On an RAMO.sub.4 substrate containing a single crystal represented by the general formula RAMO.sub.4 (wherein R represents one or a plurality of trivalent elements selected from a group of elements including: Sc, In, Y, and a lanthanoid element, A represents one or a plurality of trivalent elements selected from a group of elements including: Fe(III), Ga, and Al, and M represents one or a plurality of divalent elements selected from a group of elements including: Mg, Mn, Fe(II), Co, Cu, Zn, and Cd), a buffer layer containing a nitride of In and a Group III element except for In is formed, and a Group III nitride crystal is formed on the buffer layer.

A substrate cleaning method for removing particles adhered to a substrate includes: acquiring particle information including diameters of the particles adhered to the substrate; controlling, based on the acquired particle information, a factor related to sizes of gas clusters having aggregates of atoms or molecules of a cleaning gas; ejecting the cleaning gas, at a higher pressure than a processing atmosphere where the substrate is provided, to the processing atmosphere and generating the gas clusters by adiabatic expansion; and removing the particles by irradiating the gas clusters in a perpendicular direction to a surface of the substrate. As a result, even if recesses for a circuit pattern are formed on the surface of the substrate, the particles in the recesses can be removed at a high removal rate.

Disclosed is a processing apparatus for performing a processing on a workpiece using gas clusters. The processing apparatus includes: a processing container in which the workpiece is disposed, and an inside of which is maintained in a vacuum state; an exhaust mechanism that exhausts an atmosphere in the processing container; a gas supply unit that supplies a gas containing a cluster generating gas; a cluster nozzle provided in the processing container and configured to generate gas clusters by adiabatically expanding the cluster generating gas and inject a gas component containing the generated gas clusters into the processing container; and a plasma generating mechanism that generates plasma in the cluster nozzle portion. The gas clusters are ionized by the plasma generated in the cluster nozzle portion, and the ionized gas clusters are injected from the cluster nozzle and irradiated onto the workpiece, so that a predetermined processing is performed.

Methods of drying a semiconductor substrate may include applying a drying agent to a semiconductor substrate, where the drying agent wets the semiconductor substrate. The methods may include heating a chamber housing the semiconductor substrate to a temperature above an atmospheric pressure boiling point of the drying agent until a vapor-liquid equilibrium of the drying agent within the chamber has been reached. The methods may further include venting the chamber, where the venting vaporizes the liquid phase of the drying agent from the semiconductor substrate.

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 methods and apparatuses for surface preparation prior to epitaxial deposition. In one implementation, a method of processing a substrate is provided. The method comprises etching a surface of a silicon-containing substrate by use of a plasma etch process, where at least one etching process gas comprising chlorine gas and an inert gas is used during the plasma etch process and forming an epitaxial layer on the surface of the silicon-containing substrate.

A method for treating a substrate, in which a supercritical fluid is supplied into a chamber, in which the substrate is carried, to treat the substrate, the method including a supply step of supplying the supercritical fluid into the chamber until a pressure of the interior of the chamber reaches a preset pressure, and a substrate treating step of performing a supercritical process while repeating supply and exhaust of the supercritical fluid into and out of the interior of the chamber after the supply step, wherein a flow rate of the supercritical fluid supplied into the chamber in the supply step is variable.

An etching method using plasma includes generating plasma by supplying process gases to at least one remote plasma source (RPS) and applying power to the at least one RPS, and etching an etching object by supplying water (H.sub.2O) and the plasma to a process chamber.

In some embodiments, a method for semiconductor processing preclean includes removing an oxide layer from a substrate using anhydrous hydrogen fluoride in combination with water vapor. A system for the preclean may be configured to separate the anhydrous hydrogen fluoride and the water vapor until they are delivered to a common volume near the substrate. Corrosion within components of the system may be limited by purification of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, passivation of components, changing component materials, and heating components. Passivation may be achieved by filling a gas delivery component with anhydrous hydrogen fluoride and allowing the anhydrous hydrogen fluoride to remain in the gas delivery component to form a passivation layer. Consistent water vapor delivery may be achieved in part by heating components using heaters.

A substrate processing apparatus includes: a processing container including a processing chamber; a holder configured to hold a substrate in the processing chamber; and a nozzle configured to jet a gas to irradiate a first main surface of the substrate with a gas cluster. The processing container includes an opposing wall including a first opposing surface facing the first main surface of the substrate, a plate provided on a portion of the first opposing surface, and a through-hole configured to pass through the opposing wall and the plate. The plate has a second opposing surface facing the first main surface. The through-hole is a passage of the gas and has an outlet on the second opposing surface. A first gap is formed between the opposing wall and the substrate. A second gap is formed between the plate and the substrate and is narrower than the first gap.

A method of pre-cleaning in a semiconductor structure includes performing a plasma pre-treatment process to remove impurities from a surface of a semiconductor structure comprising a metal layer and a dielectric layer, performing a selective etch process to remove molybdenum oxide from a surface of the metal layer, the selective etch process comprising soaking the semiconductor structure in a precursor including molybdenum chloride (MoCl.sub.5, MoCl.sub.6) at a temperature of between 250 C. and 350 C., and performing a post-treatment process to remove chlorine residues and by-products of the selective etch process on the surface of the semiconductor structure.