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Particle Removal from Semiconductor Surfaces Using a Photon-Assisted, Gas-Phase Cleaning Process

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

Audrey C. Engelsberg
Audrey C. Engelsberg*
Affiliation:
Radiance Services Company, 4405 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814
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Abstract

Control and elimination of contamination in semiconductor manufacturing (tools and wafers) will be an enabling technology for the manufacture of devices with groundrules < 0.5 μm. The current trend in semiconductor manufacturing is towards mini-environments and cluster tools integrating several processing steps including cleaning. Relevant contaminants are now sufficiently small that wet chemical cleaning processes are unable to wet them sufficiently to effect removal by mechanical means. Wet processes are also difficult to integrate into cluster tools. In this paper, we describe a new non-reactive, “dry”, gas-phase cleaning and surface modification process. This technology utilizes photons from a high energy irradiation source in conjunction with a flowing gas to break the bonds holding contaminants to the surface and carry the freed contaminants away from the surface. Removal rates of contaminants depend on the wavelength of the irradiation source, energy flux and flow rate of the gas, not a knowledge of the chemical properties of the contaminants.

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References

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