Solid State Phenomena Vols. 103-104

Abstract: The suitability of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for the direct determination of the concentration of complexing agents for single chemistry cleaning is demonstrated. HPLC, coupled to a mass spectrometric detector (HPLC-MS) and two-dimensional mass spectrometry (MS/MS) have been applied for the investigation of the reactions involved in the decomposition of the complexing agents. The techniques described are useful for determining the stability of organic additives in wet chemical cleaning baths.

Abstract: When the integration of Cu process and non-Cu process is mixed in the fabrication, the prevention of Cu cross-contamination between wafer-to-wafer and machine-to-machine is critical. This study suggests a prevention method of the cross-contamination in Cu fabrication line.

Abstract: In this work the removal of different metallic and particulate contaminants relevant for high-k/metal gate processing is studied. Best cleaning efficiency of both silicon and nitride substrates is achieved using a HF/HNO3-based cleaning resulting in a particle removal efficiency higher than 90% and metal removal down to 1010 at/cm2.

Abstract: In this study, we used an SEZ single-wafer spin-processor to develop a single backside cleaning solution able to remove any metallic or exotic contaminants by etching a few angstroms of the wafer backside, whatever its coating (no coating, Si3N4 or SiO2). An H2O:H2O2:H2SO4:HF mixture was selected because it allowed independent control of the etch rate on the 3 materials of interest, without roughening to much the silicon surface. Chemistry efficiency was then checked on wafers intentionally contaminated with various metals, and on “production wafers” contaminated during exotic materials deposition or classical copper processes.