In addition to microelectronic substrates, the techniques described herein may also be used to clean reticle substrates that may be used for patterning microelectronic substrates using photolithography techniques.

Cryogenic fluid cleaning is used to expel contaminants by imparting sufficient energy from aerosol particles or gas jet particles (eg, gas clusters) to overcome adhesions between the contaminants and the microelectronic substrate. It is a technique. Accordingly, it may be desirable to create or expand cryogenic fluid mixtures of the correct size and speed (eg, aerosol spray and/or gas cluster jet spray). The momentum of aerosols or clusters is a function of mass and velocity. Momentum may be increased by increasing velocity or mass, which may be important to overcome strong adhesions between the particle and the surface of the substrate, especially when the particle may be very small (<100 nm).

To affect the speed of the cryogenic fluid, a carrier gas composed of atoms/molecules of relatively smaller or larger atomic weight can be included in the fluid mixture to improve cleaning of contaminants on the substrate. The carrier gas may or may not be cooled to cryogenic temperatures with the remainder of the fluid mixture. In addition to the partial pressure of the primary cryogenic mixture, the carrier gas will supply the partial pressure. The partial pressure and gas temperature may be adjusted to place the fluid mixture in a liquid/gas state or gas state to improve the cleaning capability of the system. This technique meets the increasing demand in the semiconductor industry to improve the cleaning of substrates with small contaminants where traditional aerosol techniques are limited due to insufficient kinetic energy.

1 is a schematic illustration of a cleaning system 100 that may be used to clean microelectronic substrates using aerosol sprays or gas cluster jet (GCJ) sprays and cross-sectional view 102 of a process chamber 104 where cleaning occurs It includes. An aerosol spray or GCJ spray may be formed by expanding the cryogenically cooled fluid mixtures into the sub-atmospheric environment in the process chamber 104. As shown in FIG. 1, one or more fluid sources 106 may provide pressurized fluid(s) to cryogenic cooling system 108 prior to expansion through nozzle 110 in process chamber 104. have. Vacuum system 134 may be used to maintain a sub-atmospheric environment in process chamber 104 and to remove fluid mixtures as needed.

In the present application, the following parameters: pressures and temperatures of the inlet fluid mixture in the nozzle 110 prior to expansion, flow rate of the fluid mixture, composition and proportion of the fluid mixture, and in the process chamber 104 One or more of the pressures may be important in removing objects from the microelectronic substrate. Accordingly, the controller 112 may be used to store process recipes in the memory 114, or may issue instructions over the network 138 using the computer processor 116, which instructions They control various components of the cleaning system 100 to implement the cleaning techniques disclosed herein.

Those skilled in the semiconductor processing arts, fluid source(s) 106, cryogenic cooling system 108, vacuum system 134 and their respective sub-components (illustrated) to implement the embodiments described herein. Not, for example, sensors, controls, etc.). For example, in one embodiment, the cleaning system 100 components may be configured to provide pressurized fluid mixtures between 50 psig and 800 psig. The temperature of the fluid mixture may be maintained in the range of 70K to 270K, but preferably between 70K and 150K, by passing the fluid mixture through a liquid nitrogen dewar of cryogenic cooling system 108. Vacuum system 134 may be configured to maintain process chamber 104 at a pressure that may be less than 35 Torr, or more preferably less than 10 Torr, to enhance the formation of aerosols and/or gas clusters.

The pressurized and cooled fluid mixture may expand into the process chamber 104 through a nozzle 110 that may direct an aerosol spray or GCJ spray towards the microelectronic substrate 118. At least one nozzle 110 may be supported within the process chamber 104, where the nozzle 110 has at least one nozzle orifice directing the fluid mixture toward the microelectronic substrate 118. For example, in one embodiment, the nozzle 110 may be a nozzle spray bar having a plurality of openings along the length of the nozzle spray. The nozzle 110 may be adjustable such that the angle of the fluid spray impinging on the microelectronic substrate 118 can be optimized for a particular process. The microelectronic substrate 118 is preferably a vacuum chamber 120 to facilitate linear scanning of at least a portion of the microelectronic substrate 118 through a fluid spray emitted from the nozzle 110. ) Along a longitudinal axis, may be secured to a movable chuck 122 that provides at least one translational degree of freedom 124. The movable chuck may be coupled to a substrate translational drive system 128 that may include one or more slides and guiding mechanisms to define a moving path of the movable chuck 122 and is movable along its guiding path An actuation mechanism may be utilized to impart movement to the chuck 122. The actuation mechanism may include any electrical, mechanical, electromechanical, hydraulic, or pneumatic device. The actuation mechanism may be designed to provide a range of motion of sufficient length to allow movement of the exposed surface of the microelectronic substrate 118 at least partially through the area of the fluid spray emanating from the at least one nozzle 110. . The substrate translation drive system 128 may include a support arm (not shown) arranged to extend through a sliding vacuum seal (not shown) at the wall of the vacuum chamber 120, wherein One distal end is mounted to the movable chuck 122 and the second distal end engages an actuator mechanism located outside the vacuum chamber 120.

In addition, the movable chuck 122 of the microelectronic substrate 118 from the first predetermined indexed position to a second predetermined indexed position exposing another portion of the microelectronic substrate 118 to the fluid spray. To facilitate rotation indexing, a substrate rotation drive system 130 that may provide at least one rotational degree of freedom 126 about an axis that is preferably perpendicular to the exposed surface of the microelectronic substrate 118 is provided. It may also include. In other embodiments, the movable chuck 122 may rotate at a continuous speed without stopping at any indexed position. Additionally, the movable chuck 122 may change the angle of incidence of the fluid spray by changing the position of the microelectronic substrate 118, along with changing the nozzle 110 or its own angle.

In another embodiment, the movable chuck 122 moves the microelectronic substrate 118 to the top surface of the movable chuck 122 while impinging at least one fluid spray onto the exposed surface of the microelectronic substrate 118. It may also include a mechanism for fixing. The microelectronic substrate 118 is movable chuck using mechanical fasteners or clamps, vacuum clamping, or electrostatic clamping, as may be practiced, for example, by those skilled in the semiconductor processing arts. 122).

In addition, the movable chuck 122 may include a temperature control mechanism for controlling the temperature of the microelectronic substrate 118 at a temperature elevated above or below ambient temperature. The temperature control mechanism can include a heating system (not shown) or a cooling system (not shown) that is configured to adjust and/or control the temperature of the movable chuck 122 and the microelectronic substrate 118. The heating system or cooling system receives heat from the movable chuck 122 when cooling and transfers heat to the heat exchanger system (not shown), or moves the heat from the heat exchanger system when heating. It may also include a recirculating flow of heat transfer fluid to transfer to (122). In other embodiments, heating/cooling elements such as resistive heating elements or thermoelectric heaters/coolers may be included in the movable chuck 122.

As shown in FIG. 1, process chamber 102 may enable processing of substrate 118 using a cryogenic aerosol and/or GCJ spray or a combination thereof within the same vacuum chamber 120. It may also include a nozzle configuration (eg, second nozzle 132). However, a dual nozzle configuration is not required. Some examples of nozzle 110 design will be described in the descriptions of FIGS. 2A-4. Although the nozzles 110, 132 are shown positioned in a parallel manner, they are not required to be parallel to each other to implement cleaning processes. In other embodiments, the nozzles 110, 132 may be at opposite ends of the vacuum chamber 120, and the movable chuck 122 may include one or more of the nozzles 110, 132 of a microelectronic substrate ( 118) The substrate 118 may be moved to a position that enables spraying the fluid mixture onto it.

In other embodiments, the microelectronic substrate 118 includes a first nozzle 110 and/or a second nozzle (eg, an exposed surface area of the microelectronic substrate 118 (eg, an area including electronic devices)). The fluid mixture provided from 132 (e.g., aerosol or GCJ) may be moved to collide at the same or similar time (e.g., parallel processing) or at different times (e.g., sequential processing). have. For example, the cleaning process may include GCJ cleaning processes following an aerosol cleaning process, or vice versa. Additionally, the first nozzle 110 and the second nozzle 132 may be positioned such that their respective fluid mixtures impact the microelectronic substrate 118 at different times at different locations. In one case, the substrate 118 may be rotated to expose the entire microelectronic substrate 118 to different fluid mixtures.

The nozzle 110 may be configured to receive low temperature (eg, <273K) fluid mixtures at inlet pressures (eg, 50 psig to 800 psig) that are substantially higher than outlet pressures (eg, <35 Torr). It might be. The internal design of the nozzle 110 may enable expansion of the fluid mixture to produce solid and/or liquid particles that may be directed towards the microelectronic substrate 118. The nozzle 110 dimensions may have a strong influence on the properties of the expanded fluid mixture and range from simple orifice(s) arranged along the spray bar to multi-expansion volume configurations, single expansion volume configurations. You may have 2A-4 illustrate various nozzle 110 embodiments that may be used. However, the scope of the present disclosure may not be limited to the illustrated embodiments, and the methods disclosed herein may be applied to any nozzle 110 design. As mentioned above, the nozzle 110 values may not be drawn at a constant rate.

FIG. 2A includes two gas expansion zones that may be in fluid communication with each other and may apply pressure changes to the fluid mixture as the fluid mixture proceeds through a two-stage gas (TSG) nozzle 200. It includes a cross-sectional illustration of a two-stage gas nozzle 200 that may be used. The first stage of the TGS nozzle 200 is a reservoir component that may receive a fluid mixture through an inlet 204 that may be in fluid communication with a cryogenic cooling system 108 and fluid sources 106. 202). The fluid mixture may expand into reservoir component 202 at a pressure that may be lower than the inlet pressure. The fluid mixture may flow through the transition orifice 206 to the outlet component 208. In some embodiments, the fluid mixture may be compressed to a higher pressure as it flows through the transition orifice 206. The fluid mixture may expand back into the outlet component 208 and may contribute to the formation of an aerosol spray or gas cluster jet when the fluid mixture is exposed to the low pressure environment of the vacuum chamber 120 through the outlet orifice 210. In general, TGS nozzle 200 may include any dimensional design that may enable double expansion of the fluid mixture between inlet orifice 204 and outlet orifice 210. The scope of the TGS nozzle 200 may not be limited to the embodiments described herein.

In the FIG. 2A embodiment, reservoir component 202 may include a cylindrical design extending from inlet orifice 204 to transition orifice 206. The cylinder may have a diameter 212 that may vary from the size of the transition orifice 206 to more than three times the size of the transition orifice 206.

In one embodiment, the TGS nozzle 200 may have an inlet orifice 204 diameter that may be in the range of 0.5 mm to 3 mm, but preferably 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm. The reservoir component 202 may include a cylinder having a diameter 212 of 2 mm to 6 mm, but preferably 4 mm to 6 mm. The reservoir component 208 may have a length 214 of 20 mm to 50 mm, but preferably 20 mm to 25 mm. At the non-inlet end of the reservoir component 208, the fluid mixture may transition to a smaller diameter that may enable compression through the transition orifice 206 into the outlet component 208.

