Processes for cleaning and drying microelectronic structures using liquid or supercritical carbon dioxide

摘要

A method of cleaning and removing water and entrained solutes during a manufacturing process from a microelectronic device such as a resist-coated semiconductor substrate, a MEM's device, or an optoelectronic device comprising the steps of: (a) providing a partially fabricated integrated circuit, MEM's device, or optoelectronic device having water and entrained solutes on the substrate; (b) providing a densified (e.g., liquid or supercritical) carbon dioxide drying composition, the drying composition comprising carbon dioxide and a drying adjunct, the drying adjunct selected from the group consisting of cosolvents, surfactants, and combinations thereof; (c) immersing the surface portion in the densified carbon dioxide drying composition; and then (d) removing the drying composition from the surface portion. Process parameters are controlled so that the drying composition is maintained as a homogeneous composition during the immersing step, the removing step, or both the immersing and removing step, without substantial deposition of the drying/cleaning adjunct or entrained solutes on the substrate.