Accelerated Removal of Photoresist for Semiconductor Production by an Increased-Pressure Ozone and Water Vapor Process

摘要

A new process for removal of photoresist, using DI water vapor with ozone in a pressurized chamber, is presented. The process is able to strip photoresist at high rates of 1 |un/minute or more. Ion implanted photoresist can also be stripped, up to a dose of about IE14 atoms/cm2 or higher, depending on the dopant species. The process can be used in lieu of ashing, such that the traditional two-step sequence of ashing followed by a wet bench clean can be performed in a single wet bench process. For such an application particle addition was tested and shown to be near zero. Surface roughness was also tested by AFM, showing no surface roughening due to the ozone process. Maintaining the vapor phase and avoiding condensation are shown to be important.