Why Preventative Maintenance of Wet Bench Equipment is Important

Preventative maintenance of wet bench equipment is necessary and even vital to manufacturers since it helps avoid costly and unexpected downtime due to equipment failure or qualify issues. Wet bench equipment and components are complex and are usually used in a demanding environment. Calibration, cleaning, and replacement of worn-out parts must be performed regularly to maintain facility performance and maintain or improve output quality.

Wet bench stations operate with harsh and corrosive chemicals, and there are also other variables (like temperature) which are also critical for a successful production line. Some parts must be changed, cleaned or serviced regularly while others need to be inspected regularly to determine if any action is required. Scheduling preventive maintenance that limits the downtime for the production line to a minimum while ensuring that all preventive measures are carried out can sometimes become challenging.

The semiconductor manufacturing equipment supplier should specify what preventive maintenance measures are required and which ones are recommendations. Some tasks may be done by the manufacturer's personnel, however, others will require specialists from the supplier. For some lines, production steps are sequential so a specific component may be temporarily at rest for a given time while preventive maintenance is done on that component.

Coordinating with a supplier (who knows about the installation and can handle all preventive maintenance tasks) will help in developing a preventive maintenance program. A supplier can help the semiconductor manufacturer develop and adopt a convenient schedule for a wet bench equipment maintenance program.

Modutek offers this type of maintenance program as part of their customer support. The company has in-house expertise based on almost 40 years of experience in the wet bench processing technology field. Scheduling and implementing a preventive wet bench maintenance program while keeping disruptions to production at a minimum requires using that experienced personnel that Modutek provides.

The complete article, “Why Preventative Maintenance of Wet Bench Equipment Is Important,” explains further about the importance of maintaining wet bench equipment you may have. Call Modutek at 866-803-1533 for a free consultation to discuss your wet bench equipment needs.

How the SPM Clean Process is Supported in a Wet Bench Process

Semiconductor manufacturing involves the use of many processing procedures, which include cleaning silicon wafers using wet bench technology.

The sulfuric peroxide mix (SPM) solution uses 3 parts sulfuric acid and 1 part of hydrogen peroxide at about 130 degrees Centigrade to remove any organic material and photoresist from silicon wafers fast and effectively. Process engineers using the SPM clean process in semiconductor fabrication need to ensure that the chemical ratio and temperature are maintained within the safety confines and that the wafers and the solution are safely contained in impervious baths.

Modutek's wet benches support the SPM process in their manual, semi-automatic and fully automatic versions. These wet bench stations are also available in a wide range of configurations, and the designs can be customized.

In quartz recirculating baths, the SPM solution has to be heated quickly in a bath that can tolerate high temperatures and will not react with the strong chemicals. Heating has to be controlled and even, because at high temperatures the hydrogen peroxide would disintegrate and the solution has to be spiked with more peroxide to maintain its concentration.

Modutek's quartz baths support all the requirements for the SPM process. These quartz baths have an operating temperature that range from 30 to 180 degrees centigrade and feature a standard heat up rate of 2 degrees centigrade a minute. The operating temperatures can be regulated to within plus or minus one 1 degree centigrade. The liquid level sensor feature is optional. The tanks are available in standard sizes and depths, but they can also be customized as well.

Modutek's wet bench stations and quartz baths are cost-effective, designed to reduce errors as well as to improve performance, leading to higher throughput and better output quality. For a free consultation or to get a quote, contact Modutek or email Modutek@modutek.com. For more details read the complete article titled “How the SPM Clean Process is Supported in a Wet Bench Process”.