Authors: Barbagini, Francesca¹; Halder, Sandip²; Janssens, Tom¹; Kenis, Karine¹; Wostyn, Kurt¹; Bearda, Twan¹; Quoc, Toan-Le¹; Leunissen, Peter¹; Mertens, Paul¹; Kim, Kyung-Hyun³; Andreas, Michael⁴

Source: Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology, Volume 23, Number 12, 2009 , pp. 1709-1721(13)

Publisher: VSP, an imprint of Brill

Abstract:

The increasing complexity of semiconductor devices imposes challenging requirements on particle contamination and surface damage. To meet these requirements novel surface-cleaning processes are evaluated, which combine physical energy with organic solvents. In this work, the performance of megasonic cleaning with deionized water (DIW) and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) was evaluated in terms of particle removal efficiency (PRE) and damage analysis. The goal was to define an optimum process window where the PRE was maximum and the damage was minimum. Particle removal and damage analysis were performed on unpatterned silicon wafers and with patterned polysilicon lines, respectively, under identical sonic power and process parameters. A comparison between these two solvents reveals that at low sonic power the particle-cleaning performances in DIW and NMP are similar. At high sonic power, in both solvents a detailed analysis of the PRE and damage indicates a non-homogeneous trend over the surface of the wafer. More particularly, in DIW higher PRE and damage are noticed towards the edge of the wafer. In NMP, the opposite trend was observed. However, an equivalent performance was obtained at a lower sonic power in case of NMP compared to DIW. Further understanding of megasonic cleaning in solvents, and an optimization of the process parameters are the key to improve the performance of megasonic cleaning in organic solvents like NMP.

Keywords: PARTICLE REMOVAL; MEGASONIC CLEANING; SI WAFER; SOLVENT

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/016942409X12459095670430

Affiliations: 1: IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium 2: IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium;, Email: halder@imec.be 3: Samsung Affiliate at IMEC 4: Micron Affiliate at IMEC

Publication date: 2009-09-01

Related content

• In this: publication
• By this: publisher
• In this Subject: Chemistry (General) ,  Engineering/Technology ,  Materials & Manufacturing
• By this author: Barbagini, Francesca ;  Halder, Sandip ;  Janssens, Tom ;  Kenis, Karine ;  Wostyn, Kurt ;  Bearda, Twan ;  Quoc, Toan-Le ;  Leunissen, Peter ;  Mertens, Paul ;  Kim, Kyung-Hyun ;  Andreas, Michael

Website © Publishing Technology. Article copyright remains with the publisher, society or author(s) as specified within the article.

• Terms and conditions
• Privacy policy
• Information for advertisers