The transition orifice 206 may exist in several different embodiments that may be used to condition the fluid mixture as the fluid mixture transitions between the reservoir component 202 and outlet component 208. In one embodiment, transition orifice 206 may be a simple orifice or opening at one end of reservoir component 202. The diameter of this transition orifice 206 may be in the range of 2 mm to 5 mm, but preferably 2 mm to 2.5 mm. In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2A, the transition orifice 206 may have a greater volume than the simple opening of the previous embodiment. For example, the transition orifice 206 may have a cylindrical shape that may be constant along a distance that may be less than 5 mm. In this embodiment, the diameter of the transition orifice 206 may be larger than the initial diameter of the outlet component 208. In this case, there may be a step height between transition orifice 206 and outlet component 208. The step height may be less than 1 mm. In one particular embodiment, the step height may be about 0.04 mm. The outlet component 208 may have a conical shape in which the diameter between the transition orifice 206 and the outlet orifice 208 increases. The conical portion of the outlet component 208 may have a half angle of 3° to 10°, but preferably 3° to 6°.

FIG. 2B illustrates another embodiment 220 of a TGS nozzle 200 that includes a reservoir component 202 having a diameter 218 that is approximately the same size as the transition orifice 206. In this embodiment, the diameter 218 may be between 2 mm and 5 mm in length 214 similar to the FIG. 2A embodiment. The FIG. 2B embodiment may reduce the pressure difference between the reservoir component 202 and the outlet component 208 and may improve the stability of the fluid mixture during the first stage of the TGS nozzle 200. However, in other embodiments, a single stage nozzle 300 may be used to reduce pressure fluctuations in the TSG nozzle 200 embodiment and reduce turbulence in the fluid mixture.

FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional illustration of one embodiment of a single stage gas (SSG) nozzle 300 that may include a single expansion chamber between the inlet orifice 302 and the outlet orifice 304. The SSG nozzle 300 expansion chamber may vary, but in the FIG. 3 embodiment the initial diameter 306 (eg, 1.5, which may be slightly larger than the inlet orifice 302 (eg, 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm)) mm to 3 mm). The conical design may include a half angle of 3° to 10°, but preferably 3° to 6°. The half angle may be the angle between the virtual centerline through the expansion chamber of the SSG nozzle 300 (from the inlet orifice 302 and the outlet orifice 304) and the sidewall (eg, conical wall) of the expansion chamber. Finally, the SSG nozzle 300 may have a length of 18 mm to 40 mm, preferably 18 mm to 25 mm. Other variations of SSG nozzle 300 may include a continuous taper of expansion volume from inlet orifice 302 to outlet orifice 304, as illustrated in FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional illustration of a flush gas (FG) nozzle 400 that may include a continuous expansion chamber that does not include any offsets or contractions between the inlet orifice 402 and the outlet orifice 404. It includes. As the name suggests, the initial diameter of the expansion volume may be the same height as the inlet diameter 402, which may be between 0.5 mm and 3 mm, but preferably between 1 mm and 1.5 mm. In one embodiment, the outlet diameter 404 may be between 2 mm and 12 mm, but preferably between 2 and 4 times the size of the inlet diameter 402. Additionally, the half angle may be 3° to 10°, but preferably, but preferably 3° to 6°. The length 406 of the expansion volume should vary between 10 mm and 50 mm between the inlet orifice 402 and the outlet orifice 404. Additionally, the following embodiments may be applied to both the FIGS. 3 and 4 embodiments. In one particular embodiment, the nozzle may have a cone length of 20 mm, a half angle of 3° and an outlet orifice diameter of about 4 mm. In other specific embodiments, the cone length may be between 15 mm and 25 mm, where the outlet orifice diameter is between 3 mm and 6 mm. In other specific embodiments, the outlet orifice diameter may be about 4 mm, with an inlet diameter of about 1.2 mm and a cone length of about 35 mm.

Another feature that may affect the cleaning efficiency of the cleaning system 100 may be the distance between the nozzle outlet 404 and the microelectronic substrate 118. In some process embodiments, the gap distance may affect cleaning efficiency in addition to the amount of particles removed, as well as the amount of surface area on which particles may be removed during a single pass across the substrate 118. In some cases, an aerosol spray or GCJ spray cleans a larger surface area of the substrate 118 when the outlet orifice of the nozzle 110 may be closer to the microelectronic substrate 118 (eg, <50 mm). It may be possible.

5 includes an illustration 500 of a gap distance 502 between the microelectronic substrate 118 and the outlet orifice 404 of the nozzle 110, according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. In one case, the gap distance 502 may be measured from the end of the nozzle 110 assembly forming a structure or support for the nozzle 110. In other cases, gap distance 502 may be measured from a plane extending across the maximum diameter of the conical expansion zone exposed to microelectronic substrate 118.

Gap distance 502 may vary depending on chamber pressure, gas composition, fluid mixture temperature, inlet pressure, nozzle 110 design, or some combination thereof. Generally, the gap distance 502 may be 2 mm to 50 mm. In general, the vacuum chamber 120 pressure may be less than 35 Torr to operate within 2 mm and 50 mm gap distances 502. However, when the chamber pressure may be less than 10 Torr and the gas nozzle 110 has an outlet orifice of less than 6 mm, the gap distance 502 may be optimized to less than 10 mm. In some specific embodiments, the preferred gap distance 502 may be about 5 mm for the nozzle 110 having an outlet diameter less than 5 mm and a vacuum chamber 120 pressure less than 10 Torr.

In other embodiments, the gap distance 502 may be based at least in part on the inverse relationship with the vacuum chamber 120 pressure. For example, the gap distance 502 may be less than or equal to the value derived by dividing the constant value by the chamber 120 pressure. In one embodiment, the constant may be a dimensionless parameter or may be in units of mm*Torr and the vacuum chamber 120 pressure may be measured in Torr (see equation 1):

Gap distance </= constant/chamber pressure (1)

In this way, the value obtained by dividing the constant by the chamber pressure provides a gap distance 502 that may be used for the cleaning process. For example, in one particular embodiment, the constant may be 50 and the chamber pressure may be about 7 Torr. In this case, the gap distance will be about 7 mm or less under equation (1). In other embodiments, the constant may be in the range of 40 to 60 and the pressure may be in the range of 1 Torr to 10 Torr. In other embodiments, the constant may be in the range of 0.05 to 0.3 and the pressure may be in the range of 0.05 Torr to 1 Torr. Although gap distance 502 may have a positive effect on cleaning efficiency, there are several other process parameters that can contribute to cleaning efficiency using aerosol sprays and gas cluster jet sprays.

The hardware described in the descriptions of FIGS. 1-5 may also be used to enable aerosol spray and gas cluster jet (GCJ) spray with some more hardware changes and more substantial changes to process conditions. Process conditions may vary between different fluid mixture compositions and ratios, inlet pressures, inlet temperatures, or vacuum chamber 120 pressures. One substantial difference between aerosol spray and GCJ spray processes may be the phase composition of the inlet fluid mixtures into nozzle 110. For example, the aerosol spray fluid mixture may have a higher liquid concentration than the GCJ fluid mixture, which may be present in a gaseous state with little or no liquid in the inlet GCJ fluid mixture into the nozzle 110.

In an aerosol spray embodiment, the temperature of the cryogenic cooling system 108 may be set to a point where at least a portion of the fluid mixture entering the nozzle 110 may be in a liquid phase. In this embodiment, the nozzle mixture may be at least 10% by weight in the liquid state. Thereafter, the liquid/gas mixture is expanded at high pressure into the process chamber 104, where cryogenic aerosols may be formed and may contain significant amounts of solid and/or liquid particles. However, the condition of the fluid mixtures may not be the only difference between aerosol and GCJ processes, which will be described in more detail below.

In contrast, the GCJ spray fluid mixture entering the nozzle 110 may contain little (eg, <1% by volume) or no liquid phase or may be completely gaseous. For example, the temperature of the cryogenic cooling system 108 may be set as a point to prevent the fluid mixture from being present in the liquid phase for the GCJ cleaning process. Accordingly, the state diagrams may be one way to determine process temperatures and pressures that may be used to enable the formation of an aerosol spray or GCJ spray in process chamber 104.

6A and 6B, state diagrams 600 and 608 indicate a phase in which components of the inlet fluid mixture may be present or more likely to include a liquid phase, gas phase, or combinations thereof. It might be. Argon state diagram 602, nitrogen state diagram 604, oxygen state diagram 610, and xenon state diagram 612 are illustrated for purposes of illustration and illustration of exemplary state diagrams. One of ordinary skill in the art may be able to find status diagram information in the literature or through the National Institutes of Standards and Technology of Gaithersburg, MD or other sources. Other chemicals described herein may also have representative state diagrams, but are not shown here for purposes of ease of illustration.

State diagrams 600 and 608 are graphical representations that highlight the relationship between pressure (eg y-axis) and temperature (eg x-axis) and the likelihood that an element may exist in a gas or liquid state. It can also be expressed. The state diagrams may include a gas-liquid phase transition line 606 (or vapor-liquid transition line) that may indicate where an element may transition between a liquid state or a gas state. In these embodiments, it is more likely that the liquid phase is present when the pressure and temperature of the elements are on the left side of the gas-liquid transition line 606, and the pressure and temperature of the elements are of the gas-liquid transition line 606. The gas phase may dominate when on the right. Additionally, when the pressure and temperature of the element are very close to the gas-liquid phase transition line 606, the possibility that the element may be present in the gas and liquid phase is that the pressure and temperature are the gas-liquid phase transition line 606 It is higher than when you may be farther from. For example, in terms of the argon state diagram 602, when argon is held at a pressure of 300 psi at a temperature of 100 K, argon has a higher concentration (by weight) than when argon is maintained at a pressure of 300 psi at a temperature of 130 K. It is more likely to include a liquid with or a portion in the liquid phase. The liquid concentration of argon may increase as the temperature decreases from 130K while maintaining a pressure of 300 psi. Likewise, argon liquid concentration may also increase when the pressure increases from 300 psi while maintaining a temperature of 130K. Generally, according to the state diagrams 600, the temperature must be higher than 83K to maintain argon in the gas state, and the temperature must be higher than 63K to maintain nitrogen in the gas state. However, any nitrogen-argon mixture, argon, or phase of nitrogen may depend on the pressure and temperature of the fluid mixture as well as the relative concentrations of the elements. However, the state diagrams 600 may also be used as guidelines that may provide an indication of the likelihood that an argon-nitrogen fluid mixture, argon, or nitrogen phase or at least liquid may be present. For example, in the case of an aerosol cleaning process, the inlet fluid mixture may have a temperature or pressure that may be on or to the left of the gas-liquid transition line 606 for one or more of the elements of the inlet fluid mixture. In contrast, the GCJ cleaning process is more likely to use an inlet fluid mixture that may have pressure and temperature that may be on the right side of the gas-liquid phase transition line 606 for one or more of the elements in the GCJ inlet fluid mixture. It might be. In some cases, system 100 may alternate between an aerosol process and a GCJ process by changing the inlet temperature and/or pressure of the fluid mixture.

