Tips on Selecting Wafer Processing Equipment for Your Application

The semiconductor manufacturing and research industries use wet benches to produce silicon wafers that need to undergo cleaning and etching.

The wet bench equipment needs to be flexible configured to meet certain manufacturing processes. Ideally, it should be designed for both acid and solvent cleaning applications.

Usual processes used for wafer processing equipment include KOH Etching, Buffer Oxide Etching (BOE), RCA Clean, plating and Megasonic cleaning. The equipment can also be tailored to meet the customer's specific process requirements. Customers can choose three different types of wet benches according to the budget framework and the process:

·         Fully automated stations – This offers excellent consistency of process steps and improved output quality. It is designed to precisely control the use and chemicals and process times. This leads to minimized wastes which in means in saving money as well as easier compliance with environmental regulations. Automated stations also help to reduce operator errors.

·         Semi-automated stations – This offers some features of the fully automated stations, at a much lower cost. It has servo-controlled robots which allow operators to precisely control chemical use and process times. It also has user-friendly controls.

·         Manual stations - This offers no robotics but has the same high quality process equipment as the fully and semi-automated stations.

All of Modutek’s wafer processing equipment stations are built with white propylene construction with wiring to NFPA 70 and 79, and have safety features. They can be ordered as standard units or can be customized to meet certain processing, etching or cleaning applications.

Our full article “Tips on Selecting Wafer Processing Equipment for Your Application” goes into more detail. If you have questions after reading this, please contact Modutek at Modutek@Modutek.com. 

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”.