Improving Wafer Quality In Semiconductor Manufacturing

Semiconductors play an essential part in the electronics industry and act as the brains in the majority of processing, computing and control applications in a wide range of consumer and industrial markets. An increased demand for smart devices has led to an increased demand in semiconductor chips. As a result, manufacturing companies are faced with pressure to increase production volume and reduce downtime, all without impacting product quality and reliability. This task becomes even more difficult as the complexity of semiconductor manufacturing increases.

The sensitive nature of semiconductor processing requires complete control over operating conditions such as temperature and humidity, and careful management of automated processes including cutting, washing, etching, drying, and assembly. Instrumentation for semiconductor processing equipment provides a solution for better control of these and other automated processes, as well as the environment where the semiconductors are produced. Choosing the right type of measurement instrument is important in order to reach the best measurement results. Calibration should also be carried out regularly, and to traceable standards. Humidity, temperature, particles and pressure are often controlled, as these parameters can have serious effects on product quality and production efficiency.

Benefits Of Using Instrumentation For Semiconductor Processing Equipment

Streamlined Production

Improved Yield and Reliability

Reduced Design and Manufacturing Errors

Decreased Equipment and Process Downtime

Improved Workplace Safety

Why Choose Dpstar

Dpstar is a deep expert of the semiconductor industry and a trusted partner for our customers. We have a thorough, inside-out understanding of the business by providing you products to different critical semiconductor processes from chemicals and process quality monitoring to ambient air monitoring. Dpstar is committed to supporting products throughout the entire lifecycle, and superior services and support is offered locally near you.

Quality Improvement

We are committed to working alongside customers on problem-solving initiatives in areas ranging from data collection to real-time monitoring and cause analysis.

Support

We are supportive, providing applications expertise, custom configurations, service, and assistance in selecting semiconductor products.

Reliability

Dpstars’ products are engineered with the highest quality, high-performance, and patented sensor designs to deliver decades of accurate, repeatable measurement and control, especially when interacting with exotic process gases.

Energy Conservation

We provide energy-saving solutions, including visualization of the energy used by facility equipment and the optimization of compressor and pump control. We also provide energy-saving services on a more basic level, such as detecting the leakage of compressed air and other gas.

Operation Management

We raise the value of manufacturing operations and contribute to society using measurement, control, and information technology to optimize the relationships between the five assets (raw materials, energy, equipment, products, and workers) that are basic to all manufacturing sites.

Precision

Dpstar offers customers the most appropriate, application-specific level of accuracy, durability, and most importantly, repeatability in the semiconductor Instrumentation Solutions we offer to help manage skyrocketing instrument costs. We constantly invest to improve our portfolio, so each device contributes to improved process control, which ultimately translates into productivity and yield.

Types Of Semiconductor Environments

Whether you are working in design or quality in a Semiconductor application, you need a partner who understands your challenges and knows how to help you achieve your goals. Dpstar supports customers within a variety of Semiconductor environments and applications. Our customers in the semiconductor industry are usually looking for environmental control in one of these areas:

01 Critical Tolerances

Most of our customers working with environmental control in a semiconductor environment require material stability and measurement accuracy that comes from semiconductor temperature control. Whether you work in lithography, photomask repair, or another area of interferometry, we design to meet your system goals. Our temperature control systems have been as precise as ±0.02°C and ensure no excess heat affects your processes or systems.

02 Dry / Trace Moisture

Sometimes semiconductor processes require a trace moisture environment to maintain material properties essential in precision bonding, such as in multi-wafer stacking in a non-vacuum environment. Dpstar can help you sustain the low-humidity environment you need to meet your process parameters.

03 Wet / Near Saturation

Some of our customers work in semiconductor environments that require very high humidity to maintain material properties and to prevent residual buildup. Having a partner experienced with maintaining the near-saturation environments that can exist in semiconductor applications from electrospinning to chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) can help you achieve your design goals faster and with greater confidence.