The gas-liquid phase transition line 606 is similar to each of the state diagrams 600, 608, but their values may be unique to the chemical assigned to each of the state diagrams 600, 608, but the state diagrams 600, It should be noted that 608) may be used by those skilled in the art as described in the description of the argon state diagram 602. Those skilled in the art may also use state diagrams 600, 608 to optimize the amount of liquid and/or gas in a fluid mixture of aerosol or GCJ sprays.

By expanding the fluid mixture through a nozzle 110 into a low pressure environment in the process chamber 104 after the fluid or fluid mixture is exposed to cryogenic temperatures at or near the liquefaction temperature of at least one of the fluids. Cryogenic aerosol sprays may be formed. The composition and expansion conditions of the fluid mixture may serve to form small liquid droplets and/or solid particles including an aerosol spray that may impact the substrate 118. The aerosol spray contaminates the microelectronic substrate 118 contaminants (eg, by imparting sufficient energy from the aerosol spray (eg, droplets, solid particles) to overcome adhesions between the contaminants and the microelectronic substrate 118 ). , Particles). The momentum of an aerosol spray may play an important role in removing particles based at least in part on the amount of energy that may be needed for the aforementioned adhesive forces. Particle removal efficiency may be optimized by creating cryogenic aerosols that may have components of various mass and/or velocity (eg, droplets, crystals, etc.). The momentum required to expel contaminants is a function of mass and velocity. Mass and velocity may be very important to overcome strong adhesions between the particle and the surface of the substrate, especially when the particle may be very small (<100 nm).

7 illustrates a flow diagram 700 for a method of removing particles by treating a microelectronic substrate 118 with a cryogenic aerosol. As mentioned above, one approach to improving particle removal efficiency may be to increase the momentum of an aerosol spray. Momentum may be the product of the mass and velocity of the contents of the aerosol spray, such that kinetic energy may be increased by increasing the mass and/or velocity of the components of the aerosol spray. Mass and/or velocity may depend on a variety of factors, including but not limited to fluid mixture composition, incoming fluid mixture pressure and/or temperature, and/or process chamber 104 temperature and/or pressure. . Flow diagram 700 illustrates one embodiment of optimizing momentum by using various combinations of nitrogen and/or argon and at least one other carrier gas and/or pure argon or pure nitrogen.

Referring to FIG. 7, at block 702, the system 100 may receive the microelectronic substrate 118 into the process chamber 104. The microelectronic substrate 118 is a semiconductor material (eg, which may be used to create electronic devices that may include, but are not limited to, memory devices, microprocessor devices, light emitting displays, solar cells, etc.). Silicone, etc.). The microelectronic substrate 118 may include patterned films or blanket films that may contain contamination that may be removed by an aerosol cleaning process implemented on the system 100. System 100 may include a process chamber 104 that may be in fluid communication with a cryogenic cooling system 108 and one or more fluid sources 106. The process chamber may also include a fluid expansion component (eg, TSG nozzle 200, etc.) that may be used to expand the fluid mixture to form an aerosol spray to clean the microelectronic substrate 118. .

At block 704, system 100 may supply the fluid mixture to the fluid expansion component through cryogenic cooling system 108, which may cool the fluid mixture to less than 273K. In one embodiment, the temperature of the fluid mixture may be 70K or more and 200K or less, and more specifically, the temperature may be less than 130K. System 100 may also maintain the fluid mixture at a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure. In one embodiment, the fluid mixture pressure may be maintained between 50 psig and 800 psig.

In one embodiment, the fluid mixture may include a first fluid composition comprising molecules having an atomic weight of less than 28, and at least one additional fluid composition comprising molecules having an atomic weight of at least 28. It will be possible for a person skilled in the art to optimize the fluid mixture of two or more fluids so that aerosol spray components maximize particle removal efficiency or achieve the desired momentum targeting particles of different types or sizes. In this case, the first fluid composition may include, but is not limited to, helium, neon, or combinations thereof. The at least one additional fluid composition may include, but is not limited to, nitrogen (N ₂ ), argon, krypton, xenon, carbon dioxide, or combinations thereof. In one particular embodiment, the additional fluid composition comprises a mixture of N ₂ and argon, and the first fluid composition may include helium. However, the temperature, pressure and concentration of the fluid mixture may be varied to provide different types of aerosol sprays. In other embodiments, the phase or state of the fluid mixture may include various concentrations of gas, liquid, gas-liquid, as described below.

The ratio between the first fluid component and the additional fluid components may vary depending on the type of spray that may be desired to clean the microelectronic substrate 118. The fluid mixture may vary by chemical composition and concentration and/or by the phase or state of the material (eg, gas, liquid, etc.). In one aerosol embodiment, the first fluid composition may include at least 50% by weight up to 100% by weight of the fluid mixture, which may include the first portion in the gaseous state and the second portion in the liquid state. In most cases, the fluid mixture may have a liquid phase of at least 10% by weight. The fluid mixture may be optimized to handle particles of different types and/or sizes that may be on the patterned or patterned microelectronic substrates 118. One approach to changing particle removal performance may be to adjust the fluid mixture composition and/or concentration to improve particle removal performance. In another fluid mixture embodiment, the first fluid composition comprises 10% to 50% by weight of the fluid mixture. In other embodiments, the first fluid composition may comprise 20% to 40% by weight of the fluid mixture. In other fluid mixture embodiments, the first fluid composition may comprise 30% to 40% by weight of the fluid mixture. The phase of the aerosol fluid mixtures mentioned above may also vary widely to adjust for different types of particles and films on the substrate 118. For example, the fluid mixture may include a first portion that may be in a gaseous state, and a second portion that may be in a liquid state.

In one embodiment, the second portion may be at least 10% by weight of the fluid mixture. However, in certain cases, a lower concentration of liquid may be desirable to remove particles. In lower liquid concentration embodiments, the second portion may be up to 1% by weight of the fluid mixture. The liquid portion of the fluid mixture may include one or more gases or liquid phases that may include the fluid mixture. In these fluid mixture embodiments, system 100 may implement an aerosol spray by flowing 120 slm to 140 slm of additional fluid composition and 30 slm to 45 slm of first fluid composition.

In addition to the inlet pressure, concentration, and composition of the fluid mixture, the momentum and composition of the aerosol spray may also be affected by the pressure in the process chamber 104. More specifically, chamber pressure may affect the mass and/or velocity of liquid droplets and/or solid particles in an aerosol spray. The expansion of the fluid mixture may depend on the pressure difference across the nozzle 110.

At block 706, system 100 may provide fluid mixture into process chamber 104 such that at least a portion of the fluid mixture contacts microelectronic substrate 118. Expansion of the fluid mixture through a fluid expansion component (eg, nozzle 110) may form liquid droplets and/or solid particles of an aerosol spray. System 100 may maintain process chamber 104 at a chamber pressure of 35 Torr or less. In certain cases, it may be desirable to maintain the process chamber 104 at a much lower pressure to optimize the mass and/or velocity of liquid droplets and/or solid particles in an aerosol spray. In one particular embodiment, particle removal properties of an aerosol spray may be more desirable for certain particles when the process chamber is maintained below 10 Torr. It was also noted that the particle removal efficiency covered a larger surface area when the process chamber 104 was kept below 5 Torr during fluid mixture expansion.

When a fluid mixture flows through a fluid expansion component, the fluid mixture undergoes a phase transition associated with the fluid mixture expanding from a relatively high pressure (eg, >atmospheric pressure) to a relatively low pressure (eg, <35 Torr). It might be. In one embodiment, the inlet fluid mixture may be in a gas or liquid-gas phase, or may be under a relatively higher pressure than process chamber 104. However, when the fluid mixture flows through the low pressure of the process chamber 104 or expands into the low pressure, the fluid mixture may begin to transition to form liquid droplets and/or solid state as described above. For example, the expanded fluid mixture may include a combination of portions of gas phase, liquid phase, and/or solid phase. This may include what may be referred to as higher than the cryogenic aerosol. In another embodiment, the fluid mixture may also include gas clusters. In one embodiment, it may be the aggregation of atoms or molecules by weak attractive forces (eg, van der Waals forces). In one case, gas clusters may be regarded as a phase of a substance between a gas and a solid, and the size of the gas clusters may range from several molecules or atoms to more than 10 ⁵ atoms.

In one or more embodiments, a fluid mixture may be transferred between aerosol and gas clusters (eg, GCJ) in the same nozzle while processing the same microelectronic substrate 118. In this way, the fluid mixture may be transferred between the aerosol and GCJ by moving from a higher liquid concentration to a lower liquid concentration in the fluid mixture. Alternatively, the fluid mixture may be transferred between GCJ and aerosol by moving from a lower liquid concentration to a higher liquid concentration in the fluid mixture. As mentioned above in the description of FIGS. 6A and 6B, the liquid phase concentration may be controlled by temperature, pressure, or a combination thereof. For example, in the transition from aerosol to GCJ, the fluid mixture liquid concentration may transition from 10% to less than 1% by weight in one particular embodiment. In other specific embodiments, the transition from GCJ to aerosol may occur when the liquid concentration of the fluid mixture transitions from 1% to less than 10% by weight. However, the transition between aerosol and GCJ, and vice versa, may not be limited to percentages in the specific embodiments mentioned above, but is merely illustrative for purposes of explanation, not limitation.

At block 708, the expanded fluid may be directed towards the microelectronic substrate 118 and may remove particles from the microelectronic substrate 118 as the fluid expansion component moves across the surface of the microelectronic substrate 118. . In some embodiments, system 100 may include a plurality of fluid expansion components that may be arranged around microelectronic substrate 118. Multiple fluid expansion components may be used simultaneously or sequentially to remove particles. Alternatively, some of the fluid expansion components may be dedicated to aerosol processing and the other fluid expansion components may be used for GCJ processing.

In addition to aerosol processing, microelectronic substrates 118 may also be cleaned using GCJ processing. Cryogenic gas clusters, gas species such as argon or nitrogen, or mixtures thereof, pass through a heat exchanger bezel such as Dewar (eg, cryogenic cooling system 108) to be above the liquefaction temperature of any of the gaseous constituents. It may also be formed when exposing the gas to cryogenic temperatures. Thereafter, the high pressure cryogenic gas may be expanded through a nozzle 110 or an array of nozzles angled or perpendicular to the surface of the microelectronic substrate 118. GCJ spray may be used to remove particles from the surface of the semiconductor wafer without limiting the amount of damage to the surface of the microelectronic substrate 118 or causing any damage.

