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 NF 3 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 NF 3 flow rate, N 2 flow rate, and operational temperature on decomposition of NF 3 are examined. The reactions in question follow first order kinetics. It was found the rate constant is enhanced with increasing flow rate of NF 3 and temperature, and decreased with increasing flow rate of N 2 . The highest rate constant of NF 3 was 0.5501 s −1 for 13 liter per minute (LPM) NF 3 flow rate, 70 LPM N 2 flow rate, and a temperature of 725 °C. The inlet and outlet concentration of NF 3 was examined utilizing Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy for estimation of NF 3 decomposition. This paper not only confirms that large amounts of NF 3 can be efficiently decomposed by electric thermal oxidation, but also enhances the feasibility of this technology.