Why Chemical Lift Station Pumps Are Needed for Wet Bench Stations

When steps for wet bench processing are done, the remaining chemicals and waste water must be drained and transferred to an area for neutralization and disposal. Depending on the physical layout of a manufacturing facility, gravity draining may not be possible or insufficient due to flow or speed.  Chemical lift station pumps are required in these situations which transfers the chemical solvent in a controlled and optimized method. The use of chemical lift station pumps will enable the fast and complete removal of chemical solvents and waste liquids, leaving the wet benches ready for the new process step.

While designing new installations without lift station pumps and dependence only on gravity drains may be possible, these require facility changes that include upgrades or expansions and retrofitting of pumps. In these cases, chemical lift station pumps must be included in separate stations that are often located at the back of the wet stations. Since these separate stations take up valuable floor space dedicated to productions processes incorporating lift station pumps into new wet bench stations is a better alternative.

Modutek can incorporate lift station pumps into their existing wet bench stations and use them to pump acids, solvents and similar chemicals and solutions in their semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The lift station controls automatically monitor the lift station tanks. The installed level sensors detect the fluids in the in the tank. When the fluids are detected, the corresponding pump is activated to transfer the liquid from the processing station to the facility's neutralization area. Incorporating the lift pumps in the processing stations is an efficient and compact solution for new installations.

The complete article “Why Chemical Lift Station Pumps Are Needed for Wet Bench Stations” explains more details on the use of this equipment.  If you have questions or would like a free consultation please call Modutek at 866-803-1533 or email Modutek@modutek.com.

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.