Environmental Technology Initiative: Chemical-Free Cleaning of Semiconductors by211 the Radiance Process (Trade Name)

摘要

The Radiance Process (R) is a patented dry process for removing contaminants from211u001esurfaces. It uses light, usually from a pulsed laser and a gas inert to the 211u001esurface, to entrain released contaminants. The focus of this effort is to assess 211u001ethe applicability of the Radiance Process (R) to the semiconductor industry and 211u001eits pollution prevention potential. This report discusses the results of 211u001eexperiments conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the Radiance Process 211u001e(R) in removing chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) slurries from wafers, 211u001ecleaning flat panel display glass, and removing particles from bare silicon 211u001ewafers. The results show that post-CMP cleaning using the Radiance Process (R) 211u001ecan restore bare silicon waters to near virgin conditions. For flat panel display 211u001ematerial, the Radiance Process (R) was used to clean vendor-supplied float glass 211u001esubstrates used in fabrication. This resulted in reducing total particle counts 211u001ein excess of 5000 to below 100. These results were equal to, or, in some cases, 211u001ebetter than current wet cleaning processes. Contamination not removed by wet 211u001eprocessing was further reduced by using the Radiance Process (R). Particle 211u001eremoval from bare silicon wafers was tested in two specific conditions with no 211u001estatistically significant repeatable removal rates.