Method of and system for cleaning a semiconductor wafer simultaneously using electrolytically ionized water and diluted hydrofluoric acid
First Claim
1. A method of cleaning a semiconductor wafer, comprising steps of:
- providing an electrolyzer that includes an anode, a cathode, an intermediate cell located between the anode and the cathode, at least one ionizing cell disposed adjacent the intermediate cell and containing a respective one of said anode and said cathode, and a respective ion exchange membrane partitioning each said at least one ionizing cell from the intermediate cell;
supplying deionized water into the at least one ionizing cell of the electrolyzer;
performing electrolysis of an electrolytic aqueous solution in the intermediate cell while the deionized water is in said at least one ionizing cell, to produce electrolytically ionized water in the at least one ionizing cell; and
supplying the ionized water and a sloution of diluted hydrofluoric acid (HF) at the same time onto the surface of the semiconductor wafer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The surface of a semiconductor wafer is cleaned simultaneously using diluted hydrofluoric acid and electrolytic ionized water. The electrolytic ionized water is produced using an electrolyte supplied into an intermediate cell of a 3-cell electrolyzer. The 3-cell electrolyzer has an anode cell, the intermediate cell, and a cathode cell partitioned from one another by ion exchange membranes. After deionized water is supplied into the anode cell and the cathode cell and the intermediate cell is filled with an electrolytic aqueous solution, electrolysis is carried out to produce electrolytic ionized water. The electrolytic ionized water and the hydrofluoric acid solution are then supplied to one or more semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus. The simultaneous use of the electrolytic ionized water and the diluted hydrofluoric acid offers an improvement in removing contaminants from the surface of the wafer without damaging an insulating layer or a metal layer exposed at the surface of the semiconductor wafer.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method of cleaning a semiconductor wafer, comprising steps of:
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providing an electrolyzer that includes an anode, a cathode, an intermediate cell located between the anode and the cathode, at least one ionizing cell disposed adjacent the intermediate cell and containing a respective one of said anode and said cathode, and a respective ion exchange membrane partitioning each said at least one ionizing cell from the intermediate cell;
supplying deionized water into the at least one ionizing cell of the electrolyzer;
performing electrolysis of an electrolytic aqueous solution in the intermediate cell while the deionized water is in said at least one ionizing cell, to produce electrolytically ionized water in the at least one ionizing cell; and
supplying the ionized water and a sloution of diluted hydrofluoric acid (HF) at the same time onto the surface of the semiconductor wafer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of processing a semiconductor wafer in the manufacturing of a semiconductor device, comprising steps of :
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performing a chemical mechanical polishing process on a semiconductor wafer having a metal layer on a low-k dielectric layer, whose dielectric constant is smaller than that of silicon dioxide, wherein the dielectric layer is exposed and impurities as the result of the process are produced on the surface of the semiconductor wafer; and
subsequently cleaning the surface of the semiconductor wafer, to remove the impurities produced by the chemical mechanical polishing process, by simultaneously supplying electrolytic ionized water and a solution of diluted hydrofluoric acid (HF) onto the polished surface of the wafer. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A cleaning system for use in cleaning the surface of a semiconductor wafer, said cleaning system comprising:
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a 3-cell electrolyzer including an anode cell containing an anode, a cathode cell containing a cathode, an intermediate cell interposed between said anode cell and said cathode cell, and ion exchange membranes partitioning said intermediate cell from said anode cell and said cathode cell, respectively;
at least one semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus for use in cleaning semiconductor wafers;
a source of a solution of diluted hydrofluoric acid, and at least one HF solution inlet line connecting said source of the solution of diluted hydrofluoric acid to said at least one semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus; and
ionized water oulet lines connecting said anode cell and said cathode cell to said at least one semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus, whereby the hydrofluoric acid solution and electrolytically ionized water from said 3-cell electrolyzer can be supplied to said at least one semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification