We strip a used process chamber to bare metal, clean or replace its wetted parts and seals, and rebuild it so the process sees a clean, known surface again.
Most of what changes in a plasma or deposition tool over its life happens inside the process chamber. Polymer and fluoride deposits build up on walls and liners, electrodes erode, showerhead holes widen or clog, and elastomer seals harden after years of heat and plasma exposure. The tool may still strike a plasma and pump down, but etch rate, uniformity and particle performance drift away from what the original recipes assume.
Chamber refurbishment brings the chamber back to a known surface. Chamber work is often the largest line on a used etcher, PECVD or sputter tool scope, because the chamber is where residue and wear decide whether your recipes repeat.
What we do depends on the chamber design, but a typical scope covers:
On PVD tools, shields and target clamps take the place of liners, and the scope includes the cathode water circuit and magnet assembly. On ashers, the quartz or ceramic plasma tube is often the main wear part.
Every part is photographed in place before it comes out, so reassembly matches the original stack. Anodised aluminium, stainless steel, quartz and ceramics each need a different cleaning method, and some coated parts need recoating rather than cleaning. Where a part is beyond its wear limit or cannot be cleaned without damage, we replace it and say so in the parts list.
Seals are renewed throughout the vacuum path, not only where a leak shows. If the tool is also getting a vacuum system refurbishment, the leak-check covers the whole vacuum path in one go.
For a single-chamber research tool done in your cleanroom, the chamber is out of service while parts are removed, cleaned off-site and reinstalled. The main variable is lead time on replacement parts, which can be long for platforms the manufacturer no longer supports. We identify those parts during the survey so they can be ordered before the tool goes down. The quote states the planned downtime.
If the chamber ran toxic or corrosive chemistry, it is cleaned first under our decontamination process before anyone works on it.
You receive photos of each part before and after, wear measurements where they apply, the parts list and the leak-check record. On tools we sell, the chamber work feeds into the condition grade; for a Certified grade it is followed by a test process. This applies to platforms such as the Oxford Plasmalab System 100 and other single-wafer etch systems.
An engineer opens the chamber, photographs every wetted part and measures electrode and liner wear.
We dismantle the chamber and sort each part into clean, recoat or replace.
Parts are cleaned by a method suited to the residue and material, and worn parts are replaced.
We reassemble with new elastomer seals, leak-check with helium and record base pressure.
200 mm (8 in) · Late 1990s–2010s
Residue on walls, liners and electrodes changes etch rate, uniformity and particle counts, and it builds up slowly enough that nobody notices until a process drifts. A rebuild returns the chamber to a known surface so your recipes behave predictably.
Often yes, for single-chamber research tools where parts can be removed and cleaned off-site. Cluster tools and badly contaminated chambers are usually better de-installed for a full strip-down off-site.
It depends on their wear. Electrodes and showerheads within their wear limits are cleaned; eroded, pitted or cracked parts are replaced, and the report says which.
Chambers that ran toxic or corrosive chemistry are decontaminated before the strip-down, as a separate line in the scope. Benign chemistry usually needs only the normal cleaning described here.
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A parallel-plate RIE covers most teaching and dielectric work. An ICP-RIE opens up deep, anisotropic and III-V etching. How to decide which to buy used.
Tell us the tool and what you need. We scope the work and send a written offer.