Critical Organics Risk Assessment of High-Purity Polymer Piping​

Particle contamination in ultrapure water (UPW) remains a high challenge in yield enhancement to achieve more functional die per wafer. IRDS requirement on acceptable particle size in UPW is getting more stringent year by year as semiconductor technology advances. Besides native particles, IRDS also shows growing concern on particle precursors such as dissolved molecular compound which may form solid particles when dried on wafer surface. Our study on the particle types released through a UPW system and its comparison to those found on wafers helps us identify the target particles and particle precursors to be removed from UPW. One of the target process consumables to be studied on the release of particles and particle precursors to UPW is ion exchange resin. Through our investigation on two different ion exchange resins, resin selection is shown to be critical in reducing the release of particles and particle precursors in both short and long terms.

In the yield enhancement report 2021 there is a call for highly controlled deposition experiments to determine the particle deposition rate on the wafer compared to the known particle count in the ultrapure water (UPW) to gain better understanding about the contamination sources on-wafer. The goal of this collaborative study between Lam Research as a tool supplier and Ovivo Switzerland as an UPW engineering company is to investigate potential correlation between UPW quality form a full scale UPW plant and particle deposition on standard silicon 300 mm wafer.