)는 클러스터 사이즈에 영향을 줄 수도 있는 중요한 파라미터들을 제공한다. 항 k는 결합 형성(가스 종 특성)과 관련된 응축 파라미터이고; d는 노즐 오리피스 직경이고, α는 팽창 반각이며 P_o 및 T_o는 각각 사전 팽창(pre-expansion) 압력 및 온도이다. 원뿔 형상을 갖는 노즐 지오메트리들은, 팽창 가스를 제약하고 더 효율적인 클러스터 형성을 위해 원자들 또는 분자들 사이의 충돌들의 수를 향상시키는 것을 돕는다. 이러한 방식으로, 노즐(110)은 기판(118)의 표면으로부터 오염물들을 축출하기에 충분히 큰 클러스터들의 형성을 향상시킬 수도 있다. 노즐(110)로부터 발산되는 GCJ 스프레이는 그것이 기판(118)에 충돌하기 전에 이온화되지 않을 수도 있지만, 원자들의 중립 집합(neutral collection)으로서 남아 있다.Gas clusters, which may be ensembles or aggregates of atoms/molecules held together by forces (eg, van der Waals forces), are classified as separate phases of matter between atoms and molecules in the gas and solid phases, It can range from a few atoms to 10 ⁵ atoms in size. Hagena empirical cluster scaling parameters given in equation (2)

) Provides important parameters that may affect cluster size. Term k is the condensation parameter related to bond formation (gas species properties); d is the nozzle orifice diameter, α is the expansion half angle, and P _o and T _o are the pre-expansion pressure and temperature, respectively. Cone-shaped nozzle geometries help to limit the expansion gas and improve the number of collisions between atoms or molecules for more efficient cluster formation. In this way, nozzle 110 may enhance the formation of clusters large enough to expel contaminants from the surface of substrate 118. The GCJ spray emanating from nozzle 110 may not ionize before it hits substrate 118, but remains as a neutral collection of atoms.

Ensembles of atoms or molecules comprising a cluster can provide better process capability aimed at cleaning contaminants of sizes less than 100 nm due to cryogenic cluster sizes approaching contaminant sizes on the microelectronic substrate 118. It may have a size distribution. Small-sized cryogenic clusters striking the microelectronic substrate 118 may also prevent or minimize damage to the microelectronic substrate 118, which may have sensitive structures that need to be preserved during processing.

As with the aerosol process, the GCJ process may use the same or similar hardware described in the description of system 100 of FIG. 1 and its components described in the description of FIGS. 2A-5. However, implementation of GCJ methods is not limited to the hardware embodiments described herein. In certain embodiments, the GCJ process may use the same or similar process conditions as the aerosol process, but the GCJ process may have a lower liquid phase concentration for the fluid mixture. However, GCJ processes are not required to have a lower liquid concentration than all aerosol process embodiments described herein. One skilled in the art increases the amount or density of gas clusters compared to any liquid droplets and/or solid particles (eg, frozen liquid) that may be present in the GCJ methods described herein. You can also implement the GCJ process. These GCJ methods may have several different techniques for optimizing the cleaning process, and one skilled in the art may use any combination of these techniques to clean any microelectronic substrate 118. For example, a person skilled in the art may design and/or orient the nozzle 110 to clean the microelectronic substrates 118, the composition or concentration of the fluid mixture, the inlet pressure and/or temperature of the fluid mixture, and The pressure and/or temperature of the process chamber 104 may be varied.

8 provides a flow diagram 800 for a cryogenic method for creating a GCJ process to remove particles from microelectronic substrate 118. In this embodiment, the method may represent a GCJ process that may use a multi-stage nozzle 110 similar to the two-stage gas (TSG) nozzle 200 described herein in the description of FIGS. 2A and 2B. . The embodiment of FIG. 8 may reflect pressure differences or changes in the fluid mixture as the fluid mixture transitions from the high pressure environment to the low pressure environment through the multi-stage nozzle 110.

Referring to FIG. 8, at block 802, system 100 may receive microelectronic substrate 118 into vacuum process chamber 120, which may include a fluid expansion component (eg, TSG nozzle 200). It might be. The system may place the process chamber 104 under subatmospheric conditions prior to exposing the microelectronic substrate 118 to any fluid mixtures provided by the cryogenic cooling system 108.

At block 804, system 100 may supply or condition the fluid mixture to be at a temperature below 273K and a pressure that may be greater than atmospheric pressure. For example, the fluid mixture temperature may be between 70K and 200K or more specifically between 70K and 120K. The fluid mixture pressure may be between 50 psig and 800 psig. Generally, at least a majority (by weight) of the fluid mixture may be in the gas phase. However, in other embodiments, the fluid mixture may be less than 10 (weight)% in the gas phase, and more specifically less than 1 (weight)% in the gas phase.

The fluid mixture may be a single fluid composition or a combination of fluids, including but not limited to N ₂ , argon, xenon, helium, neon, krypton, carbon dioxide, or any combination thereof. One skilled in the art will select one or more combinations of the aforementioned fluids to process the substrate using one fluid mixture or a combination of fluid mixtures at a time for the same microelectronic substrate 118. It might be.

In one embodiment, the fluid mixture may include a combination of N ₂ and argon in a ratio of 1:1 to 11:1. One skilled in the art may optimize the ratio with respect to the liquid concentration of N ₂ and/or argon to remove particles from the microelectronic substrate 118. However, in other embodiments, one skilled in the art may also optimize the energy or momentum of the GCJ fluid mixture to optimize particle removal efficiency. For example, the fluid mixture may include other carrier gases that may alter the mass and/or speed of the GCJ process. Carrier gases may include, but are not limited to, xenon, helium, neon, krypton, carbon dioxide, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, the fluid mixture may include a 1:1 to 4:1 mixture of N2 to argon in which one or more of the following carrier gases: xenon, krypton, carbon dioxide, or any combination thereof, may be mixed. have. In other cases, the carrier gas composition and concentration may be optimized with different proportions of N2 and argon with different proportions of carrier gases. In other embodiments, carrier gases may be included based on the Hagena value k, as shown in Table 1.

gas N ₂ O ₂ CO ₂ CH ₄ He Ne Ar Kr Xe k 528 1400 3660 2360 3.85 1.85 1650 2890 5500

In general, in some embodiments, fluids lower than the k value should have the same or higher concentration when mixed with N ₂ , argon, or combinations thereof. For example, when carrier gases are mixed with N ₂ , argon, or a combination thereof (eg, 1:1 to 4:1), between N ₂ , argon, or a combination thereof and carrier gases The ratio of should be made using a ratio of a mixture of at least 4:1 and a mixture of up to 11:1 when using xenon, krypton, carbon dioxide, or any combination thereof. In contrast, when helium or neon combinations thereof are combined with N ₂ , argon, or combinations thereof (eg, 1:1 to 4:1), the proportion of the mixture is N ₂ , argon, or these May be at least 1:4 between a combination of (eg 1:1 to 4:1) and helium, neon or a combination thereof. The aforementioned combinations of N2, argon and/or carrier gases may also be applied to other aerosol and GCJ methods described herein.

In other embodiments, the fluid mixture may include a combination of argon and N ₂ in a ratio of 1:1 to 11:1. This fluid mixture may also contain carrier gases (eg, Table 1). However, the fluid mixture may also include a pure argon or pure nitrogen composition that may be used using the aerosol or GCJ methods described herein.

At block 806, system 100 may provide a fluid mixture to the fluid expansion component from fluid source 106 and/or from cryogenic cooling system 108. System 100 may also maintain process chamber 104 at a pressure of less than 35 Torr. For example, system 100 may use vacuum system 134 to control process chamber 104 pressure before or when fluid mixture may be introduced into process chamber 104. In some embodiments, the process chamber 104 pressure may be between 5 Torr and 10 Torr, and in some embodiments, the pressure may be less than 5 Torr.

GCJ sprays may be formed when a fluid mixture is transferred between a high pressure environment (eg, upstream of nozzle 110) and a low pressure environment (eg, process chamber). In the FIG. 8 embodiment, the fluid expansion component may be a TSG nozzle 200 that may be disposed under at least two pressure changes or expansions before the fluid mixture impacts the microelectronic substrate 118.

At block 808, the fluid mixture expands through the inlet orifice 204 into the reservoir component 202, and achieves a reservoir pressure within the reservoir component 202 that is greater than the process chamber 104 pressure and less than the inlet pressure of the fluid mixture, or You can also keep. As a rule, the reservoir pressure may be less than 800 psig and more than 35 Torr. However, the reservoir pressure may fluctuate due to gas flow changes in the confined spaces illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B.

The fluid mixture may proceed to a transition orifice 206 that may or may not be smaller than the diameter of the reservoir component 202. When the transition orifice 206 is smaller than the diameter of the reservoir component 202, the fluid mixture flows further into the transition orifice 206 or through the transition orifice 206 into the outlet component 208 of the TSG nozzle 200. It can also be compressed under high pressure.

At block 810, the fluid mixture may be maintained at the outlet pressure at the outlet component 208 of the fluid expansion component. The outlet pressure may be higher than the chamber pressure and below the reservoir component 202 pressure. During the transition between transition orifice 206 and outlet orifice 210, the fluid mixture may expand or form gas clusters as described above. The difference in pressure between the outlet component 210 and the process chamber 104 may be due to the smaller limited volume of the outlet component 210 compared to the larger volume of the process chamber 104.

Gas clusters may be directed towards the outlet orifice 210, and the fluid mixture may continue to expand after the fluid mixture exits the TSG nozzle 200. However, the momentum may direct at least a majority of the gas cluster spray towards the microelectronic substrate 118. As mentioned above, the size of the gas cluster may vary from a few atoms to 10 ⁵ atoms. The process may be optimized to control the number of gas clusters and their size by changing by the process conditions mentioned above. For example, one skilled in the art may remove particles from the microelectronic substrate 118 by altering the inlet fluid mixture pressure, fluid mixture composition/concentration, process chamber 104 pressure, or any combination thereof. have.

At block 812, the components of the GCJ spray may be used to kinetically or chemically remove objects or contaminants from the microelectronic substrate 118. The objects may be removed through the kinetic effect of the GCJ spray and/or any chemical interaction of the fluid mixture may have with the objects. However, the removal of objects is not limited to the theory of kinetic and/or chemical removal, and removal of objects after applying a GCJ spray has sufficient evidence for any applicable theory that may be used to explain the removal of objects. Any theory that may be used to explain their removal is applicable in that it may.

The relative positions of the TSG nozzle 200 and the microelectronic substrate 118 may also be used to optimize object removal. For example, the incident angle of the GCJ spray may be adjusted by moving the TSG nozzle 200 from 0° to 90° between the surface of the microelectronic substrate 118 and the plane of the outlet orifice 210. In one particular embodiment, the angle of incidence may be 30° to 60° to remove objects based on the composition or pattern on the microelectronic substrate 118. Alternatively, the angle of incidence may be between 60° and 90°, and more specifically about 90°. In other embodiments, more than one nozzle 110 may be used to process the microelectronic substrate 118 at similar or various angles of incidence.

In the aforementioned removal embodiments, the microelectronic substrate 118 may also be translated and/or rotated during the removal process. The removal speed may be optimized with the desired residence time of the GCJ spray over specific portions of the microelectronic substrate 118. One skilled in the art may also optimize residence time and GCJ spray impact location to achieve the desired particle removal efficiency. For example, a preferred particle removal efficiency may be greater than 80% removal between before and after particle measurement.

