Papers presented during recent ECS Semiconductor Cleaning symposium in Vienna (see previous entry), as well as other current semiconductor cleaning related publications identify numerous challenges this important part of semiconductor manufacturing process is facing.
For instance, as vertical dimensions of the device continue to shrink, the material losses and surface roughening during cleaning operations have become a real problem in surface preparation technology. The process of particle removal without material loss and pattern damage must involve serious tradeoffs. Physical aids such as megasonic agitation, potentially a key problem in terms of structural damage, is being re-engineered so that efficiency of the particle removal process will be maintained without pattern damage
Considering the fact that an atomic scale deterioration of surface morphology may have a "killer" effect on device performance, even seemingly the most benign elements of the cleaning sequence, such as DI water rinse, must be re-evaluated from this point of view.
