Systems and methods for eliminating fluorine residue in a substrate processing chamber using a plasma-based process

A method for operating a substrate processing chamber includes after performing a process using a fluorine-based gas in the substrate processing chamber: (a) during a first predetermined period, supplying a gas mixture to the substrate processing chamber including one or more gases selected from a group consisting of molecular oxygen, molecular nitrogen, nitric oxide and nitrous oxide and supplying RF power to strike plasma in the substrate processing chamber; (b) during a second predetermined period after the first predetermined period, supplying molecular hydrogen gas and RF power to the substrate processing chamber; (c) repeating (a) and (b) one or more times; (d) purging the substrate processing chamber with molecular nitrogen gas; (e) increasing chamber pressure; (f) evacuating the substrate processing chamber; and (g) repeating (d), (e) and (f) one or more times.