• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.74-79
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• 2022

In this study, the plasma corrosion resistance and the change in the number of contamination particles generated using the plasma etching process and cleaning process of coating parts for semiconductor plasma etching equipment were investigated. As the coating method, atmospheric plasma spray (APS) was used, and the powder materials were Y₂O₃ and Y₃Al₅O₁₂ (YAG). There was a clear difference in the densities of the coatings due to the difference in solubility due to the melting point of the powdered material. As a plasma environment, a mixed gas of CF₄, O₂, and Ar was used, and the etching process was performed at 200 W for 60 min. After the plasma etching process, a fluorinated film was formed on the surface, and it was confirmed that the plasma resistance was lowered and contaminant particles were generated. We performed a surface cleaning process using piranha solution(H₂SO₄(3):H₂O₂(1)) to remove the defect-causing surface fluorinated film. APS-Y₂O₃ and APS-YAG coatings commonly increased the number of defects (pores, cracks) on the coating surface by plasma etching and cleaning processes. As a result, it was confirmed that the generation of contamination particles increased and the breakdown voltage decreased. In particular, in the case of APS-YAG under the same cleaning process conditions, some of the fluorinated film remained and surface defects increased, which accelerated the increase in the number of contamination particles after cleaning. These results suggest that contaminating particles and the breakdown voltage that causes defects in semiconductor devices can be controlled through the optimization of the APS coating process and cleaning process.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.1E
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• pp.49-56
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• 1997

Ultrasonic cleaning at high frequency around 1 MHz, called megasonic cleaning, is commonly used to remove particles less than 1 ㎛ by generating high frequency accelerations on the cleaning objects. Cleaning is performed in an ultrasonically-excited liquid contained in a double-structured container. Ultrasonic waves generated by piezoelectric transducers propagate in the outer container and are transmitted through the inner container. The bottom of the inner container is inclined to make oblique incidence of the ultrasonic wave in order to raise the efficiency of the transmission through the bottom plate. This work deals with the efficiency of the transmission, which directly affects the cleaning performance. The transmission characteristics of the ultrasonic wave in the megasonic cleaner have been obtained analytically and numerically for the variations of some parameters, such as the thickness and inclined angle of the bottom plate of the inner container and the chemical ratio and temperature of the cleaning liquid. The calculated results have yielded the optimum cleaning condition in terms of the sound power transmitted into the cleaning liquid.

• Clean Technology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.215-223
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• 2001

A present semiconductor cleaning technology is based upon RCA cleaning technology which consumes vast amounts of chemicals and ultra pure water(UPW) and is the high temperature process. Therefore, this technology gives rise to the many environmental issues, and some alternatives such as electrolyzed water(EW) are being studied. In this work, intentionally contaminated Si wafers were cleaned using the electrolyzed water. The electrolyzed water was generated by an electrolysis system which consists of three anode, cathode, and middle chambers. Oxidative water and reductive water were obtained in anode and cathode chambers, respectively. In case of NH4Cl electrolyte, the oxidation-reduction potential and pH for anode water(AW) and cathode water(CW) were measured to be +1050mV and 4.8, and -750mV and 10.0, respectively. AW and CW were deteriorated after electrolyzed, but maintained their characteristics for more than 40 minutes sufficiently enough for cleaning. Their deterioration was correlated with CO2 concentration changes dissolved from air. Contact angles of UPW, AW, and CW on DHF treated Si wafer surfaces were measured to be $65.9^{\circ}$, $66.5^{\circ}$ and $56.8^{\circ}$, respectively, which characterizes clearly the eletrolyzed water. To analyze the amount of metallic impurities on Si wafer surface, ICP-MS was introduced. It was known that AW was effective for Cu removal, while CW was more effective for Fe removal. To analyze the number of particles on Si wafer surfaces, Tencor 6220 were introduced. The particle distributions after various particle removal processes maintained the same pattern. In this work, RCA consumed about $9{\ell}$ chemicals, while EW did only $400m{\ell}$ HCl electrolyte or $600m{\ell}$ NH4Cl electrolyte. It was hence concluded that EW cleaning technology would be very effective for promoting environment, safety, and health(ESH) issues in the next generation semiconductor manufacturing.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.239-244
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• 2015

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is one of the most important processes for enabling sub-14 nm semiconductor manufacturing. Moreover, post-CMP defect control is a key process parameter for the purpose of yield enhancement and device reliability. Due to the complexity of device with sub-14 nm node structure, CMP-induced defects need to be fixed in the CMP in-situ cleaning module instead of during post ex-situ wet cleaning. Therefore, post-CMP in-situ cleaning optimization and cleaning efficiency improvement play a pivotal role in post-CMP defect control. CMP in-situ cleaning module normally consists of megasonic and brush scrubber processes. And there has been an increasing effort for the optimization of cleaning chemistry and brush scrubber cleaning in the CMP cleaning module. Although there have been many studies conducted on improving particle removal efficiency by brush cleaning, these studies do not consider the effects of brush contamination. Depending on the process condition and brush condition, brush cross contamination effects significantly influence post-CMP cleaning defects. This study investigates brush cross contamination effects in the CMP in-situ cleaning module by conducting experiments using 300mm tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) blanket wafers. This study also explores brush pre-treatment in the CMP tool and proposes recipe effects, and critical process parameters for optimized CMP in-situ cleaning process through experimental results.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1309-1312
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• 2005

