Photon-enhanced neutral beam etcher and cleaner

摘要

An apparatus for processing substrates, the apparatus including a plurality of molecular dissociation furnaces. Each dissociation furnace produces a directed beam of neutral dissociated reactive species. Each reactive beam is directed at a surface of the semiconductor substrate. A photon source is also directed at the surface of the semiconductor substrate. The intensity and wavelength of the photon source are selected to enhance the reaction rate over that of the reactive beam acting alone on the surface.