Because slurry can clog up a filter quickly, a system combining a prefilter pressure transducer and a flowmeter has been devised that can determine filter life and avoid process interruptions. Point-of-use (POU) slurry filtration in chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) applications is essential for preventing agglomerated slurry particles, which cause scratch defects and lower yields, from reaching the wafer surface. Preventing slurry-based wafer contamination will become increasingly important as device geometries shrink, because the presence of even very small particles on the wafer can cause killer defects in very small linewidths.
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