Method and apparatus for detecting contaminating species on a wafer edge
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorYing-Chuan Lin
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Abstract
A method and an apparatus for detecting contaminating species such as metal particles on a wafer edge from a semiconductor fabrication process are disclosed. In the method, a wafer is suspended and rotated in a container with a volume of solvent at a bottom portion of the container such that only an edge portion of the wafer is exposed to the solvent. After the wafer is turned in the solvent such that the entire edge portion of the wafer has been exposed to the solvent, the solvent may be removed for analyzing in an electronic instrument for detecting the species of contaminating particles. The apparatus further includes a wafer mounting device for supporting the wafer which can be adjusted in height to suit wafers of different diameters.
Claims20
A method for detecting contaminating species on a wafer edge comprising the steps of:
- providing a wafer having contaminating species on an edge portion;
- providing a container having a cavity therein for holding a volume of a solvent;
- exposing said edge portion of the wafer to said volume of solvent;
- and
- analyzing said volume of solvent and determining said contaminating species.
An apparatus for collecting contaminating species from a wafer edge comprising:
- a container having a cavity therein for holding a volume of a solvent;
- and
- a wafer mounting device for supporting a wafer over said container such that only a predetermined edge portion is exposed to said volume of solvent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.