Principle #7 – Nesting dolls – place one object inside another.
The idea that is generated from this principle is as follows.
Why do we use only one single nozzle? Why not shower? The shower has several halls – a lot of nozzles. More than that, we can make halls with different diameters in the center and in the periphery of the shower to ensure equal coverage of the disc with the chemistry.
So, the idea is to replace the single nozzle with the shower
Principle #13 – The other way around – Turn the object “upside-down”
This is a great tip. Indeed, why the disk is kept “face-up” during the washing process?
It would be much better to keep the disc “face down” to improve the removal of the defects from the surface.
So, the idea is to keep the wafer “face down” during the washing process
Principle #15 – Dynamism – change an object from rigid to movable or adaptive
The idea that is generated is as follows:
Replace the constant flow of the chemistry with variable flow, especially in the and of the process, to ensure defects removal from the disc.
So, the idea is to change (even make pulses) flow while the cleaning process.
Principle #16 – Partial or accessive action – do slightly more or slightly less
If 100 percent of an object is hard to achieve using a given solution method then, by using 'slightly less' or 'slightly more' of the same method, the problem may be considerably easier to solve.
A wafer is not contaminated equally: there are some areas with more defects and some areas with fewer amount of defects
The idea is to use the shower with a graduated flow - the more the defects the higher the flow
The general conclusion is to eliminate the system of the air supply and exhaust. Let air enter the chamber and convert exhaust to drain with very little under-pressure. The will stabilize the performance, reduce the cost and make the system more simple.
Improve the process to enhance the effectiveness of the cleaning with the chemistry
Improve the rinsing process to ensure the defects removal
Try to eliminate the wasting. Do we really need this?
To increase the density of the chemistry by temperature reduction
Prevent evaporation of the chemistry from the wafer
Increase the pressure in the chamber
The wafer is contaminated not equally. Use special cleaning on the areas that are more contaminated
מערכת כיווון אוטמיטת למסוע
לטבול את הצלחת במים במקום לשטוף אותה בכל פעם
Increase the temperature of the solution to make the process more effective
Define the more contaminated areas and spend more time/chemical to clean the specific areas
This project applies Functional Modeling to analyze the single-wafer wet etch process in semiconductor manufacturing. The model shows that wet etch defects are not caused only by chemistry, but also by interactions between the wafer, liquid flow, air, rotation, rinsing, drying, drain, and chamber environment. Key challenges include incomplete wetting, trapped air or bubbles, residue and particle redeposition, evaporation-driven watermarks, and contamination during rinse or drying. The project identifies improvement directions such as better wafer pre-wetting, controlled airflow, reduced evaporation, optimized rinse and drying conditions, and alternative chamber concepts such as face-down processing in a shallow liquid bath.
The process is related to microelectronics - microchip manufacturing. The purpose of the process is to create a SiO2 layer on the surface of a Si wafer. Equipment: Vertical furnace to heat the wafers in the Q2 atmosphere and perform oxidation on the wafer surface. Process: The oxidation occurs on the front side and on the back side of the wafer Requirements: Create a SiO2 thin layer with a certain thickness and low sigma - low standard deviation of the thickness between the wafers and within the wafer Failure: Wafers from the lower zone have higher thickness and significantly higher within wafer sigma (standard deviation of the thickness within the wafer)
This project investigates particle-defect formation during SiO₂ dry etch. Functional modeling revealed that defects can be generated by two coupled mechanisms: chemical formation of SiO₂/SiOFₓ particles from SiF₄ interaction with moisture, and mechanical generation of particles by excessive ion bombardment and sputtering. The proposed improvement direction is to balance chemical etching and ion-assisted etching by properly adjusting the source and bias generators, reducing moisture, improving by-product evacuation, minimizing sputtering, and using pulsed or multi-step process recipes. The goal is to reduce particles and micromasking while maintaining etch rate, profile control, and process stability.