Critical Tailoring of Clean Processing

摘要

The most prevalent and most critical of all semiconductor manufacturing process steps is wafer cleaning. Over the years, it has evolved to a point where not only must most cleans be specifically tailored to the preceding or subsequent fabrication step (i.e., pre- or post-cleans), but to a level of sophistication that is better labeled as surface preparation or surface engineering. Not only must contamination be removed, but also the clean processing must be damage-free, corrosion-free and highly selective with minimal material loss. Add to that the influx of a vast array of new materials — many in production with many more in research — as well as the trend to smaller, more complex features and you have the makings of one of the most dynamic technologies in the industry.