How Chemical Delivery Systems Are Customized for Specific Applications

Many industrial plants, factories, and research centers use chemicals in their operations and need systems that can handle and distribute them safely and effectively. Chemical delivery systems need to store chemicals, delivery them to the point of use and also provide control for safe disposal. Depending on the specific application, they may also require features such as chemical mixing and a certain degree of automation.

A chemical delivery system must be reliable, accurate, efficient, safe, reduce chemical waste and provide process repeatability. By incorporating all these factors, the design of a chemical delivery system will have a high degree of customization with many system components and functions.

The volume of chemicals influences the design of the system. For spiking, delivering precise dosages is critical while for bulk chemical use receiving and storage are important. Depending on the volume, a system must be customized to accommodate the volume of required chemicals.

Controls are also customized depending on how chemicals are used. Mixing and blending several chemicals, as well as their level of toxicity and aggressiveness, require a certain amount of software control and a relatively complicated system. Since each chemical delivery system has unique requirements for functions such as mixing, acidity, etching capability and disposal, customized controls are required to achieve these tasks.

Facility layout is another factor that influences the system's design. An ideal layout should be a small storage container near the process where the chemical is being used, although there are other systems wherein the chemical is stored away from the process and pipes are used to dispose the used chemicals. Whatever the case, the physical details of the system must be adjusted for the site layout and site-specific operations.

Read our complete article “How Chemical Delivery Systems Are Customized for Specific Applications” to learn more. Contact Modutek at 866-803-1533 or email to modutek@modutek.com for a free quote or consultation about your requirements.

Improving Silicon Wafer Cleaning with the Piranha Etch Process

The Piranha etch process removes organic material from silicon wafers rapidly and thoroughly and is typically used in the silicon wafer cleaning process.

The Piranha process involves using an aggressive mixture of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide to dissolve organic residue on silicon wafers. To improve the strip speed, the temperature of the mixture is increased up to 130 degrees centigrade. Control of the mixing is difficult as the mixture of these two chemicals is exothermic and heats up the solution. As the temperature cools, it has to be heated again to maintain temperature and strip rate.

Modutek can provide high-temperature re-circulating and constant temperature quartz baths and has introduced a new “bleed and feed” program to improve the control of the Piranha process. It uses a two-tank system with a clean and dirty tank. Once the concentration of the hydrogen peroxide goes down, a small amount of mixture from the dirty tank is drained and discarded. The drained amount is replaced from the clean tank. The stripping process and the concentration are maintained at a desired level, and the clean tank has the sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide replenished.

The “bleed and feed” control method can save up to 75% of chemical usage and disposal costs are correspondingly lower. It also improves process efficiency with less downtime, and the strip rate is kept constant which leads to improved process results. Modutek is a leading semiconductor equipment manufacturer that provides customers with high-quality silicon wafer cleaning equipment that offers the highest degree of process control.

For more details read the complete article titled “Improving Silicon Wafer Cleaning with the Piranha Etch Process”. Call Modutek for a free quote or consultation to discuss your specific needs at 866-603-1533 or email modutek@modutek.com.