Similarly, the gap distance between the outlet orifice 210 and the surface of the microelectronic substrate 118 may be optimized to increase particle removal efficiency. The gap distance is described in more detail in the description of FIG. 5, but in general, the gap distance may be less than 50 mm.

The GCJ process may also be implemented using single stage nozzles 300, 400 similar to those described in the descriptions of FIGS. 3 and 4. Single stage nozzles 300, 400 include a single expansion chamber that may be continuous in that the diameter 306 of the expansion zone is the same or increasing between inlet orifice 302 and outlet orifice 304. You may. For example, single stage nozzles 300, 400 may not have transition orifice 206, such as TSG nozzle 200. However, single stage GCJ methods may also be used by TSG nozzle 200 systems 100 and are not limited to single stage nozzle systems 100. Likewise, the methods described in the descriptions of FIGS. 9-12 may also be used by single stage nozzles 300, 400.

9 illustrates a flow chart 900 for another method of processing microelectronic substrate 118 with GCJ spray. Positioning of the nozzle 110 relative to the microelectronic substrate 118 may have a strong effect on particle removal efficiency. Specifically, the gap distance between the outlet orifice 304 and the surface of the microelectronic substrate 118 may affect particle removal efficiency. The gap distance may affect the fluid flow and distribution of the GCJ spray and may also affect the size of the cleaning surface area by the nozzle 110. In this way, the cycle time for the GCJ process may be reduced due to fewer passes to nozzle 110 or lower residence times.

Referring to FIG. 9, at block 902, the microelectronic substrate 118 may include a process chamber 104 that may include a gas expansion component (GEC) (eg, nozzles 300, 400). It may be accommodated in. The GEC may be any of the nozzles 110 described herein, but may specifically be configured the same or similar to the TSG nozzles 200, SSG nozzle 300 or flush nozzle 400. . Generally, the nozzles may include an inlet orifice 402 for receiving the fluid mixture, and an outlet orifice 404 for flowing the fluid mixture into the process chamber 104.

At block 904, the system 100 may position the microelectronic substrate 118 against the GEC such that the outlet orifice 404 is disposed over or adjacent to the microelectronic substrate 118. The GEC may also be positioned at an angle to the surface of the microelectronic substrate 118. The surface is where microelectronic devices are manufactured. The angle may be in the range of 0° to 90°. GEC positioning may also be optimized based on gap distance 502 as described in FIG. 5. The gap distance 502 may affect the flow distribution toward and/or across the microelectronic substrate 118. As the gap distance 502 increases, the cleaning surface area may decrease and additional nozzle passes may be required to maintain or improve particle removal efficiency. The speed of the expanded fluid mixture may also vary depending on the gap distance 502. For example, fluid flowing laterally across the microelectronic substrate 118 may increase when the gap distance 502 is reduced. In some embodiments, a higher rate may provide higher particle removal efficiency.

In general, the GEC may be likely to be within 50 mm of the surface of the microelectronic substrate 118. However, in most embodiments, gap distance 502 may be less than 10 mm for the aerosol or GCJ processes described herein. In one particular embodiment, the gap distance 502 may be about 5 mm prior to dispensing the fluid mixture through the GEC into the process chamber 104.

At block 906, system 100 may supply the fluid mixture to the GEC at a temperature that may be less than 273K and at a pressure that prevents liquid formation of the fluid mixture at a given temperature of the fluid mixture. In this way, the liquid concentration in the fluid mixture may be absent or less than at least 1% by weight of the fluid mixture. One skilled in the chemical processing arts may be able to use any known techniques to measure the liquid concentration of the fluid mixture. Additionally, one of ordinary skill in the art can select suitable combinations of temperature and pressure using state diagrams 600, 608 or any other known state diagram literature that may be available for a single species or mixture of species. It may be possible.

In one embodiment, the temperature may be greater than 70K and less than 273K of the fluid mixture, which may include nitrogen, argon, xenon, helium, carbon dioxide, krypton, or any combination thereof. Likewise, pressure may be selected using state diagrams 600, 608 or by any other known measurement technique that minimizes the amount of liquid concentration in the fluid mixture to less than 1% by weight. In most embodiments, the pressure may be 10 Torr or less, but in other embodiments, the pressure may be greater than 10 Torr to maximize particle removal efficiency.

At block 908, the system may provide the fluid mixture through the GEC into the process chamber 104 such that at least a portion of the fluid mixture contacts the microelectronic substrate 118. As mentioned above, the fluid mixture may expand from a relatively high pressure to a low pressure in the process chamber 104. In one embodiment, the process chamber 104 may be maintained at a chamber pressure of 35 Torr or less.

In one embodiment, the fluid mixture may include a combination of N ₂ and argon in a ratio of 1:1 to 11:1, specifically less than 4:1. In other embodiments, the fluid mixture may include other carrier gases that may alter the mass and/or speed of the GCJ spray. Carrier gases may include, but are not limited to, xenon, helium, neon, krypton, carbon dioxide, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, the fluid mixture will include a 1:1 to 4:1 mixture of N ₂ to argon, in which one or more of the following carrier gases: xenon, krypton, carbon dioxide, or any combination thereof, may be mixed. It might be.

In other embodiments, the fluid mixture may include a combination of argon and N ₂ in a ratio of 1:1 to 11:1. This fluid mixture may also contain carrier gases (eg, Table 1). However, the fluid mixture may also include a pure argon or pure nitrogen composition that may be used using the aerosol or GCJ methods described herein.

For example, when carrier gases are mixed with N ₂ , argon, or a combination thereof (eg, 1:1 to 4:1), between N ₂ and argon, or a combination thereof and carrier gases The ratio of should be made using a ratio of a mixture of at least 4:1 and a mixture of up to 11:1 when using xenon, krypton, carbon dioxide, or any combination thereof. In contrast, when helium or neon or a combination thereof is combined with N ₂ , argon, or a combination thereof (eg, 1:1 to 4:1), the proportion of the mixture is N ₂ , argon, or It may also be at least 1:4 between a combination of these (eg 1:1 to 4:1) and helium, neon or a combination thereof. The aforementioned combinations of N2, argon and/or carrier gases may also be applied to other aerosol and GCJ methods described herein.

In another embodiment, the fluid mixture may include helium or neon and N2 in combination with at least one of the following gases: argon, krypton, xenon, carbon dioxide. In one particular embodiment, the mixture ratio of the aforementioned combinations may be 1:2:1.8.

In block 910, the expanded fluid mixture (eg, GCJ spray) may be released towards the microelectronic substrate 118 and contact objects (eg, kinetic and/or chemical interactions) on the surface. , Such objects may be removed from the microelectronic substrate 118. The kinetic and/or chemical interaction of the GCJ spray may overcome adhesions between the objects and the microelectronic substrate 118. Objects may be removed from process chamber 104 through vacuum system 134 or deposited elsewhere in process chamber 104.

10 illustrates another flow diagram 1000 for another method for processing microelectronic substrate 118 with cryogenic fluid. In this embodiment, the fluid mixture may produce a GCJ spray that may have a relatively low liquid concentration. As mentioned above, the temperature and pressure of the fluid mixture may affect how much liquid (by weight) there may be in the fluid mixture. In this case, the liquid concentration of the fluid mixture may be optimized by changing the temperature.

Referring to FIG. 10, at block 1002, the microelectronic substrate 118 may be accommodated in a process chamber 104 that may include a gas expansion component (GEC) (eg, nozzles 300, 400). . The GEC may be any of the nozzles 110 described herein, but may specifically be configured the same or similar to the TSG nozzles 200, SSG nozzle 300 or flush nozzle 400. . Generally, the nozzles may include an inlet orifice 402 for receiving the fluid mixture, and an outlet orifice 404 for flowing the fluid mixture into the process chamber 104.

At block 1004, the system 100 may position the microelectronic substrate 118 against the GEC such that the outlet orifice 404 is disposed over or adjacent to the microelectronic substrate 118. The GEC may also be positioned at an angle to the surface of the microelectronic substrate 118. The surface is where microelectronic devices are manufactured. The angle may be in the range of 0° to 90°. GEC positioning may also be optimized based on gap distance 502 as described in FIG. 5. In general, the GEC may be likely to be within 50 mm of the surface of the microelectronic substrate 118. However, in most embodiments, gap distance 502 may be less than 20 mm for the aerosol or GCJ processes described herein. In one particular embodiment, the gap distance 502 may be about 5 mm prior to dispensing the fluid mixture through the GEC into the process chamber 104.

At block 1006, system 100 may supply the fluid mixture to the GEC at a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure and at a given pressure greater than the condensation temperature of the fluid mixture and less than 273K. The condensation temperature may vary between different gases or between different gas mixtures with different compositions and concentrations. A person skilled in the art condenses gas for a fluid mixture using empirical techniques or known literature (eg, state diagrams) based at least in part on observation and/or measurement of a fluid mixture using known techniques. It may be possible to determine the temperature.

In one case, the condensation temperature at a given pressure may be the temperature at which the fluid may transition, present in the liquid phase. For example, if the fluid mixture is held above the condensation temperature, the fluid mixture may be in a gaseous state, with no liquid phase present or with a very small amount of liquid (eg <1% by weight). Yes. In most embodiments, the fluid mixture temperature may vary between 50K and 200K, but more specifically between 70K and 150K, depending on the fluid mixture composition comprising gases with different condensation temperatures.

For example, in an N ₂ fluid mixture embodiment, the amount of liquid by weight may be estimated by using an N ₂ state diagram 604. For an inlet pressure of about 100 psi, the temperature of the fluid mixture may be greater than 100 K to minimize the amount of liquid. In this embodiment, the fluid mixture may have no liquid, or be less than at least 1% by weight, when the inlet temperature is about 120K at a pressure of 100 psi.

At block 1008, system 100 may provide the fluid mixture through GEC into process chamber 104 such that at least a portion of the fluid mixture contacts microelectronic substrate 118. In this embodiment, the process chamber 104 pressure may be at least less than atmospheric pressure, but more specifically less than 10 Torr.

In one embodiment, the fluid mixture may include a combination of N ₂ and argon in a ratio of 1:1 to 11:1, specifically less than 4:1. In other embodiments, the fluid mixture may include other carrier gases that may alter the mass and/or speed of the GCJ spray. Carrier gases may include, but are not limited to, xenon, helium, neon, krypton, carbon dioxide, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, the fluid mixture will include a 1:1 to 4:1 mixture of N ₂ to argon, in which one or more of the following carrier gases: xenon, krypton, carbon dioxide, or any combination thereof, may be mixed. It might be.

For example, when carrier gases are mixed with N ₂ , argon, or a combination thereof (eg, 1:1 to 4:1), the ratio between N ₂ and argon, or a combination thereof, is When using xenon, krypton, carbon dioxide or any combination thereof, the ratio should be at least 4:1 and a ratio of up to 11:1. In contrast, when helium or neon or a combination thereof is combined with N ₂ , argon, or a combination thereof (eg, 1:1 to 4:1), the proportion of the mixture is N ₂ , argon, or It may also be at least 1:4 between a combination of these (eg 1:1 to 4:1) and helium, neon or a combination thereof. The aforementioned combinations of N2, argon and/or carrier gases may also be applied to other aerosol and GCJ methods described herein.

