Perfluorocompound Emissions Control and Kinetic Characteristics in Point-of-Use Wet-Thermal-Wet Abatement of Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition Chamber Cleaning

Electric thermal oxidation of NF3 is studied in the context of kinetic and activation energy, with an emphasis on correlation with reaction rate. To improve economic feasibility of the wet-thermal-wet abatement process, the effect of NF3 flow rate, N2 flow rate, and operational temperature on decomposition of NF3 are examined. The reactions in question follow first order kinetics. It was found the rate constant is enhanced with increasing flow rate of NF3 and temperature, and decreased with increasing flow rate of N2. The highest rate constant of NF3 was 0.5501 s
^-1
for 13 liter per minute (LPM) NF3 flow rate, 70 LPM N2 flow rate, and a temperature of 725 °C. The inlet and outlet concentration of NF3 was examined utilizing Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy for estimation of NF3 decomposition. This paper not only confirms that large amounts of NF3 can be efficiently decomposed by electric thermal oxidation, but also enhances the feasibility of this technology.