Corrosion resistant coating for semiconductor processing chamber

Abstract

Resistance to corrosion in a plasma environment is imparted to components of a semiconductor processing tool by forming a rare earth-containing coating over component surfaces. The plasma-resistant coating may be formed by sputtering rare earth-containing material onto a parent material surface. Subsequent reaction between these deposited materials and the plasma environment creates a plasma-resistant coating. The coating may adhere to the parent material through an intervening adhesion layer, such as a graded subsurface rare earth layer resulting from acceleration of rare earth ions toward the parent material at changed energies prior to formation of the coating.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A substrate processing chamber having at least one component bearing a rare earth-containing coating bound to a parent material by an intervening adhesion layer, such that the component exhibits resistance to etching in a plasma environment.  
     
     
         2 . The substrate processing chamber of  claim 1  wherein said rare earth-containing coating is selected from the group of Yttrium fluoride, Yttrium oxides, Yttrium-containing oxides of Aluminum, Erbium oxides, and Neodymium oxides.  
     
     
         3 . The substrate processing chamber of  claim 1  wherein the component is selected from the group comprising a chamber liner, a chamber dome, a chamber wall, a cover plate, a gas manifold, a faceplate, a substrate support, and a substrate support/heater.  
     
     
         4 . The substrate processing chamber of  claim 1  wherein the adhesion layer comprises a graded subsurface layer of rare earth material formed in the surface of the parent material.  
     
     
         5 . The substrate processing chamber of  claim 4  wherein the adhesion layer comprises a subsurface rare earth layer resulting from a changed energy of bombardment during introduction of rare earth material into the parent material through an IBAD process.  
     
     
         6 . The substrate processing chamber of  claim 4  wherein the adhesion layer comprises a subsurface rare earth layer resulting from a changed implantation energy during introduction of rare earth material into the parent material through a MEPIIID process.  
     
     
         7 . The substrate processing chamber of  claim 1  wherein the parent material comprises aluminum nitride or aluminum oxide.  
     
     
         8 . A method for treating a parent material for corrosion resistance to plasma comprising: 
 forming an adhesion layer over a parent material; and    forming a rare earth-containing coating over the adhesion layer.    
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the rare earth-containing coating is formed by deposition of rare earth-containing material.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein rare-earth ions are introduced by conducting reactive sputter deposition in an oxygen-containing ambient.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the adhesion layer is formed by introducing rare earth metals into the parent material at varying energies to form a graded implant layer.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the adhesion layer is formed by an ion bombardment assisted deposition (IBAD) technique employing bombardment of a deposited rare earth layer with inert Argon ions at changed energies.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the adhesion layer is formed by accelerating rare-earth ions at the parent material at changed energies of implantation.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein rare-earth ions are accelerated using a MEPIIID ion implanter.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the rare-earth containing coating is formed by exposing a rare earth present on a surface of the parent material to a fluorine ambient.