Substrate Cleaning Gas Cluster Irradiation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current techniques for removing particles from substrates in semiconductor manufacturing using gas clusters face challenges such as low particle removal rates, especially in pattern recesses, and potential substrate damage due to varying particle diameters and kinetic energy requirements.
Innovation Solution
A substrate cleaning method and device that acquires particle diameter information and adjusts gas cluster size and kinetic energy to match particle sizes, using adiabatic expansion to generate gas clusters, which are then irradiated perpendicularly to the substrate surface, optimizing particle removal rates while minimizing substrate damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If gas clusters are obliquely irradiated to the substrate to remove particles, then the cleaning process can be performed, but the pattern on the substrate surface acts as a structure that disturbs the gas clusters, making it difficult for them to reach particles in recess areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional oblique irradiation approach and uses perpendicular irradiation of gas clusters to the substrate surface. This inversion allows gas clusters to directly reach particles in recess areas without being disturbed by pattern structures, significantly improving cleaning effectiveness in previously difficult-to-reach areas while maintaining high particle removal rates
2Productivity
If the acceleration voltage of gas clusters is increased to increase kinetic energy for low particle removal rate, then the particle removal rate increases, but the surface of the substrate may be damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the irradiation angle parameter from oblique to perpendicular, which fundamentally alters the interaction mechanism between gas clusters and substrate. This parameter change enables effective particle removal without requiring excessive kinetic energy, thereby preventing substrate surface damage while maintaining high cleaning efficiency
3Device complexity
If the same gas cluster nozzle is used for removing particles of different diameters, then the device complexity is reduced, but the particle removal rate varies significantly with particle diameter
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamic control of gas cluster parameters (such as cluster size and kinetic energy) based on detected particle diameter. This dynamic adjustment allows a single nozzle to effectively remove particles of varying diameters by optimizing gas cluster properties for each particle size, maintaining consistent removal rates without increasing device complexity
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables high particle removal rates even in recessed areas without damaging the substrate, by ensuring gas clusters are sized appropriately for the particles, thus improving cleaning efficiency and reliability.
Implementation Method 1
ejecting the cleaning gas, at a higher pressure than a processing atmosphere where the substrate is provided, to the processing atmosphere and generating the gas clusters by adiabatic expansion
Data Source
AI summary
A substrate cleaning method for removing particles adhered to a substrate includes: acquiring particle information including diameters of the particles adhered to the substrate; controlling, based on the acquired particle information, a factor related to sizes of gas clusters having aggregates of atoms or molecules of a cleaning gas; ejecting the cleaning gas, at a higher pressure than a processing atmosphere where the substrate is provided, to the processing atmosphere and generating the gas clusters by adiabatic expansion; and removing the particles by irradiating the gas clusters in a perpendicular direction to a surface of the substrate. As a result, even if recesses for a circuit pattern are formed on the surface of the substrate, the particles in the recesses can be removed at a high removal rate.