Use of chemical mechanical polishing and/or poly-vinyl-acetate scrubbing to restore quality of used semiconductor wafers
OwnerShinhwa Liinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for restoring a used semiconductor substrate or wafer, the method comprising using a PVA scrubbing means to remove particles or residues on the surface of the substrate or wafer such that the substrate or wafer may return to their respective virgin state for reuse, the method may further comprising a procedure of acid stripping for removing deposits on the surface of the substrate or wafer before the procedure of scrubbing, or a procedure of CMP for polishing the substrate or wafer before the procedure of scrubbing, or a procedure of cleaning the substrate or wafer after the procedure of scrubbing.
Claims17
A method for restoring a previously processed semiconductor substrate to an original-like condition suitable for reuse in testing or production purposes, said restoring method comprising a scrubbing procedure which comprises:
- a. positioning the substrate on a first support means;
- b. rotating the first support means at a first speed;
- c. placing a first basic or acidic chemical solution onto a first surface of the substrate;
- d. pressing a brush against the first surface of the substrate at approximately 5-30 psi, the brush being made of a material adapted to generate a repulsive electrical potential between particles or residues on the substrate and the substrate itself;
- and
- e. scrubbing the surface of the semiconductor substrate by rotating the brush at a second speed, said scrubbing of the substrate removing the particles or residues on the surface of the substrate thereby rendering the substrate to the original-like condition suitable for reuse.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.