Production-ready dry cleaning and deposition processes for low-temperature Si and SiGe epitaxy

A new low-energy plasma cleaning (LEPC) process, a dry low-temperature process for wafer cleaning before epitaxial growth has been realized on a bridge type production system for 200 and 300 mm wafers. This cleaning technology enables the damage free removal of carbon and oxygen from the wafer surface in a dry process at low temperature (<200 8C). Epitaxial growth after LEPC demonstrates that the cleaning procedure does not damage the single crystalline structure of the wafer surface. Based on the same plasma source, a low-energy plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (LEPECVD) process, a deposition process which allows deposition rates in the range between 0.01 and 10 nm/s at 550 8C, will be discussed. # 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.