Surface Deposition of Ionic Contaminants on Silicon Wafers in a Cleanroom Environment

Abstract

The adsorption and desorption behaviors of ionic micro-contaminants on the silicon wafers in a cleanroom environment were investigated in this study. The experimental measurements showed that the surface density of ionic contaminants was significantly affected by both the exposure time and the properties of contaminants. The rate parameters of a kinetic model for surface deposition were determined by numerical optimization of fitting the experimental data on surface and ambient concentrations of airborne molecular contaminants (AMCs). Subsequently, the time-dependent deposition velocity and sticking coefficient of ionic species were obtained. The results showed that F(-), Cl(-), NO(3)(-), SO(4)(2-), Na(+), NH(4)(+), K(+), and Mg(2+) were the major ionic microcontamination species on the wafer surfaces, with the adsorption rate constant and the sticking coefficient of K(+) ion being larger than those of other ionic contaminants. After the determination of sticking coefficients, the allowable wafer exposure durations and the maximum ambient concentrations of ionic species were exemplified based on the guideline recommended by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS).