Tag Archives: RCA wafer cleaning process

Improving Standard Clean Particle Removal in a Wet Bench Process

Posted on by

When silicon wafer yields are not improved with the Standard Clean process, improved particle removal can be achieved with advanced processing equipment. Standard Clean or RCA clean was developed by the RCA company in 1965 and it has changed little since then. It has always been successful in cleaning wafers and removing most particles. However, with silicon circuits and structures decreasing in size and product density on wafers increasing, even the tiniest particles can cause device defects.

RCA clean works by first dissolving and removing organic materials from the surface of the wafers using powerful chemicals. In a second step, metallic impurities are removed and the wafer is rinsed clean. The two-step process and the rinsing remove most particles but the smallest particles often remain attached to the wafer with surface tension and electrostatic charges. Such particles can affect diffusion in wafers or block the etching of electronic structures or circuit paths.

The submicron particles are hard to remove completely with chemicals or by rinsing. The use of megasonic cleaning technology to generate very high-frequency sound waves in the wafer bath provides the capability to dislodge all remaining particles, allowing them to be rinsed away. Megasonic cleaning improves Standard Clean particle removal process and helps ensure defect-free production of microscopic structures on the silicon wafer.

How Megasonic Cleaning Works to Improve Standard Clean Particle Removal

The two steps making up the RCA wafer cleaning process are SC1, using a mixture of ammonium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide, and SC2, using a mixture of hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide. The SC1 process removes most of the contamination from the silicon wafer surface, but introduces metallic ion contaminants that can influence subsequent wafer processing steps. The SC2 process dissolves the remaining contaminants, allowing impurities to be rinsed away as they float to the surface of the cleaning mixture.

Standard Clean takes place in heated inert tanks such as quartz baths that are carefully designed to limit additional contamination. The chemical mixtures are heated to about 80 degrees centigrade and processing takes about 10 minutes for each step. After rinsing, the silicon wafers are clean but may still have an unacceptable number of submicron particles adhering to the wafer surfaces.

Megasonic cleaning can remove the majority of these particles while also dislodging the few larger particles that may still be present. The process involves adding a megasonic transducer to the tank holding the wafers. The transducer converts very high-frequency signals from a megasonic generator into sound waves that travel through the rinsing water to strike the wafer surfaces. Sound wave frequencies are typically at or above 1 MHz but may range as low as 200 kHz depending on the specific cleaning application.

As the sound waves travel through water, they create microscopic cavitation bubbles that form and burst in tune with the sound wave frequency. When the bubbles burst, they produce tiny but intense jets of water. The jets from the bubbles near the wafer surfaces dislodge any remaining particles, leaving them to be rinsed away at the surface of the bath, for example via an overflow weir. The additional Megasonic Cleaning step is very effective in particle removal because the tiny jets break any bonds that make the particles adhere to the wafer. The result is extremely low particle counts on wafers that undergo both the RCA wafer cleaning process and Megasonic Cleaning.

Modutek Designs and Builds Specialized Equipment to Improve Wet Bench Processes

Megasonic Cleaning is one example of Modutek’s implementation of designs and technologies that improve wet process performance for their customers. For over forty years Modutek has been providing specialized semiconductor manufacturing equipment to meet unique industry needs. As a leading semiconductor equipment manufacturer, the company offers free consulting and can provide recommendations on equipment from its complete product lines. When Modutek supplies wet bench equipment to customers, the company follows a well-defined process to ensure their equipment performance meets customer requirements.

Why Pre-Diffusion Cleans Are Critical in Wafer Cleaning Processing

Posted on by

Why Pre-Diffusion Cleans Are Critical in Wafer Cleaning ProcessingBefore silicon wafers are placed in a diffusion furnace, they must be cleaned to remove impurities and particles from their surfaces. Such pre-diffusion cleaning takes place several times during semiconductor manufacturing as microscopic structures are fabricated in the silicon. Various wafer cleaning process methods include the use of different chemical baths, ozone treatment or megasonic cleaning for ensuring that wafers are clean and free from contamination. Modutek offers a complete range of equipment that supports the various cleaning methods and helps ensure the highest quality output from semiconductor manufacturing facilities.

Cleaning Methods

Standard cleaning methods involve immersing the silicon wafers in baths of powerful chemicals that remove contaminants and particles from the surface of the wafers. Silicon is relatively inert to reactions with the chemicals used but organic and metallic impurities on the wafer surfaces are oxidized and dissolved.

In the RCA wafer cleaning process silicon wafers are placed into a solution containing ammonium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide. This bath removes organic contaminants but may leave metallic traces. As a result, the RCA clean process is often carried out in two parts called SC1 (standard clean 1) and SC2. After the ammonium hydroxide/hydrogen peroxide (APM) bath, the SC2 step consists of a bath containing hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide (HPM). SC2 removes metal ions and leaves the wafer clean and ready for further processing.

Piranha etch clean is used to remove large amounts of organic residue from silicon wafers. It consists of a bath containing sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide and can dissolve hard to remove organic material such as photoresist. The solution’s strong oxidizing properties hydroxilate the surfaces of the silicon wafers, making them hydrophilic or attractive to water. This property may be an advantage for subsequent cleaning steps.

Megasonic cleaning is another method for obtaining clean, particle-free silicon wafers for diffusion. The method uses cavitation bubbles produced by megasonic waves in a cleaning solution to remove particles and contaminants from wafers. The bubbles produce a scrubbing action that cleans wafer surfaces without the use of expensive and corrosive chemicals.

In some cleaning applications, ozone may be used to obtain clean, particle-free silicon wafers. The wafers are first rinsed with deionized water to remove water-miscible contaminants and are then exposed to ozone in an ozone chamber.  All organic contaminants and particles are converted to carbon dioxide leaving the wafer surface clean and particle-free.

The Importance of Effective Cleaning

The presence of particles on the silicon wafer surface affects the subsequent diffusion steps and impacts the quality of the final product. Particles may be diffused into the silicon along with the doping substances and produce unknown electrical anomalies. They may remain on the surface and block subsequent etching processes to change microscopic structures. They may interfere with the creation of tiny conductor paths on the surface of the silicon and they can create chemical patches that don’t react as expected.

With the trend to smaller size geometries in silicon wafer structures, the potential damage that a single particle can cause has increased. Particles may affect the performance of a semiconductor product or its reliability. The product lifetime may be reduced or its functionality impaired. Defective products reduce plant performance while low quality products hurt the facility’s reputation. Ideally semiconductor manufacturers need equipment that will help them produce high quality semiconductors with low reject rates by emphasizing effective wafer cleaning methods with a maximum reduction in the presence of particle contamination.

Modutek Wafer Cleaning Solutions

Modutek offers a complete line of chemical baths and wet processing equipment that supports RCA clean with SC1 and SC2, piranha clean, megasonic cleaning and ozone clean. Each wafer cleaning process is designed to provide effective pre-diffusion cleaning to produce silicon wafers with a minimum of particle contamination.

In addition to traditional chemical cleaning, Modutek has pioneered advanced ozone cleaning and is using megasonic cleaning for additional particle removal for smaller device geometries. The company can help semiconductor manufacturing facilities increase their throughput, improve their performance and reduce their costs by drawing on the extensive experience they have developed in the various silicon wafer cleaning applications.