entire supply chain for the newer chemicals
now needed must be upgraded to be capable
of providing the highest purity required.
Conclusion
The level of contamination control that has
been achieved by the semiconductor industry
holds many lessons for improvements that
can be implemented to increase yield and
reliability for both the photovoltaic and LED
industries. These practices for supplying the
most critical process steps with sub-ppb
chemicals and materials are ready as “
off-the-shelf” solutions when the form factor is wafer-based. The practices will not be viable with the
tool sets that use large rectangular substrates
as used in the thin film solar PV industry.
The semiconductor industry will continue
to introduce higher level purity methods
as devices continue to evolve. Current generations already require production lines to
deliver sub-ppb gases in epi processes, as
described here, and also in lithography and
mask and wafer storage operations. Going
forward, front-end-of-line chemical vapor
deposition (FEoL CVD) process steps other
than epi deposition will move to the use of
sub-ppb gases and other high purity practices
as the device nodes move below 22nm. G& I
References
1. Gas purification in the sense that the gas is
passing through a gas purifier in the deliv-
ery line on its way to the process chamber.
AllAn Wiesnoski IS TECHCET DIRECTOR
OF MARKETING. ALLAN HAS OVER
25 YEARS OF
EXPERIENCE IN THE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY, BOTH
IN DEVICE MANUFACTURING AND CAPITAL EQUIPMENT
DEVELOPMENT. HE HOLDS A BS DEGREE IN CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT
SAN DIEGO. HE CAN BE CONTACTED AT AWIESNOSKI@
TECHCET.COM
litA shon-Roy’s EXPERIENCE IN THE
ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY SPANS FROM MARKETING AND
SALES OF SEMICONDUCTOR CHIPS, EQUIPMENT AND
PROCESS MATERIALS TO PROCESS ENGINEERING OF TFT
DISPLAYS. LI TA HOLDS A MASTERS DEGREE IN ELEC TRICAL
ENGINEERING FROM USC, A BACHELOR’S DEGREE IN
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING FROM UC SAN DIEGO AND IS
WORKING TO WARD COMPLETION OF HER MBA. SHE CAN
BE CONTACTED AT 925-413-9373 OR LSHONROY@
TECHCET.COM.
stenio PeReiRA IS THE SENIOR PRODUCT
MARKE TING MANAGER FOR EN TEGRIS RESPONSIBLE FOR
THE GATEKEEPER GAS PURIFIER PRODUC T LINE. HE CAN
BE REACHED AT
STENIO_PEREIRA@ENTEGRIS.COM
Jeff heRmAnn IS THE PRODUCT MARKETING
MANAGER FOR ENTEGRIS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE AERONEX
GAS PURIFICATION SYSTEMS PRODUCT LINE. HE CAN BE
REACHED AT
JEFF_HERMANN@ENTEGRIS.COM
