How Modutek’s Fully Automated Wafer Fabrication Equipment Improves Process Control

Particle contamination has a challenging problem when the structures and conductors on the silicon wafers are small or tightly packed. On the smallest microscopic structures, a single particle can block a conductor, distort a structure or affect diffusion. To address this issue Modutek's product line includes fully automated wafer fabrication equipment and wet bench stations. The company develops its own software for the equipment in-house and assembles all its wet stations in its San Jose facility.

Modutek makes extensive use of software control and robotics to ensure excellent process control and high-quality output. These can optimize the automation for the best possible performance and customized equipment can be used to meet specific application requirements.

The full range of benefits that Modutek's fully automated stations include the following:

• Reduced chemical usage
• Improved etch rates
• Higher yields
• Better throughput
• Excellent repeatability
• Ability to handle both acid and solvent applications
• Ability to work with standard wafer carrier sizes and custom sizes up to 30” x 60”
• Extensive tracking of process variables
• Highest output quality

The SECS (SEMI Equipment Communications Standard) and GEM (Generic Equipment Model) protocol standards both specify how automated semiconductor fabrication equipment can communicate with a host computer. These standards are developed by the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International organization, and they define interfaces, messaging and communication capabilities.

Modutek's fully automated stations support this protocol and can supply a variety of data to the hosts while receiving remote commands to start or stop a process and to choose stored recipes or programs. Using in-house experience in wet processing semiconductor manufacturing Modutek can customize their wafer fabrication equipment to meet the specific needs of the customer’s application.

Read the complete article “How Fully Automated Wafer Fabrication Equipment Improves Process Control” which goes into greater detail. Contact Modutek at 866-803-1533 or by email Modutek@modutek.com for a free consultation to discuss your specific process requirements.

How Fully Automated Wafer Fabrication Equipment Improves Process Control

Precise process control and the elimination of particle contamination have become more important as the microscopic structures etched on silicon wafers have also become more intricate and densely packed. The accuracy of chemical dosages and the timing of the steps must be consistent and handling of wafers must be kept to a minimum. For this reason, fully automated wafer fabrication equipment is used to ensure that such conditions for the production of semiconductor components are achieved.

There is manual and semi-automatic wafer processing equipment which rely on operators to mix chemicals and transfer wafers. However, errors and inconsistencies in execution can result in defective or low-quality products and production downtime and reduced throughput. Productivity also suffers. The semiconductor manufacturing facility's general operations will become less efficient and less profitable.

Software is the key to automation. When software is used to control the wafer fabrication equipment, it eliminates the variability found in manual operation and inconsistent documentation. Using software to run fully automated stations can provide the following benefits:

• It ensures and maintains exact chemical ratios with each batch
• Precise and repeatable process steps
• Process variables can be easily optimized by programming small changes in the software
• Accurate chemical dosages result in reduced waste and lowered chemical use
• Chemical neutralization and disposal are reliable and easily documented
• Worker safety is enhanced as operators are less exposed to toxic chemicals

The benefits listed above come from programming automatic controls which manage the cleaning and etching of the silicon wafers. The software will calculate how much of each chemical is needed for a particular process step. It controls the adding of the chemicals to the process tank, times the process step, drains the chemicals and neutralizes all the waste chemicals. Once the variables in the software are optimized, the software will run the optimized process the same way every time. This allows the results to be predictable and consistent.

The complete article “How Fully Automated Wafer Fabrication Equipment Improves Process Control” provides more details. Contact Modutek at 866-803-1533 or email at Modutek@modutek.com more information or would like a free consultation to discuss your specific requirements.