In other embodiments, the fluid mixture may include a combination of argon and N ₂ in a ratio of 1:1 to 11:1. This fluid mixture may also contain carrier gases (eg, Table 1). However, the fluid mixture may also include a pure argon or pure nitrogen composition that may be used using the aerosol or GCJ methods described herein.

In block 1010, the expanded fluid mixture (eg, GCJ spray) may be released towards the microelectronic substrate 118 and contact objects (eg, kinetic and/or chemical interactions) on the surface. , Such objects may be removed from the microelectronic substrate 118. The kinetic and/or chemical interaction of the GCJ spray may overcome adhesions between the objects and the microelectronic substrate 118. Objects may be removed from process chamber 104 through vacuum system 134 or deposited elsewhere in process chamber 104.

11 illustrates a flow chart 1100 for another method for processing a microelectronic substrate 118 with a cryogenic fluid. In this embodiment, the fluid mixture may produce a GCJ spray that may have a relatively low liquid concentration. As mentioned above, the temperature and pressure of the fluid mixture may affect how much liquid (by weight) there may be in the fluid mixture. In this case, the liquid concentration of the fluid mixture may be optimized by varying the pressure. Additionally, gap distance 502 may be determined using controller 112 to use calculations using constant values and recipe pressures as described below.

Referring to FIG. 11, at block 1102, the microelectronic substrate 118 may be accommodated in a process chamber 104 that may include a gas expansion component (GEC) (eg, nozzle 300 ). The GEC may be any of the nozzles 110 described herein, but may specifically be configured the same or similar to the TSG nozzles 200, SSG nozzle 300 or flush nozzle 400. . Generally, the nozzles may include an inlet orifice 402 for receiving the fluid mixture, and an outlet orifice 404 for flowing the fluid mixture into the process chamber 104.

At block 1104, the system 100 may supply the gas mixture to the GEC at an inlet temperature of less than 273K and at an inlet pressure that prevents liquid from forming in the gas mixture at that inlet temperature. For example, in the N ₂ embodiment, the N ₂ state diagram 604 indicates that the fluid mixture at about 100 K will likely have a pressure of less than 100 psi to maintain N ₂ in the gas phase. If the pressure is above about 150 psi, it will be more likely that the liquid phase may be present in the N ₂ process gas.

At block 1106, system 100 may provide the fluid mixture through GEC into process chamber 104 such that at least a portion of the fluid mixture contacts microelectronic substrate 118. In this embodiment, the process chamber 104 pressure may be at least less than atmospheric pressure, but more specifically less than 10 Torr.

In one embodiment, the fluid mixture may include a combination of N ₂ and argon in a ratio of 1:1 to 11:1, specifically less than 4:1. In other embodiments, the fluid mixture may include other carrier gases that may alter the mass and/or speed of the GCJ spray. Carrier gases may include, but are not limited to, xenon, helium, neon, krypton, carbon dioxide, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, the fluid mixture will include a 1:1 to 4:1 mixture of N ₂ to argon, in which one or more of the following carrier gases: xenon, krypton, carbon dioxide, or any combination thereof, may be mixed. It might be.

For example, when carrier gases are mixed with N ₂ , argon, or a combination thereof (eg, 1:1 to 4:1), the ratio between N ₂ and argon, or a combination thereof, is When using xenon, krypton, carbon dioxide or any combination thereof, the ratio should be at least 4:1 and a ratio of up to 11:1. In contrast, when combined with helium or neon or N ₂ , argon, or combinations thereof (eg, 1:1 to 4:1). The proportion of the mixture may be at least 1:4 between N ₂ , argon, or combinations thereof (eg 1:1 to 4:1) and helium, neon or combinations thereof. The aforementioned combinations of N2, argon and/or carrier gases may also be applied to other aerosol and GCJ methods described herein.

In other embodiments, the fluid mixture may include a combination of argon and N ₂ in a ratio of 1:1 to 11:1. This fluid mixture may also contain carrier gases (eg, Table 1). However, the fluid mixture may also include a pure argon or pure nitrogen composition that may be used using the aerosol or GCJ methods described herein.

In block 1108, the system 100 may position the microelectronic substrate 118 at a gap distance 502 between the outlet (eg, outlet orifice 404) and the microelectronic substrate 118. The gap distance 502 is based at least in part on the ratio of the chamber pressure and the constant parameter having a value between 40 and 60, as shown in equation 1 in the description of FIG. In one embodiment, the units of the constant parameter may have units of length/pressure (eg, mm/Torr).

In block 1110, the expanded fluid mixture may be released towards the microelectronic substrate 118 and contact objects (eg, kinetic and/or chemical interactions) on the surface, and such objects may be microelectronic substrates ( 118). The kinetic and/or chemical interaction of the GCJ spray may overcome adhesions between the objects and the microelectronic substrate 118. Objects may be removed from process chamber 104 through vacuum system 134 or deposited elsewhere in process chamber 104.

12 illustrates a flow chart 1200 for another method for processing microelectronic substrate 118 with a cryogenic fluid. In this embodiment, the fluid mixture may produce a GCJ spray that may have a relatively low liquid concentration. As mentioned above, the temperature and pressure of the fluid mixture may affect how much liquid (by weight) there may be in the fluid mixture. In this case, the system 100 may maintain a ratio between the inlet fluid mixture pressure and the chamber 104 pressure to optimize the momentum or composition (eg, gas clusters, etc.). Additionally, system 100 may also optimize the inlet fluid mixture pressure to control the liquid concentration of the inlet fluid mixture within limits of the pressure ratio relationship between the inlet pressure and the process chamber 104 pressure.

Referring to FIG. 12, at block 1202, the microelectronic substrate 118 may be accommodated in a process chamber 104 that may include a gas expansion component (GEC) (eg, nozzles 300, 400 ). . The GEC may be any of the nozzles 110 described herein, but may specifically be configured the same or similar to the TSG nozzles 200, SSG nozzle 300 or flush nozzle 400. . Generally, the nozzles may include an inlet orifice 402 for receiving the fluid mixture, and an outlet orifice 404 for flowing the fluid mixture into the process chamber 104.

In block 1204, the system 100 may supply the fluid mixture to the vacuum process chamber 104 and the system 100 may maintain the fluid mixture at a temperature and/or pressure that maintains the fluid mixture in the gas phase. The fluid mixture may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following gases: nitrogen, argon, xenon, krypton, carbon oxide, or helium.

In another embodiment, the fluid mixture may include at least helium or neon and N ₂ in combination with at least one of the following gases: argon, krypton, xenon, carbon dioxide. In one particular embodiment, the ratio of combinations of the aforementioned fluid mixtures may be about 1:2:2. In another more specific embodiment, the ratio of the fluid mixture mentioned above may be 1:2:1.8.

At block 1206, the system 100 may maintain the process chamber 104 pressure and the incoming fluid mixture pressure using a pressure ratio. In this way, system 100 may ensure that there may be a balance or relationship between inlet pressure and process pressure (eg, ratio = (inlet pressure/process pressure). It may or may not exceed a threshold, or the pressure ratio may include a range that may be maintained despite changes in inlet pressure or chamber pressure.The pressure ratio value may be in the range of 200 to 500,000. However, the pressure ratio may act as a threshold that may or may not exceed or specify a range that may be maintained in consideration of recipe conditions stored in the controller 112. In this way, The pressure difference across the nozzle may be controlled to maintain GCJ/aerosol spray momentum or composition (eg, gas cluster size, gas cluster density, solid particle size, etc.).

In pressure ratio embodiments, values are considered in similar units, such that controller 112 may convert pressures into the same or similar units to control inlet and chamber pressures.

Upper threshold embodiments may include a pressure ratio that may not be exceeded, such that the inlet pressure through the chamber pressure may be below the upper threshold ratio. For example, the upper threshold values may be one of the following values: 300000, 5000, 3000, 2000, 1000 or 500.

In other embodiments, the controller 112 may maintain the inlet and process pressures within a range of pressure ratio values. Exemplary ranges may include, but are not limited to, 100000 to 300000, 200000 to 300000, 50000 to 100000, 5000 to 25000, 200 to 3000, 800 to 2000, 500 to 1000, or 700 to 800.

At block 1208, the system 100 may position the microelectronic substrate 118 at a gap distance 502 between the outlet (eg, outlet orifice 404) and the microelectronic substrate 118. The gap distance 502 is based at least in part on the ratio of the chamber pressure and the constant parameter having a value between 40 and 60, as shown in equation 1 in the description of FIG. In one embodiment, the units of the constant parameter may have units of length/pressure (eg, mm/Torr).

In block 1210, the expanded fluid mixture may be released towards the microelectronic substrate 118 and contact objects (eg, kinetic and/or chemical interactions) on the surface, and such objects may be microelectronic substrates ( 118). The kinetic and/or chemical interaction of the GCJ spray may overcome adhesions between the objects and the microelectronic substrate 118. Objects may be removed from process chamber 104 through vacuum system 134 or deposited elsewhere in process chamber 104.

13 includes a bar chart 1300 of improving particle removal efficiency between a non-liquid containing fluid mixture (eg GCJ) and a liquid-containing fluid mixture (eg aerosol). One of the unexpected results disclosed herein relates to maintaining or improving improved particle removal efficiency for particles less than 100 nm and particle removal efficiency for particles larger than 100 nm. Previous techniques may include treating a microelectronic substrate with cryogenic fluid mixtures having a liquid concentration greater than 10%. Newer techniques that have produced unexpected results may include treating microelectronic substrate 118 with cryogenic fluid mixtures that have a liquid concentration (by weight) or a liquid concentration of less than 1%.

In the FIG. 13 embodiment, silicon nitride particles were deposited on the microelectronic substrates 118 using a commercially available deposition system. Silicon nitride particles had similar densities and sizes for both tests. A baseline cryogenic process (e.g., liquid concentration> 1% by weight) was applied to at least one microelectronic substrate 118, and GCJ was applied to different groups of microelectronic substrates 118 also covered with silicon nitride particles. Applied. In this case, the GCJ process includes a nitrogen to argon flow ratio of 2:1 with an inlet pressure of 83 psig prior to nozzle 110 separating the high pressure fluid source from the vacuum chamber maintained at about 9 Torr. The nozzle 110 inlet diameter was ˜0.06”. The gas distance 502 was 2.5 to 4 mm. The wafer was passed under the nozzle twice so that the area contaminated with particles was exposed twice to the GCJ spray. Measured before and after processing using KLA SURF SCAN SP2-XP from KLA-Tencor ^™ from Tass, CA.

