Defect Reduction by using Point-of-use Filtration in a New Coater/Developer

摘要

The impact of pore size and membrane material polarity on the effectiveness of point-of-use filtration is evaluated here. Decreased pore size and increased polarity in membrane materials were confirmed to positively influence the effectiveness of microbridge defect removal by a point-of-use filter in the LITHIUS Pro? coater/developer system. Comparative analysis of different solvent systems validates a model of competitive adsorption whereby more-hydrophilic solvents and gel-like agglomerates preferentially interact with the Nylon 6,6 membrane surface. This suggests that adsorption is the dominant mechanism for microbridge defect removal via filtration. Therefore, utilizing filtration products built around polar membrane materials (like hydrophilic Nylon 6,6) will result in greater microbridge defect reduction than solely reducing filter pore size.