• 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.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.251-257
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• 2001

A present semiconductor cleaning technology is based upon RCA cleaning, high temperature process which consumes vast chemicals and ultra Pure water(UPW). This technology gives rise to the many environmental issues, therefore some alternatives have been studied. In this study, intentionally contaminated Si wafers were cleaned using the electrolyzed water(EW). The EW was generated by an electrolysis equipment which was composed of anode. cathode, and toddle chambers. Oxidative water and reductive water were obtained in anode and cathode chambers, respectively. In case $NH_4$Cl electrolyte, the oxidation-reduction potential(ORP) and pH for anode water(AW) and cathode water(CW) were measured to be +1050mV and 4.7, and -750mV and 9.8, respectively. For cleaning metallic impurities, AW was confirmed to be more effective than that of CW, and the particle distribution after various particle removal processes was shown to be same distribution.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.21-27
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• 2023

In this article, a plate-type megasonic cleaning system with cooling pins is proposed for the sliced ingot, which is a raw material of silicon (Si) wafers. The megasonic system is operated with a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) actuator, which has high electric resistance, thus when it is being operated, it dissipates much heat. So this article proposes a megasonic system with cooling pins. In the design process, finite element analysis was performed and the results were used for the design of the waveguide. The frequency with the maximum impedance value was 998 kHz, which agreed well with the measured value of 997 kHz with 0.1 % error. Based on the results, the 1 MHz waveguide was fabricated. Acoustic pressures were measured, and analyzed. Finally, cleaning tests were performed, and 90 % particle removal efficiency (PRE) was achieved over 10 W power. These results imply that the developed 1 MHz megasonic will effectively clean sliced ingot wafer surfaces.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.366-367
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• 2006

In general, HF chemistry lifts off the particles during scrubbing after polishing and effectively removes particles. It is sometimes impossible to apply HF chemistry on W plug due to the degradation of electrical characteristics of a device. In this paper, a post W CMP cleaning process is proposed to remove residue particles without applying HF chemistry. After W CMP, recessed plugs are created, therefore they easily trap slurry particles during CMP process. These particles in recessed plug are not easy to remove by brush scrubbing when $NH_4OH$ chemistry is used for the cleaning because the brush surface can not reach the recessed area of plugs. Buffing with oxide slurry was followed by W CMP due to its high selectivity to W. The buffing polishes only oxide slightly which creates higher plug profiles than surrounding oxide. Higher profiles make the brush contact much more effectively and result in a similar particle removal efficiency even in $NH_4OH$ cleaning to that in HF brush scrubbing.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1193-1201
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• 2013

Improved far field type(improved type) megasonic applicable to the cleaning equipment of single wafer processing type has been developed. In this study, to improve the uniformity of acoustic pressure distribution(APD), we utilize far field with relatively uniform APD, piezoelectric ceramic with a triangle hole in its center to prevent standing wave resulted from radial mode, and reflected wave from the wall of waveguide. On the basis of these methods, two analysis models of improved type were designed to which piezoelectric ceramic of different shape of electrode attached, and APD were analyzed by means of finite element method, and then one of them was selected by analysis results, finally, the selected model was fabricated. Test results show that the fabricated is better in the uniformity of APD than the imported and the conventional, also the fabricated shows high particle removal efficiency of 92.3% using DI water alone as a cleaning solution.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.267-276
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• 2020

In this study, air scouring cleaning was selected and applied among 5 small blocks (S1~S5) in domestic S cities to analyze the cleaning effect of particles causing discoloration. In order to identify the cleaning effect, 10 locations were selected as water quality investigation point, such as the stagnant or water mains ends. Removal of solids, variation of particle components, weight and concentration were analyzed. And the level of the cleanness of the surface inside water mains using endoscope was investigated. As a result of analysis, the solids discharged after cleaning were mainly sand and gravel, pieces related to pipe materials, and corrosion products. As a result of analyzing the concentrated particles of the filter before and after cleaning, it was found that the change in discoloration on the filter was large. In addition, as a result of comparing the weight and the concentration of the particles, it was found that the particles causing discoloration were significantly removed after cleaning. From the results of the endoscopy, it was confirmed that most of the precipitated and accumulated dark yellow discoloration matters inside water mains were removed through cleaning. Therefore, it seems that the particles causing discoloration in water decreased after cleaning. Therefore, it is expected that, if properly cleaning was applied, matters that cause discoloration can be removed from the water mains, and customer's complaints can also be reduced through water quality improvement.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2021

The surface of silicon dummy wafers is contaminated with metallic impurities owing to the reaction with and adhesion of chemicals during the oxidation process. These metallic impurities negatively affect the device performance, reliability, and yield. To solve this problem, a wafer-cleaning process that removes metallic impurities is essential. RCA (Radio Corporation of America) cleaning is commonly used, but there are problems such as increased surface roughness and formation of metal hydroxides. Herein, we attempt to use a chelating agent (EDTA) to reduce the surface roughness, improve the stability of cleaning solutions, and prevent the re-adsorption of impurities. The bonding between the cleaning solution and metal powder is analyzed by referring to the Pourbaix diagram. The changes in the ionic conductivity, H2O2 decomposition behavior, and degree of dissolution are checked with a conductivity meter, and the changes in the absorbance and particle size before and after the reaction are confirmed by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) analyses. Thus, the addition of a chelating agent prevents the decomposition of H2O2 and improves the life of the silicon wafer cleaning solution, allowing it to react smoothly with metallic impurities.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society Of Semiconductor Equipment Technology
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.128-131
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• 2007

As the minimum feature size decrease, control of contamination by nanoparticles is getting more attention in semiconductor process. Cleaning technology which removes nanoparticles is essential to increase yield. A reference wafer on which particles with known size and number are deposited is needed to evaluate the cleaning process. We simulated particle trajectories in the chamber by using FLUENT. Charged monodisperse particles are generated using scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) and deposited on the wafer by electrostatic force. The experimental results agreed with the simulation results well. We calculate the particles loss in pipe flow theoretically and compare with the experimental results.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.770-777
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• 2004

Fouling and cleaning tests are performed for a uniquely designed 7,000 ㎉/hr fluidized bed heat exchanger for exhaust gas heat recovery. Fuel rich condition is maintained in the combustor for a limited time period to generate soot that is to be deposited on the heat transfer surfaces (fouling) and 600 Um glass beads are circulated inside the heat exchanger system for cleaning and enhancing the heat transfer performance. According to the present experimental study, performance degradation mode could be monitored and the effect of particle circulation on the heat transfer improvement could be identified. Through the present study, it is demonstrated that circulating particles contribute not only to the fouling reduction in gas side, but also to the heat transfer enhancement of the unit, while other possible aging factors including water side corrosion seemed to contribute to the accumulated performance deterioration.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.97.4-97
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• 2001

Recently, TFT LCD (thin film transistor liquid crystal display) manufacturing industry is more concerned with the ways of cleaning large TFT LCD´s with high pixed density than ever Ultrasonic cleaners with high frequencies like 1MHz (megasonic cleaners) are effective in removing very small particles without causing mechanical damage to the surface. In this study a megasonic cleaner for TFT LCD manufacturing process is developed and the performance is evaluated through experiments. The experimental results show that the developed magasonic cleaners is effective in removing very small particle from the LCD panel.