SBIR Phase II: Environmentally Benign, High-Pressure Plasma Cleaning Tool for Photoresists

SBIR 第二阶段：环保型光刻胶高压等离子清洗工具

• 批准号: 0239331
• 负责人: Steven Babayan
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: Surfx Technologies LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-02-01 至 2005-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0239331&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; Environmentally; Benign

This SBIR Phase II project focuses on the development of a cleaning tool for the removal of tenacious organic residues from 200 mm wafers. These residues arise from ion bombardment of the photoresist films during processing. Organic residue removal encompasses approximately half of the cleaning operations in a semiconductor manufacturing plant. Surfx Technologies has developed a novel high-pressure plasma cleaning process that uses environmentally benign reagents and generates minimal waste. Results from Phase I indicate that ion-implanted resists may be stripped away in 5 min at 125 C, without any film popping and particle contamination as is normally observed during dry processing. The Phase II project will thoroughly research and optimize the process chemistry. In addition, a prototype cleaning system will be developed that meets all the technical criteria established by the semiconductor industry for organic cleaning operations. This SBIR Phase II project has broad commercial and societal impact. Semiconductor equipment devoted to organic residue cleaning represents a mult-ibillion dollar market. If our environmentally benign, high-pressure plasma cleaning tool can achieve all the technical objectives outlined in the proposal than it stands a good chance of garnering a significant share of this market. Moreover, it will replace current water-wasteful and hazardous wet cleans with an innovative process that uses non-toxic reagents and generates minimal waste. This will substantially benefit our society by mitigating the environmental, health and safety impacts of semiconductor manufacturing.

SBIR第二阶段项目的重点是开发一种清洁工具，用于去除200 mm晶圆上的顽固有机残留物。这些残留物是在处理过程中由光致抗蚀剂膜的离子轰击产生的。在半导体制造厂中，有机残留物的去除约占清洗操作的一半。 Surfx Technologies开发了一种新型的高压等离子体清洗工艺，该工艺使用环保试剂，产生的废物最少。来自阶段I的结果表明，离子注入的抗蚀剂可以在125 ℃下在5分钟内剥离，而没有任何膜爆裂和颗粒污染，如在干法处理期间通常观察到的。第二阶段项目将彻底研究和优化工艺化学。此外，还将开发一个原型清洁系统，该系统符合半导体行业为有机清洁操作制定的所有技术标准。该SBIR二期项目具有广泛的商业和社会影响。用于有机残留物清洗的半导体设备代表了数十亿美元的市场。如果我们的环保型高压等离子体清洗工具能够实现提案中概述的所有技术目标，那么它很有可能在这个市场中占据重要份额。 此外，它将取代目前浪费水和危险的湿清洗与创新的过程，使用无毒试剂，产生最少的废物。这将通过减轻半导体制造对环境、健康和安全的影响，使我们的社会受益匪浅。