Protective coating for electrostatic chucks

Abstract

An ElectroStatic Chuck (ESC) including a chucking surface having at least a portion covered with a coating of silicon oxide (SiO 2 ), silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ) or a combination of both. The coating can be applied in situ a processing chamber of a substrate processing tool and periodically removed and re-applied in situ to create fresh coating.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of forming a coating onto a chucking surface of an ElectroStatic Chuck (ESC) within a processing chamber of a substrate processing tool. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the coating is selected from a group comprising silicon oxide, silicon nitride, or a combination of silicon oxide and silicon nitride. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein formation of the coating further comprises:
 introducing a silicon precursor into the processing chamber;   introducing a reactant in the processing chamber;   generating a chemical vapor deposition plasma while the silicon precursor and the reactant are in the processing chamber; and   exposing the chucking surface of the ESC to the chemical vapor deposition, the exposing resulting in the formation of the coating on the chucking surface.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the silicon precursor is selected from a group comprising (a) silane, (b) Tetraethyl Orthosilicate (TEOS), or a combination of both (a) and (b). 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the reactant is selected from a group comprising: (a) oxygen (O 2 ), (b) nitrous oxide (N 2 O), (c) ammonia (NH3) or any combination of (a) through (c). 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the introducing of the reactant into the processing chamber further comprises introducing an oxidizer and introducing ammonia into the processing chamber, the introduction of both the oxidizer and the ammonia resulting in the coating comprising both silicon oxide and silicon nitride. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein introducing the reactant into the processing chamber further comprises introducing a first reactant into the processing chamber following by introduction of a second reactant into the processing chamber, whereby the introducing the first reactant followed by the introduction of the second reactant resulting in the coating having multi-layers. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 chucking a substrate onto the chucking surface of the ESC after depositing the coating;   maintaining a temperature within the processing chamber within a temperature range of 400 to 650 degrees C.; and   processing the chucked substrate in the processing chamber while maintained in the temperature range of 400 to 650 degrees C.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the ESC is either a Coulombic type or a Johnsen-Rahbek (J-R) type ESC. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the coating has a thickness ranging from 1.0 micron to 5.0 microns. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the coating has a thickness ranging from 50 nanometers to 30 microns.