Samsung patents two-step gas method to clean chip-making tubes
Samsung has been granted a patent for a method to clean the inside of tubes used to process computer chips. The process uses two different gases, one containing chlorine and the other fluorine, to remove specific types of residue left behind during manufacturing.
In the filing’s own words
A substrate processing apparatus cleaning method includes: inserting a boat into a process tube; removing, by performing a first removal process, a first material deposited in the process tube; and removing, by performing a second removal process, a second material deposited in the process tube by the first removal process, wherein the first removal process includes supplying the process tube with a first gas, wherein the second removal process includes supplying the process tube with a second gas, wherein one of the first gas and the second gas includes a chlorine-based gas, and wherein the other of the first gas and the second gas includes a fluorine-based gas.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A substrate processing apparatus cleaning method comprising: inserting a boat into a process tube; removing, by performing a first removal process, a first material deposited in the process tube; and removing, by performing a second removal process, a second material deposited in the process tube by the first removal process, wherein the first removal process comprises supplying the process tube with a first gas, wherein the second removal process comprises supplying the process tube with a second gas, wherein one of the first gas and the second gas comprises a chlorine-based gas, wherein the other of the first gas and the second gas comprises a fluorine-based gas, and wherein the chlorine-based gas comprises a titanium (III) chloride (TiCl 3) gas.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.)
- Official title
- Substrate processing apparatus, cleaning substrate processing apparatus cleaning method, and substrate processing method including the same
- Patent number
- US12768037B2
- Application number
- 18658495
- Filed
- May 8, 2024
- Granted
- Oct 20, 2026
- Inventors
- 9
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
C23C 16/4405 Chemistry & metalsMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.