Under the previous techniques, as shown in FIG. 13, for particles less than 42 nm from those greater than 80% for particles greater than 90 nm with particle removal efficiency (PRE) less than 100 nm. Decreased to less than 30%. Specifically, PRE dropped from ~87% (at >90nm particles) to ~78% for particles from 65nm to 90nm. The decrease in PRE of 55 nm to 65 nm particles to 40 mn to 55 nm was more pronounced. PRE dropped to -61% and -55%, respectively. Finally, the greatest reduction in PRE was seen for particles below 40 nm with ~24% PRE.

In view of this data, improvements to particle efficiencies below 100 nm were expected to show a similar reduction return as the particle size decreased. However, the GCJ techniques disclosed herein not only improved PRE below 100 nm, but also kept PRE to a higher degree than expected. For example, as shown in Figure 13, GCJ PRE did not drop below -80% for any of the particle bin sizes.

As shown in Figure 13, GCJ PRE for particles larger than 90 nm improved by over 95%, an improvement of over 5% over the results using previous techniques. Additionally, the GCJ process showed greater ability to remove particles below 100 nm as particle sizes decrease compared to previous techniques. For example, 65nm to 90nm, 55nm to 65nm and 40nm to 55nm bins had at least 90% PRE. Improvements ranged from -15% to -35% for each bin size. However, with the PRE improvement from 25% to ~82%, there was the greatest improvement for bin sizes below 40 nm.

There were two unexpected results for GCJ PRE. First, the increase in PRE for particles larger than 90 nm was coupled with the increased PRE for particles below 90 nm. Second, the difference between the bin sizes for the GCJ process had a much closer distribution than the PRE results for the aerosol process using similar ranges of process conditions.

14 includes particle maps 1400 of microelectronic substrates illustrating a larger cleaning area based at least in part on a smaller gap distance 502 between nozzle 110 and microelectronic substrate 118. Generally, as the gas expands from a high pressure environment to a low pressure environment, the gas is more likely to cover a larger surface area or coverage area, and the gas is further away from the initial expansion point. In this way, it was thought that the effective cleaning area would be larger when the gas nozzle was positioned farther from the microelectronic substrate 118. However, this was not true, in practice having a smaller gap distance 502 achieved a completely counterintuitive result for obtaining a wider cleaning area on the microelectronic substrate 118.

As shown in the maps of the particles after cleaning, the 5 mm gap distance has a larger cleaning area than the 10 mm gap distance. The 5 mm gap particle map 1406 indicates that the PRE was -70% for the right half of the microelectronic substrate 118. In contrast, the 10 mm gap particle map 1408 had ˜50% PRE for the right half of the 200 mm microelectronic substrate 118. In this case, the 5 mm gap particle map marks the cleaned area 1410 about 80 mm wide from the nozzle 110 with an outlet orifice of 6 mm or less. It was unexpected that a nozzle 110 with such a small outlet orifice would be able to have an effective cleaning distance of more than 12 times its own size.

FIG. 15 includes images 1500 of microelectronic substrate features showing different feature damage differences between previous techniques (eg, aerosol) and techniques disclosed herein (eg, GCJ). The difference in damage is visible to the naked eye and is confirmed by closer inspection by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). In this example, polysilicon features were formed on a microelectronic substrate using known patterning techniques. The features were about 20 nm wide and about 125 nm high. Separate feature samples (eg, line structures) were exposed to processes similar to the aerosol and GCJ processes disclosed herein.

Under previous techniques, damage to the line structures was demonstrated by discoloration of the images 1502 and 1504 of the microelectronic substrate 118 exposed to the aerosol cleaning process. Visible line damage is confirmed by aerosol SEM image 1506. In contrast, discoloration was not present in the GCJ images 1508 and 1510, and no damage was seen in the GCJ SEM image 1512. Accordingly, the lack of discoloration of the GCJ images 1508, 1510 and the damage of the GCJ SEM image 1512 suggest that the GCJ techniques described herein are less destructive to the microelectronic substrate 118 than the aerosol processes. do.

It has been found that in addition to the nozzle designs described herein in the description of FIGS. 2A-5, particle removal efficiency may be improved by modifying the nozzle design to include a small barrier to gas flow in the nozzle. Conventional nozzles or multi-stage nozzles are designed to have flow conduits aligned along a common axis to minimize flow obstructions between nozzle components. However, it has been found that particle removal efficiency can be improved by including a flow barrier in the nozzle design. Flow blocks may be introduced in several ways and this concept is not limited to the embodiments described herein.

In some embodiments, flow blocking may be introduced by slightly misaligning the nozzle or flow conduit components. In other embodiments, fluid blocking may be introduced after the fluid leaves the nozzle or by adding blocking components to change the fluid flow path or properties within the nozzle. For example, the blocked nozzle designs described in the description of FIGS. 16-22 of the present disclosure are merely examples of how a person skilled in the art forms a barrier at the nozzle. The blocked nozzle design may be implemented in a two-piece embodiment in which longitudinal axes between the two components are misaligned to form a flow block in one embodiment, but is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the nozzle design may include additional components disposed between the two-piece nozzle design to block a portion of the flow path within the fluid conduit of the nozzle.

16 is a two-piece nozzle 1600 comprising a gas delivery component 1602 coupled to a gas expansion component 1604 that together form a fluid conduit directing a fluid or gas mixture toward the microelectronic substrate 118. Includes a cross-section diagram of the design. In one embodiment, a two-piece nozzle will be used in place of nozzle 110 in process chamber 104, as shown in FIG.

In one embodiment, the gas delivery component 1602 is a VCR connection (not shown) on one end where the incoming gas mixture is received from the fluid source 106, and a mating on the opposite end, adjacent the gas expansion component 1604. It may have a flange. The gas delivery fluid conduit 1606 of the gas delivery component 1602 may be of a diameter similar to a gas supply line (eg, ¼") (not shown) from the fluid source 106. Gas delivery fluid conduit 1606 is a reduction on the mating end of the component that may be the same or similar to the mating end of the gas expansion component 1604 to enable fluid communication between the gas delivery fluid conduit 1606 and the gas expansion conduit 1608. The diameter of the fluid conduits or orifices at the interface of the two-piece nozzle 1600 will be described in the description of FIG. 17.

The two-piece nozzle 1600 components may be attached together using screws (eg, machine screws), and the interface 1610 of the fluid conduits of the components may be an o-ring or a person skilled in the art. It may be sealed to form a leak tight seal using any other gas sealing techniques used by. Additionally, the two-piece nozzle 1600 may be made of any material capable of constraining pressurized gas (eg, >10 psi) and directing gas flow into the process chamber 104. Materials may include, but are not limited to, stainless steel and any other material used to accommodate cleanliness, gas temperature, and pressure requirements to implement the microelectronic substrate treatments disclosed herein. In other embodiments, the gas expansion component 1604 may be of a similar design of the nozzles described in the descriptions of FIGS. 2A-4 that may lead to a two-piece design.

In one embodiment, the alignment of the two-piece nozzle 1600 fluid conduits may be slightly misaligned along the longitudinal axis (not shown in FIG. 16) along the centerline of one of the fluid conduits. Misalignment may also be caused by screw placement between components of the two-piece nozzle 1600. The misalignment at the interface 1610 of the two components is shown in detail in FIG. 17.

FIG. 17 includes an enlarged cross-sectional view 1700 of the interface 1610 between the gas expansion component 1604 and the coupled gas delivery component 1602 of the two-piece nozzle 1600.

In this embodiment, the gas delivery component 1602 is disposed along a gas delivery centerline 1702, a longitudinal axis along the gas delivery component 1602, equidistant from the faces of the gas delivery conduit 1606 ( 1606). Likewise, the gas expansion centerline 1704 is another longitudinal axis along the gas expansion fluid conduit 1608, equidistant from the faces of the fluid conduit. In this embodiment, the gas delivery centerline 1702 and gas expansion centerline 1704 are offset or misaligned with each other in a horizontal direction parallel to the mating surfaces of the two-piece nozzle 1600. For example, misalignment of circular orifices causes the size of the effective surface area at interface 1610 to decrease from the circular surface area to a smaller oblong surface area than the circular surface area when the components are not misaligned. An example of this rectangular surface area is shown in FIG. 20. The misalignment may range from 0 mm to 1.5 mm in a horizontal direction parallel to the mating surface between the gas delivery component 1602 and the gas expansion component 1606.

17, the gas delivery conduit 1606 may have a gas delivery channel or an outlet orifice 1706 disposed at one end of the gas delivery conduit 1606 and face the inlet orifice 1708. In this embodiment, inlet orifice 1708 is off-center from the longitudinal axis of gas delivery component 1602 (eg, gas delivery centerline 1702 ). In one case, misalignment of the two nozzle components may form a barrier to the incoming gas by forming a shelf 1710 with an overhang 1712 on the opposite side of the interface 1610. In this way, the combination of gas delivery component 1602 and gas expansion component 1604 is such that a gas flow conduit 1606 allows a gas flow blocker (eg, shelf 1710) to change the flow properties of the gas mixture. To form. The blocking (eg, shelf 1710) reduces or alters the size of the openings to be smaller than the inlet orifice 1708 and the outlet orifice 1706. In addition to being smaller, the shape of the shelf orifice 1714 changes from a circular opening to a rectangular opening, which is gas when the gas mixture leaves the two-piece nozzle 1600 and interacts with the microelectronic substrate 118. The flow characteristics of the lateral flow of the mixture may further be changed.

In addition to the blockage formed by the shelf 1710, misalignment also forms an overhang 1712 across or opposite the shelf 1710. This overhang 1712 enables lateral gas flow at a portion of the interface 1610 between the gas delivery conduit 1606 and the gas expansion conduit 1608. The overhang 1712 may also change the gas flow characteristics of the gas mixture when the gas mixture leaves the nozzle. In this embodiment, the sizes of the orifices (eg, exit orifice 1706 and inlet orifice 1708) and the amount of misalignment are the sizes of shelf orifices 1714, shelf 1710, and overhang 1712 and It will affect the shape.

In some embodiments, the diameters of the fluid conduits at the interface 1610 (eg, exit orifice 1706 and inlet orifice 1708) may range from 0.125 mm to 5 mm, although one specific embodiment It may be about 2.6mm. However, in other embodiments, it is not required that the orifice diameters are the same as shown in FIG. 17. Additionally, the misalignment between the gas expansion centerline 1704 and the gas delivery centerline 1702 may vary from 0.1 mm to 0.15 mm to achieve a rectangular surface at the interface 1600. In one particular embodiment, the gas expansion centerline 1704 and the gas delivery centerline 1702 may be offset from each other by about 0.25 mm. Those skilled in the art may alter the diameters and misalignment to achieve the desired particle removal efficiency results using the treatment methods disclosed herein.

In other embodiments, misalignment of the components of the two-piece nozzle 1600 is not limited to the embodiment described in FIGS. 16 and 17, and misaligns the gas delivery component 1602 and gas expansion component 1604. It may be implemented without. For example, FIGS. 18 and 19 would be examples of such an embodiment.

18 shows an offset plate 1802 disposed between the gas delivery component 1602 and the gas expansion component 1604 to form a rectangular orifice at the interface 1610 between the gas delivery component 1602 and the gas expansion component 1604. ), including a cross-sectional illustration of an offset plate nozzle 1800 design.

