Analysis on Particle Deposition onto a Horizontal Semiconductor Wafer at Vacuum Environment

Numerical analysis was conducted to characterize the gas flow field and particle deposition on a horizontal freestanding semiconductor wafer under the laminar flow field at vacuum environment. In order to calculate the properties of gas, the gas was assumed to obey the ideal gas law. The particle transport mechanisms considered were convection, Brownian diffusion and gravitational settling. The averaged particle deposition velocities and their radial distributions fnr the upper surface of the wafer were calculated from the particle concentration equation in an Eulerian frame of reference for system pressures of 1 mbar~1 atm and particle sizes of 2nm~10$^4$ nm(10 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$). It was observed that as the system pressure decreases, the boundary layer of gas flow becomes thicker and the deposition velocities are increased over the whole range of particle size. One thing to be noted here is that the deposition velocities are increased in the diffusion dominant particle size range with decreasing system pressure, whereas the thickness of the boundary layer is larger. This contradiction is attributed to the increase of particle mechanical mobility and the consequent increase of Brownian diffusion with decreasing the system pressure. The present numerical results showed good agreement with the results of the approximate model and the available experimental data.

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