Residual oxygen reduction system

Abstract

An apparatus for reducing residual oxygen content from a processing chamber of an atmospheric reactor after the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor has been exposed to an oxygen environment. The processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor has an inert gas purge, including an inert gas source, for reducing a residual oxygen level within the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor at a rate of reduction. A venturi vacuum system is enabled by the inert gas source. The venturi vacuum system draws a vacuum on the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor and supplements the inert gas purge, thereby accelerating the rate at which the residual oxygen level is reduced within the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor. In this manner, the vacuum created by the venturi vacuum system increases the efficiency of the inert gas purge by reducing by some moderate degree the pressure within the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor. This provides additional gas flow within the processing chamber to physically remove the residual oxygen from the processing chamber. However, the vacuum provided by the venturi vacuum system is not high enough to cause damage to the components of the atmospheric reactor, which are not designed to withstand the forces that are created by a relatively high vacuum.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for reducing residual oxygen content from a processing chamber of an atmospheric reactor after the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor has been exposed to an oxygen environment, the method comprising the steps of: 
 a) preparing non-production wafers including a metallic gettering agent for gettering oxygen,    b) introducing one of the metallic gettering non-production wafers into the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor,    c) gettering the residual oxygen in the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor with the metallic gettering non-production wafers, and    d) repeating steps a) and b) as the metallic gettering non-production wafers become saturated with residual oxygen.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the metallic gettering agent is titanium.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of preparing the metallic gettering non-production wafers further comprises sputtering the metallic gettering agent onto the non-production wafers.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein step a) further comprises preparing the metallic gettering non-production wafers from solid disks of the metallic gettering agent.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein step b) further comprises introducing the metallic gettering non-production wafers after executing a rapid thermal oxidation process within the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein step c) further comprises introducing an inert gas into the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor and subjecting the system to a temperature of between about 480° C. to about 1000° C.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of gettering the oxygen from the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor further comprises reducing the residual oxygen content to below about 2 parts per million.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of introducing one of the metallic gettering non-production wafers into the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor further comprises utilizing a wafer transfer system made at least in part of a metallic gettering agent.  
     
     
         9 . An apparatus for reducing residual oxygen content from a processing chamber of an atmospheric reactor after the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor has been exposed to an oxygen environment, where the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor has an inert gas purge including an inert gas source for reducing a residual oxygen level within the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor at a rate of reduction, the apparatus comprising a venturi vacuum system enabled by the inert gas source and drawing a vacuum on the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor and for supplementing the inert gas purge and thereby accelerating the rate at which the residual oxygen level is reduced within the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor.  
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the venturi vacuum system draws a flow of between about 200 sccm and about 400 sccm.  
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the venturi vacuum system and the inert gas purge are configured to operate alternately in a cyclical fashion.  
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the venturi vacuum system in combination with the inert gas purge is operable to reduce the residual oxygen level at a rate of between about 10 parts per million per minute to about 100 parts per million per minute.  
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the venturi vacuum is operable to reduce a pressure in the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor to between about 400 Torr and about 700 Torr.  
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the venturi vacuum system is enabled and the inert gas purge is disabled when the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor does not contain a production wafer.  
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , further comprising a wafer transfer system for transferring wafers into and out of the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor, the wafer transfer system formed at least in part of a metallic gettering agent.  
     
     
         16 . An atmospheric reactor having a processing chamber, the improvement comprising a wafer transfer mechanism including a metallic gettering agent for reducing a residual oxygen level in the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor.  
     
     
         17 . The atmospheric reactor of  claim 16 , wherein the wafer transfer mechanism contains an amount of the metallic gettering agent sufficient to reduce the residual oxygen level from the atmospheric reactor at a rate of between about 1 part per million per second to about 10 parts per million per second.  
     
     
         18 . The atmospheric reactor of  claim 16 , wherein the metallic gettering agent is titanium.  
     
     
         19 . The atmospheric reactor of  claim 16  further comprising an inert gas purge including an inert gas source for reducing residual oxygen levels within the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor at a rate of reduction.  
     
     
         20 . The atmospheric reactor of  claim 19  further comprising a venturi vacuum system enabled by the inert gas source for supplementing the inert gas purge and thereby accelerating the rate at which the residual oxygen level is reduced within the processing chamber of the atmospheric reactor.