A multi-chemical supply system is developed and applied to a wet station, which uses the multi-chemical process in one bath. To control the concentration of two chemicals, control logic of a supply pump is programmed using the programable logic controller (PLC). By using the multi-chemical supply system, wet station with single bath is applied to cleaning process using multi chemicals such as buffed oxide etchant (BOE) and standard clean 1 (SC-1). The concentration of each chemical is measured in the bath to verify the multi-chemical supply system. The control range in the each chemical concentration is measured to 1.33weight% in NH4OH and 0.23weight% in H2O2. The multi-chemical supply system can be movable and usable as an independent module of fixed wet station. By simply midifying the PLC, a multi-chemical supply system can be developed for a wet station.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.144-149
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• 2019

This paper describes the results of a study on the unmanned maintenance robot that simultaneously performs the cleaning and inspection of the photovoltaic panels. The robot has a special adsorptive device, an infrared sensor, a vacuum level sensor and a camera. The robot uses two SSC (Sliding Suction Cup) adsorptive devices to move up and down the slope. First, the forces generated when the robot moves up the slope are mechanically analyzed, and the required design and control of the adsorption system are suggested. The robot was designed and manufactured to operate stably by using the presented results. Next, the normal force between the panel and the wheel was measured to confirm that the robot was manufactured and operated as intended, and the robot motion was tested on the inclined panel. It has been proven that robots are well designed and built to clean and inspect sloped panels.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.747-750
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• 2007

This study proposes that chlorine residue after metal etch as the source of metal corrosion, and charges should be removed by optimizing etch, PR strip and cleaning condition. Charges distributed along the metal line acts as a source of tungsten (W) plug corrosion when associated with following cleaning solution. In cleaning process after metal etch and PR strip, chemical selection is significantly important in terms of metal corrosion. Optimal corrosion preventive PH, no metal attack (choice of optimal inhibitants), high by product removal efficiency and optimal de ionized water treatment condition is critical to the metal corrosion prevention.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.4 no.3 s.12
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• pp.29-33
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• 2005

As the integrated devices become more and more sophistcated, the diameter of wafers increased up to 300 mm and strict level of cleaning is necessary to remove the particulates on the surface of wafer. Therefore we need a new type of wet-station which can reduce DI water and chemical in the cleaning process. Moreover, it is important to control the temperature and the concentration of chemical in the wet-station. In the conventional chemical supply system, it is difficult not only to fit the mixing rate of chemicals in cleaning process, but also to fit the quantity and temperature. Thus, we propose a new chemicals supply system, which overcomes above problems by the analysis of fluid and thermal transfer on chemical supply system.

• The Transactions of the Korea Information Processing Society
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.115-125
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• 2000

In this paper, we suggest the basic components of monitoring system for the semiconductor wafer cleaning equipment and a monitoring system model based on these components. Basic component is defined as a mandatory function which consists of communication with the control system, user interface, communication with the remote monitoring system, management of monitoring data and inter-task communication. We have defined the function of each component and the relation among them, and designed each component as a task. To evaluate the validity of the suggested model, we have implemented the basic components using the Visual C++ on Windows NT and applied them to the Monitoring System for the semiconductor wafer cleaning equipment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.07a
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• pp.235-238
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• 2004

본 연구는 반도체소자 제조공정에 적용되는 CMP공정 중 LPP(Landing Plug Poly) Contact간의 소자 분리를 위해 진행되는 LPP CMP의 후 세정 과정에서 유발되는 방사형 Defect 제거에 관한 내용이다. 방사형 Defect은 LPP CMP 후에 노출되는 BPSG, Poly, Nitride Film과 연마재로 사용되는SiO2 입자, 후 세정과정에서 적용되는 SC-1, DHF, $NH_4OH$ Chemical과 Brush와의 상호작용에 의해 발생되며, Cleaning시의 산성 분위기 하에서 각 물질간의 pH와 Zeta Potential의 차이에서 기인한다. 이 Defect을 제거하기 위해 LPP CMP후에 Film 표면에 노출되는 각 물질의 표면 특성과 CMP 후 오염입자의 흡착과 재 흡착에 영향을 미치는 Electrostatic force와 Van der Waals force, PVA Brush에 의한 Mechanical force의 상호작용을 고려하여 최적 후 세정 조건을 제시 하였다.