The Effect Of Temperature, Humidity & Pressure On Semiconductors

Controlling temperature, humidity and pressure is crucial to the longevity and performance of semiconductors. Semiconductors are often fragile and operations can be impacted by minute temperature fluctuations or mild contaminants such as dust or dirt.

Temperature

Semiconductors have a negative temperature coefficient for resistance—this means that conductance increases and resistance decreases when heated. Heat applied to semiconductor material causes the separation of the outermost electrons from the atomic nucleus of the material compounds due to an increase in energy. These free electrons become conductive. As the number of free electrons increases, there will be an associated drop in resistance. Maintaining temperatures within a specific range is necessary to facilitate the proper function of electronic devices that operate using semiconductors. Tightly regulated temperature control is even more critical in semiconductor manufacturing.

Humidity

The presence of excessive humidity/moisture causes corrosion of ‘circuit points’, condensation on a microchip’s circuit surface and improper adhesion of photoresists, causing operational failure of the semiconductor assembly process. What can happen when RH is too high? As an example, in the photolithographic area, there is a risk of degradation, as photoresist processes have very tight parameters and are highly sensitivity to humidity. When RH is too high, the risk of particle adhesion to substances such as silicon increases. The ability to manage resist stability, adhesion and dimensional precision can be more challenging. Photoresist viscosity can quickly decrease with higher RH, affecting the thickness of the resist film using a fixed coating recipe. Metals can corrode, including equipment, and condensation and water absorption issues can arise when RH is too high. It can intensify water absorption, increasing resist swelling after a bake cycle. When developer solvents are sprayed onto a wafer surface, the solvents evaporate quickly, cooling the wafer enough to condense moisture from the air, potentially causing a change in the developer characteristics and absorption onto the semiconductor wafers. Higher RH levels can foster the growth of various biological contaminants. Bacteria, viruses, mold can spread and multiply when relative humidity is greater than 60 percent. When RH is too low, the build-up of static electrical charge and the consequent discharges can be detrimental to semiconductor environments.

Pressure

When considering dewpoint measurement, a change in pressure also changes the dewpoint. The increase in overall pressure also increases water vapor pressure. As a result, since water vapor pressure is directly related to dewpoint, the dewpoint increases (becomes wetter) as the overall pressure increases. Similarly, the dewpoint decreases as the overall pressure declines (becomes drier). Given a gas mixture that is composed of several pure gas components, the pressure of the gas is the sum of the partial pressures of the component gases. At any given temperature there is an upper limit as to how much water vapor a gas can contain, called the saturation vapor pressure (SVP).

Our Products Solutions

Wafer manufacture requires a highly controlled environment and precise data on the manufacturing environment. These essential elements enable both high accuracy and high speed of the circuit pattern exposure on the wafer surface. Vaisala sensor technology is designed for precisely these kinds of demanding conditions – BAROCAP®, HUMICAP®, and DRYCAP® sensor technologies ensure superior accuracy, long-term stability, and rapid response time. Furthermore, Dpstar has been serving the semiconductor market and this specific industry for more than 30 years, developing an offering that meets the industry’s exacting needs.

Combined Pressure, Humidity & Temperature Transmitter PTU300

Series Humidity & Temperature Meter HMT330

Dew Point & Temperature Meter DMT340 Series

Humidity & Temperature Transmitters HMT120/130

Handheld Humidity & Temperature Meter HM70

Humidity & Temperature Transmitter HMT310 Series

Handheld Dewpoint Meter DM70

Miniature Dew Point Transmitters DMT143

Humidity & Temperature Probe HMP60

Humidity And Temperature Probe HMP110

Instrumentation Startup, Calibration & Service

Proper installation and regular calibration are essential for maintaining the operation of your semiconductor manufacturing equipment. We provide startup services and programming for new instrumentation, as well as onsite calibration and service for existing equipment. Our goal is to help you get the best results and the best performance from your control and monitoring equipment.

Get In Touch With Our Experts Today!

Dpstar Group
No 35, Jalan OP ½, Pusat Perdagangan One Puchong,
Off Jalan Puchong, 47160 Puchong,
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
Email: [email protected]