POTENTIAL COST OF OWNERSHIP REDUCTION FOR A NITRIDE FURNACE POINT OF USE ABATEMENT DEVICE

摘要

Potential impacts on fab facilities from silicon nitride processing in LPCVD furnaces make point of use (POU) abatement a necessity. However, the utility expense associated with operating existing POU abatement devices is significant. In an effort to determine whether cost reductions are feasible, a study was undertaken to measure emissions from a thermal abatement unit with integrated water scrubbing as the operating parameters were varied. Some effort was made to measure the contribution of each abatement factor: dilution, heat, and water scrubbing. Both standard silicon and Si-rich recipes were tested, with downstream dichlorosilane concentrations measured as high as 4% for the Si-rich process. The abatement device was found to be very effective under normal operating parameters, with a significant decline in performance when operated at room temperature.