Papers by Author: G. Doumen

Abstract: A non uniform sound field distribution can be a problem in a megasonic cleaning system, since a higher sound intensity can cause damage, while areas exposed to a lower intensity will be insufficiently cleaned. These non uniformities can be the result of sound field reflection, leading to standing waves, and the interference related to the near field. In a single wafer tool with a transducer facing the wafer a small height difference will have a large impact on the cleaning efficiency if standing waves are present. Here we study the impact of the wafer transducer height in a cleaning system using a megasonic nozzle above a rotating wafer.

Abstract: Cleaning of nano-particles is becoming a major challenge in semiconductor manufacturing as efficient particle removal must be achieved without substrate loss and without damage to fragile structures. In this work cleaning performance and structural damage by a mixed fluid-jet technique were evaluated and directly compared to the performance of several megasonic systems. The test vehicles were hydrophilic Si wafers contaminated with 78-nm SiO2 particles and 70-nm poly-gatestack line patterned wafers. The results showed a broader process window for particle removal without damaging for the mixed fluid-jet technique compared to the megasonic systems.

Abstract: In this paper, a single wafer linear IPA vapour based vertical drying technique is presented. Using salt residue tests the performance of this technique is evaluated and compared to spin drying. The equivalent film thickness of evaporating liquid is below 0.05µm for blanket wafers, which is two orders of magnitude less than with spin drying. It is also shown that the presence of surface topography (200nm high TEOS features on Si covered with a chemical oxide) does not significantly influence the drying performance. A study of the process window shows that for the setup evaluated in this work best performance is achieved when the IPA/N2 flow rate is above 20 liters per minute and the drying speed is below 8 mm/s. With a manual prototype already very good particle performance is demonstrated.