US 2003/0116176 A1 · Supercritical fluid processes with megasonics

Abstract

An apparatus and process for cleaning residual matter, photoresist and other foreign materials off wafers, substrates and semiconductor work pieces including photomasks, compact discs, flat panel displays using megasonic acoustic wave action techniques in conjunction with supercritical fluid cleaning processes, and in particular, for coupling megasonics techniques with supercritical carbon dioxide processing with co-solvents and surfactants, using cycles of soak, rapid decompression and flushing, to improve cleaning capability and to remove submicron particles from the surfaces of wafers.

Claims32

Dependent claims

A process for cleaning semiconductor wafers comprising the steps of:

soaking a wafer in a supercritical phase cleaning fluid mixture at an elevated pressure,
applying a megasonic acoustical wave action to the cleaning fluid mixture,
rapidly reducing the elevated pressure to a substantially lower pressure, and
flowing a supercritical flushing fluid across the wafer.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Supercritical fluid processes with megasonics

Life of this patent

Supercritical fluid processes with megasonics

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims32