Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for removing particles from substrates undergoing processing in a semiconductor processing system. In the method according to the present invention, semiconductor wafers are placed in a vacuum chamber and gas is injected over the semiconductor wafer to dislodge and remove contaminant particles. The gas is provided by a gas injector affixed to the side of the vacuum chamber opposite the entry point of a wafer. In a preferred embodiment, the gas injector is oriented in the same horizontal plane as the robot arm used to place and remove wafers from the chamber.

Abstract: An apparatus for wafer processing, which comprises a chamber body and a heated liner which are thermally isolated from each other by isolating pins. During wafer processing, e.g., deposition of titanium nitride film by thermal reaction between titanium tetrachloride and ammonia, a wafer substrate is heated to a reaction temperature in the range of 600-700° C. by a heated support pedestal. The chamber liner and the interior chamber walls are maintained at a temperature between 150-250° C. to prevent deposition of undesirable by-products inside the chamber. This facilitates the chamber cleaning procedure, which can be performed using an in-situ chlorine-based process. The excellent thermal isolation between the heated liner and the chamber body allows the chamber exterior to be maintained at a safe operating temperature of 60-65° C. A heated exhaust assembly is also used in conjunction with the process chamber to remove exhaust gases and reaction by-products.