Functional Modeling of Wet Etch at Semiconductor Manufacturing
Consider alternative chamber/process architecture
A more radical solution is to redesign the process so the wafer is processed face down toward a shallow liquid bath. This could improve wetting, reduce air trapping, and reduce evaporation. A shallow bath may also allow fast replacement of chemistry and rinse water while keeping the wafer continuously covered by liquid.
4
Improve wafer wetting at the beginning of the process
The process should ensure complete replacement of air by liquid. Possible actions include pre-wet steps, lower initial rotation speed, temporary stop of wafer rotation during first dispense, optimized nozzle position, improved dispense profile, and chemical additives that improve wetting.
3
Reduce evaporation of chemistry and DI water
Evaporation can be reduced by controlling chamber atmosphere, humidity, pressure, temperature, exhaust rate, and process timing. The goal is to prevent the liquid film from drying too early and leaving residues or particles behind.
2
Prevent bubble formation and air trapping
The dispense sequence should avoid trapping air between the liquid and the wafer surface. Liquid should contact the wafer smoothly and continuously, especially in patterned areas and high-aspect-ratio features.
1
Control airflow inside the chamber
Airflow should not directly disturb the liquid film on the wafer. Instead of simply increasing airflow, it should be minimized, redirected, or isolated from the wafer surface while still maintaining safe vapor removal.
0
Similar projects
Wet cleaning is widely used in microchip manufacturing. Single wafer equipment is working as follows. A wafer rotates, and chemistry is poured from a movable nozzle. Water rinsing is performed at the end of the process. Loading of a new batch of the chemistry resulted in excursion - a strongly increased amount of defects was observed on the wafer after the processing. The project is dedicated to the failure analysis and creation of innovative solutions.
Flash heating of a wafer is widely used in microchip manufacturing. The purpose of the process is to prevent the diffusion of ions and atoms. During the flash process, a wafer breakage occurs. The project's purpose is to learn and understand the mechanism of the wafer breakage and propose the solutions to prevent the wafer breakage
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)