A method of removing particles of a substrate processing apparatus includes a pressure increasing process, a circulating process, and a particle removing process. In the pressure increasing process, a pressure in a processing space is increased by supplying a cleaned fluid from a first supply line to the processing space in a state where a second on-off valve and a third on-off valve are closed. In the circulating process, a processing fluid is supplied from a second supply line to the processing space and discharged from a discharge line by opening the second on-off valve and the third on-off valve after the pressure increasing process. In the particle removing process, a flow of the cleaned fluid is generated against the pressure of the processing space in the second supply line by opening and closing the second on-off valve during the pressure increasing process.

Implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to methods and apparatuses for epitaxial deposition on substrate surfaces. More particularly, implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to an integrated system for processing N-type metal-oxide semiconductor (NMOS) devices. In one implementation, a cluster tool for processing a substrate is provided. The cluster tool includes a pre-clean chamber, an etch chamber, one or more pass through chambers, one or more outgassing chambers, a first transfer chamber, a second transfer chamber, and one or more process chambers. The pre-clean chamber and the etch chamber are coupled to a first transfer chamber. The one or more pass through chambers are coupled to and disposed between the first transfer chamber and the second transfer chamber. The one or more outgassing chambers are coupled to the second transfer chamber. The one or more process chambers are coupled to the second transfer chamber.

During a pre-treat process, hydrogen plasma is used to remove contaminants (e.g., oxygen, carbon) from a surface of a wafer. The hydrogen plasma may be injected into the plasma chamber via an elongated injector nozzle. Using such elongated injector nozzle, a flow of hydrogen plasma with a significant radial velocity flows over the wafer surface, and transports volatile compounds and other contaminant away from the wafer surface to an exhaust manifold. A protective liner made from crystalline silicon or polysilicon may be disposed on an inner surface of the plasma chamber to prevent contaminants from being released from the surface of the plasma chamber. To further decrease the sources of contaminants, an exhaust restrictor made from silicon may be employed to prevent hydrogen plasma from flowing into the exhaust manifold and prevent volatile compounds and other contaminants from flowing from the exhaust manifold back into the plasma chamber.

Embodiments of the disclosure generally relate to a method for dry stripping a boron carbide layer deposited on a semiconductor substrate. In one embodiment, the method includes loading the substrate with the boron carbide layer into a pressure vessel, exposing the substrate to a processing gas comprising an oxidizer at a pressure between about 500 Torr and 60 bar, heating the pressure vessel to a temperature greater than a condensation point of the processing gas and removing one or more products of a reaction between the processing gas and the boron carbide layer from the pressure vessel.

A method of cleaning a plasma processing apparatus includes: disposing a first dummy substrate at a first position with respect to a stage inside a chamber and performing a first dry cleaning process inside the chamber; and disposing a second dummy substrate at a second position with respect to the stage inside the chamber and performing a second dry cleaning process inside the chamber, wherein each of a center of the first position and a center of the second position is located at a different position from a center of the stage in a plan view, and wherein the first position and the second position are different from each other in a plan view.

A method of cleaning a plasma processing apparatus includes: disposing a first dummy substrate at a first position with respect to a stage inside a chamber and performing a first dry cleaning process inside the chamber; and disposing a second dummy substrate at a second position with respect to the stage inside the chamber and performing a second dry cleaning process inside the chamber, wherein each of a center of the first position and a center of the second position is located at a different position from a center of the stage in a plan view, and wherein the first position and the second position are different from each other in a plan view.

Embodiments described herein relate to oxygen cleaning chambers and a method of atomic oxygen cleaning a substrate. The oxygen cleaning chambers and method of atomic oxygen cleaning a substrate provide for generation of atomic oxygen in situ to oxidize materials on the surfaces of the substrate. The atomic oxygen cleaning chamber includes a chamber body, a chamber lid, a processing volume defined by the chamber body and the chamber lid, an UV radiation generator including one or more UV radiation sources, a pedestal disposed in the processing volume, and a gas distribution assembly. The pedestal has a processing position corresponding to a distance from the UV radiation generator to an upper surface of the pedestal. The gas distribution assembly is configured to be connected to an ozone generator to distribute ozone over the upper surface of the pedestal.

A method for the surface treatment of a substrate surface of a substrate includes arranging the substrate surface in a process chamber, bombarding the substrate surface with an ion beam, generated by an ion beam source and aimed at the substrate surface, to remove impurities from the substrate surface, whereby the ion beam has a first component, and introducing a second component into the process chamber to bind the removed impurities. A device for the surface treatment of a substrate surface of a substrate includes a process chamber for receiving the substrate, an ion beam source for generating an ion beam that has a first component and is aimed at the substrate surface to remove impurities from the substrate surface, and means to introduce a second component into the process chamber to bind the removed impurities.

A gas purge device includes a first nozzle and a gas gate. The first nozzle is coupled to a front-opening unified pod (FOUP) through a first port of the FOUP. The gas gate is coupled to the first nozzle via a first pipe. The gas gate includes a first mass flow controller (MFC), a second MFC, and a first switch unit. The first MFC is configured to control a first flow of a first gas. The second MFC is configured to control a second flow of a second gas. The first switch unit is coupled to the first MFC and the second MFC, and is configured to provide the first gas to the first nozzle through the first pipe or receive the second gas from the first nozzle through the first pipe according to a process configuration.

An optical image capturing system comprising, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, a fifth lens element, a sixth lens element and a seventh lens element. The first lens element with negative refractive power has a concave image-side surface. The second lens element, the third lens element and the fourth lens element have refractive power. The fifth lens element has refractive power. The sixth lens element with refractive power has an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region and includes at least one convex shape in an off-axial region, wherein the surfaces thereof are aspheric. The seventh lens element with refractive power has an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region and includes at least one convex shape in an off-axial region, wherein the surfaces thereof are aspheric.