Applications
Overview
Since 1993 I am working on wet chemical processes for cleaning, etching, stripping, polymer removal and plating in FEOL, BEOL, Advanced Packaging, MEMS and Solar Fabs. I have been involved in many projects with the most relevant chip manufacturers in Europe and Asia where I have installed, qualified and developed the listed applications below.
These processes may be used in batch tools and single-wafer systems. The most common methods are dipping and spraying, but other techniques can also be used (high-pressure jets, aerosols, steam jets, megasonic, ect.).
Cleaning
FEOL cleans
- Spin Rinse Dry (SRD) with DI and hot N2
- Dry Surface Tension (STD) with DI and IPA
- Standard cleans with HF, Piranha, SC1, SC2, and any combinations thereof
- Cleans with DI and ozone (HydrOzoneTM, FlurOzoneTM, SicOzoneTM) and variants thereof
- All possible combinations of the above processes
BEOL cleans
- Solvent based processes for polymer removal and cleaning of trenches and vias
- NMP alternatives
- dSP, dSP + and variants
- Ozone-based cleaning
- Pre-Plating cleans for TSV- and Advanced Packaging
Etching
- Oxide etching with BOE or HF
- HF vapor etching
- Selective ONO process with EG/HF
- Metal etching (Al, AlSi, AlSiCu, Cu, Ti, Cr, TiW, TiN, W, Au, Pt, ...)
- UBM etching
- Si-freckle etching after AlSi and AlSiCu etch steps
- Etching of the wafer edge (Bevel Edge Clean)
- Si etch (acidic and basic)
- electrochemical etching to form porous silicon
- Si polishing with HF vapor and ozone
Resist stripping
FEOL (Front End of Line) process for resist stripping
- Piranha process with Caro's acid
- DI/O3-based processes
BEOL (Back End of Line) process for resist stripping
- Solvent processes
- DI/O3-based processes
- Metal Lift-off
Plating
Electrochemical plating (ECD)
- Cu-plating
- Au-plating
- Ni-plating
- Pt-plating
Electroless deposition (eless plating)
- eless Ni on Cu and Al
- eless Pd
- eless Au