Improvement of Plasma Resistance of Anodic Aluminum-Oxide Film in Sulfuric Acid Containing Cerium(IV) Ion

Abstract

The parts of equipment in a process chamber for semiconductors are protected with an anodic aluminum-oxide (AAO) film to prevent plasma corrosion. We added cerium(IV) ions to sulfuric acid in the anodizing of an AAO film to improve the plasma corrosion resistance, and confirmed that the AAO film thickness increased by up to ~20% when using 3 mM cerium(IV) ions compared with general anodizing. The α-Al2O3 phase increased with increasing cerium(IV) ion concentration. The breakdown voltage and etching rate improved to ~35% and 40%, respectively. The film’s performance regarding the generation of contamination particles reduced by ~50%.

Cleaning Effect of Atmospheric-Plasma-Sprayed Y2O3 Coating Using Piranha Solution Based on Contamination Particle Measurement

“…Therefore, the chamber wall and internal parts are coated with plasma-resistant materials using various coating methods for the semiconductor etching process. Al 2 O 3 and Y 2 O 3 are widely used as ceramic coating materials exhibiting plasma corrosion resistance [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Conventionally, Al 2 O 3 has been used as a representative plasma corrosion resistance material owing to its low price and easy sintering process.…”