In this embodiment, the gas delivery centerline 1702 and gas expansion centerline 1704 (not shown in FIG. 18) are not offset or misaligned to form a nozzle block, as shown in FIG. In contrast, the cutout has a diameter or offset orifice 1804 that may have a centerline that may be offset from the centerlines of the aligned gas delivery component 1602 and gas expansion component 1604, as shown in FIG. It may be introduced by an offset plate 1802 that may have. The offset plate orifice 1804 may form a square surface area across the offset plate nozzle 1800, similar to the shelf orifice 1714 at the interface 1610 of the offset plate 1802.

In this embodiment, gas delivery component 1602 and gas expansion component 1604 may have the same or similar design characteristics as described in the description of FIGS. 16 and 17. For example, offset plate nozzle 1800 terminates at interface 1610 between gas delivery component 1602 and gas expansion component 1604 to outlet orifice 1706 adjacent offset plate 1802. It may also include a gas delivery component 1602 that includes a gas delivery channel (eg, delivery fluid conduit 1606) disposed longitudinally along the fluid conduit of component 1602. The gas expansion component 1604 may be coupled to the other side of the offset paint 1802 and the inlet orifice aligned with the longitudinal axis of the gas delivery channel such that the gas delivery centerline 1702 and gas expansion centerline 1704 are aligned. (1708). Accordingly, the flow block for this embodiment will be introduced using an offset plate 1802.

In one embodiment, the offset plate 1802 has an offset orifice 1804 longitudinal axis of the gas delivery component 1602 when the offset plate 1802 is connected to the gas delivery component 1602 and the gas expansion component 1604. It may also include an offset orifice 1804 positioned within the offset plate 1802 to be off-centered. The offset design will cause a portion of the offset plate 1802 to extend into the gas flow path of the offset plate nozzle 1800, forming a barrier to alter gas flow characteristics in a manner similar to the shelf 1712 of the FIG. 17 embodiment. . The size and position of the offset orifice 1804 may vary depending on desired flow characteristics to maximize particle removal efficiency.

In one particular embodiment, the outlet orifice 1706, the inlet orifice 1708, and the offset orifice 1804 may have the same diameter, but the diameters are misaligned along their center points so that the flow block is formed in the gas flow path. It may be. However, these three orifice diameters are not required to be the same size in other embodiments. For example, the sizes may vary accordingly to adjust the rectangular area at interface 1610 to improve the particle removal efficiency on microelectronic substrate 118. Referring to Figure 19, the design of the offset plate nozzle 1800 will be described in detail and will provide examples of design variations for the offset orifice 1804.

19 includes an enlarged view 1900 of a cross-sectional illustration of the interface 1610 of the offset plate nozzle 1800. In this embodiment, the outlet orifice 1706 of the gas delivery component 1602 the inlet orifice 1708 of the gas expansion component 1604 may have dimensions similar to those described in the description of FIGS. 16 and 17. However, in contrast to the previous embodiment, gas delivery component 1602 and gas expansion component 1604 are aligned along a common longitudinal axis 1908. In this embodiment, a flow block (eg, shelf 1710) may be introduced by an offset plate 1802. The flow block may be implemented by designing the offset plate 1802 to have an offset plate orifice 1804 with an offset centerline 1910 that is not aligned with the common longitudinal axis 1908, as shown in FIG. .

The offset plate 1802 may have a thickness of 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm, in one particular embodiment the thickness is about 1 mm and the tolerance is +/- 0.1 mm. In one embodiment, the offset plate orifice 1804 may be a circular orifice through an offset plate 1802 having a diameter equal to or less than the diameters of the inlet orifice 1708 or outlet orifice 1706. For example, inlet orifice 1708 or outlet orifice 1706 may include a diameter of 0.125 mm to 5 mm, while offset plate orifice 1804 includes a diameter of 0.15 mm to 4.5 mm. In the FIG. 19 embodiment, the offset plate orifice 1804 is the processing gas used by the offset shelf 1902 to clean the microelectronic substrate 118 when assembled with the gas delivery component 1602 and gas expansion component 1604. It may be positioned in the offset plate 1802 to protrude into the flow path of the. An illustrated example of intentional misalignment of component parts caused by positioning of offset orifice 1804 is shown in FIG. 20.

In terms of the asymmetric nature of the offset plate orifice 1804, an offset gap 1904 is formed against the offset shelf 1902. The offset gap 1904 is an air gap between the gas delivery component 1602 and the gas expansion component 1604, having a height equal to or similar to the thickness of the offset plate 1802. However, the effective orifice size of the offset plate nozzle 1800 may be limited to the effective orifice diameter 1906, which is the exposed orifice of the offset plate 1906, as shown in FIG. The distance from the end and opposite side walls of the gas delivery component 1602 and the gas expansion component 1604. Given the circular nature of the offset plate orifice 1804, the surface area of the effective orifice diameter 1906 illustrates the top view of the offset plate nozzle 1800 obtained from the section line 1806, as shown in FIG. 20 may have a rectangular shape as shown in FIG.

In other embodiments, the rectangular shaped offset orifice 1906, as shown in FIG. 20, is only an example of a limited orifice technique that exhibits unexpected results for particle removal efficiency on the microelectronic substrate 118. However, in other embodiments, the offset orifice 1906 may not be offset from the common longitudinal axis 1908 of the gas delivery component 1602 so that the center of the offset orifice 1906 is as shown in FIG. 21. Likewise, it is centered or aligned with the common longitudinal axis 1908.

FIG. 21 includes an enlarged view 2100 of a cross-sectional illustration of an interface of a centered plate 2102 disposed between a gas delivery component 1602 and a gas expansion component 1604. In this embodiment, the outlet orifice 1706 of the gas delivery component 1602 may have dimensions similar to those described in the descriptions of FIGS. 16-20 with the inlet orifice 1708 of the gas expansion component 1604. However, in contrast to the previous embodiments, the gas delivery component 1602, gas expansion component 1604, and centered plate 2102 are all aligned along a common longitudinal axis 1908. The flow block of the FIG. 21 embodiment may be implemented by designing a centered plate 2102 to have a centered plate orifice 2104 aligned with a common longitudinal axis 1910.

The centered plate 2102 may have a thickness of 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm, in one particular embodiment the thickness is about 1 mm and the tolerance is +/- 0.1 mm. In one embodiment, centered plate 2102 may have a circular orifice through centered plate 2102 having a diameter equal to or less than the diameters of inlet orifice 1708 or outlet orifice 1706. . For example, inlet orifice 1708 or outlet orifice 1706 may include a diameter of 0.125 mm to 5 mm, while centered plate 2102 includes a diameter of 0.13 mm to 4.9 mm. In one particular embodiment, the centered plate orifice 2106 may be about 2.35 mm.

When the centered plate 2102 is assembled with the gas delivery component 1602 and the gas expansion component 1604, the flow of process gas through which the centered shelf 2106 flows through the nozzle, as shown in FIG. It may be designed to protrude into the path. For example, the inlet gas will flow toward the exit orifice 1706 and before it reaches the inlet orifice 1708 and continues to flow toward the microelectronic substrate 118 disposed under the nozzle, to the centered shelf 2106. Flow will be slightly blocked.

Although only certain embodiments of the invention have been described in detail, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the embodiments without substantially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the invention. will be. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention. For example, the above-described embodiments may be integrated together, or parts of the embodiments may be added or omitted as desired. Accordingly, the number of embodiments may not be limited to only the specific embodiments described herein, so a person skilled in the art may make additional embodiments using the teachings described herein.

Claims (20)

A device for processing a microelectronic substrate,
Gas Delivery Components-The gas delivery components are:
A gas delivery conduit disposed along the longitudinal axis of the gas delivery component; And
Exit orifice disposed at one end of the gas delivery channel
Contains -; And
A gas expansion component coupled to one end of the gas delivery component
Including,
The gas component is:
A gas flow conduit disposed along the gas expansion component; And
An inlet orifice disposed at one end of the gas flow conduit and facing the outlet orifice
Including,
And the inlet orifice is off-center from the longitudinal axis of the gas delivery component. According to claim 1,
The combination of the gas delivery component and the gas expansion component forming a gas flow blocker for the gas delivery conduit. According to claim 2,
And wherein the gas flow blocking portion extends across a portion of the gas delivery conduit, the portion being a surface area less than or equal to the surface area of the gas expansion component. According to claim 2,
Wherein the combination of the gas delivery component and the gas expansion component forms a gas flow overhang at the interface of the gas delivery conduit and the gas flow conduit. The method of claim 4,
And the gas flow overhang enables lateral gas flow at a portion of the interface between the gas flow conduit and the gas delivery conduit. According to claim 1,
And the outlet orifice and the inlet orifice comprise the same diameter sizes. According to claim 1,
And the outlet orifice and the inlet orifice comprise unequal diameter sizes. As a device,
Gas Delivery Components-The gas delivery components are:
A gas delivery channel disposed along the longitudinal axis of the gas delivery component; And
Outlet orifice disposed at one end of the gas delivery channel
Contains -;
A gas expansion component coupled to one end of the gas delivery component, the gas component comprising an inlet orifice opposite the outlet orifice, the inlet orifice aligned with the outlet orifice along the longitudinal axis of the gas delivery channel Becomes -; And
An offset plate disposed between the gas delivery component and the gas expansion component
Including,
And the offset plate comprises an offset orifice off-center from the longitudinal axis of the gas delivery component. The method of claim 8,
The outlet orifice, inlet orifice, and the offset orifice comprise diameters of similar or equal sizes. The method of claim 8,
And the offset orifice comprises an outlet diameter of the outlet orifice and a diameter smaller than the inlet diameter of the inlet orifice. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the offset plate comprises a thickness of 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the offset plate comprises a thickness of 1.0 mm. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the inlet orifice comprises a diameter of 0.125 mm to 5 mm. The method of claim 13,
And the outlet orifice comprises a diameter of 0.125 mm to 5 mm. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the offset orifice comprises a diameter of 0.125 mm to 5 mm. As a device,
Gas Delivery Components-The gas delivery components are:
A gas delivery channel disposed along the longitudinal axis of the gas delivery component; And
Outlet orifice disposed at one end of the gas delivery channel
Contains -;
A gas expansion component coupled to one end of the gas delivery component, the gas component comprising an inlet orifice opposite the outlet orifice, the inlet orifice aligned with the outlet orifice along the longitudinal axis of the gas delivery channel Becomes -; And
Centered plate disposed between the gas delivery component and the gas expansion component
Including,
Wherein the centered plate comprises a centered orifice centered with the longitudinal axis of the gas delivery component. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the centered plate comprises a thickness of 0.5 mm to 3 mm. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the centered orifice comprises a diameter between XX" and XX". The method of claim 14,
And wherein the centered plate forms a shelf extending from the inner sidewall of the gas delivery component into the gas delivery channel. The method of claim 14,
And wherein the centered plate extends vertically in the gas delivery channel from an inner sidewall of the gas delivery component.

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