Post etch wafer surface cleaning with liquid meniscus

Abstract

A method for cleaning the surface of a semiconductor wafer is disclosed. A first cleaning solution is applied to the wafer surface to remove contaminants on the wafer surface. The first cleaning solution is removed with some of the contaminants on the wafer surface. Next, an oxidizer solution is applied to the wafer surface. The oxidizer solution forms an oxidized layer on remaining contaminants. The oxidizer solution is removed and then a second cleaning solution is applied to the wafer surface. The second cleaning solution is removed from the wafer surface. The cleaning solution is configured to substantially remove the oxidized layer along with the remaining contaminants.

Description

Background technique [0001] Semiconductor chip processing is a complex process involving a series of coordinated precise operations. It is well known that during the various steps of these operations described, the surface of a semiconductor base layer (such as a semiconductor wafer) is formed containing particles, organic materials, metal impurities (such as copper, aluminum, titanium, tungsten, etc.) and intrinsic oxides (such as dioxide Silicon) residual layer contamination. [0002] An example of wafer contamination as a result of the manufacturing process can be seen in FIG. 1A , which shows a plasma etch process applied to a semiconductor wafer 100 . The semiconductor wafer 100 is located in the plasma etching chamber. The surface of the semiconductor wafer 100 is covered with a photoresist material 104 to prevent areas of the wafer surface from being etched. Etching is a well-known method used to remove material from the surface of a wafer to produce fine patterns co...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, the amount of contaminants remaining on the wafer surface remains unacceptably high unless long processing times are provided for cleaning the wafer surface

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