Abstract
In atomic layer deposition (ALD), ultra-thin films are deposited by repeating four sequential steps: (1) exposure of the substrate to a precursor, (2) purge of the unreacted precursor, (3) exposure to a reactant gas, (4) purge of byproducts. More than 99.9% of the precursor is unused and exhausted during the precursor purge step. As the precursors accumulate inside a vacuum pump, its performance is reduced 1. We investigated the abatement characteristics of TiCl 4 in a low-pressure plasma reactor placed upstream of the vacuum pump; TiCl 4 is the precursor widely used for titanium nitride (TiN) thin films in ALD: TiCl$\text{TiCl}_{4} + \text{NH}_{3}\rightarrow~\text{TiN} +$ byproducts. The destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) of TiCl 4 was evaluated by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Experimental analysis focused on the effect of an additive gas, O 2 , on the species of byproduct gases and the size of byproduct particles. Based on the experimental results, the applicability of low-pressure plasma technology to the increase in vacuum pump lifespan was discussed.
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