Abatement of perfluorocompounds (PFC's) in a microwave tubular reactor using O-2 as an additive gas

This paper discusses the abatement of four perfluorocompounds (PFC's) in a microwave tubular reactor-C2F6, CF4, SF6, and CHF3. The abatement was carried out using O-2 as an additive gas, and was studied as a function of O-2:PFC ratio, flowrate, power and pressure, Near 100% abatement was achieved for all the PFC's investigated, A detailed characterization of C2F6 abatement using GC, GC/MS, and inline Mass Spectrometer showed the major abatement products to be CO2, COF2, and F-2. The parameteric dependence of CF4, SF6, and CHF3 abatement was also characterized experimentally, The major products from CF4 abatement were similar to those from C2F6 abatement, Mass Spectroscopy indicated the main products for SF6 abatement were SO2F2, SO2, and F-2 while those for CHF3 were CO2, COF2, F-2, and HF. Additional experiments indicate that the microwave abatement unit can be successfully used to abate these PFC's in the Integrated Circuit fabrication facilities.