High throughput online VPD-ICPMS for automated determination of metal contaminants on process wafers

Despite the technological advancements in online analytical metrologies for ultrapure water (UPW) quality monitoring, offline measurements of grab samples are critical to assess certain quality parameters to date not yet available for online analyzers (i.e. metals and ions). The current recommendations from IRDS (2021 yield enhancement) for metals in UPW to is <1 ppt, for critical metals for image sensors even <0.2 ppt at POP. Therefore, high performance analytics is required in terms of limit of quantification and analytical range. To be able to reliably measure such low concentrations of metals in grab samples, clean sampling strategies are absolutely required to avoid cross contamination onsite. In this work, we present a simple and effective tool helping to bring the samples from the facility to the lab in a clean and reliable way, minimizing main cross-contamination normally occurring during sampling in an industrial environment.

Critical feature sizes of modern semiconductor devices have surpassed the capabilities of traditional optical-based methods to measure particle concentrations in process chemicals and on wafers. Without adequate metrology for quantifying particle and particle precursor concentration in process chemicals, device makers face challenges correlating component failures and fabrication steps. This is especially true for organic material released by Final Polish Ion Exchange resin during a rinse cycle, which is not detected efficiently using optical methods. In this work, we describe two state-of-the-art measurement methods that can detect organic particles and particle precursors to 3 nm using Aerosolization and Threshold Particle Counting (TPC) and defects from UPW deposited on a wafer surface down to 8 nm using Surfaced Enhanced Particle Sizing (SEPS)

This presentation was given as part of the Ultrapure Micro 2021 annual conference. It was given as part of the airborne molecular contamination (AMC) and high purity gases control strand.

This presentation was given as part of the Ultrapure Micro 2021 annual conference. It was given as part of the ultrapure water strand.

This Q&A session took place at the 2020 Ultrapure Micro annual conference. It was a part of the Ultrapure Water Production track, and included speakers from the UPW Contamination Control session.

This Q&A session took place at the 2020 Ultrapure Micro annual conference. It was a part of the AMC, Liquid Chemicals & Gases Control track, and included speakers from the Contamination Control in Liquid Chemicals session.

This presentation was given at the Ultrapure Micro 2020 annual conference. It was presented in the AMC, Liquid Chemicals & Gases Control track, as part of the Contamination Control in Liquid Chemicals session.

This presentation was given at the Ultrapure Micro 2020 annual conference. It was presented in the Ultrapure Water Production track, as part of the UPW Contamination Control session.

This presentation was given at the Ultrapure Micro 2019 annual conference. It was presented during the Learning Series, as part of the Ultrapure Water Production track.

This presentation was given at the Ultrapure Micro 2019 annual conference. It was presented during the Learning Series, as part of the Ultra High Performance Chemicals and High Purity Gases track.