As the geometries of semiconductors shrink the sensitivity to metal contamination becomes more apparent. This makes the ability to detect a broad range of metals at levels form 10⁸ to 10⁹ at/cm² very important. The advent of Copper processing in many cleanrooms also raises the concern of cross-contamination and highlights the need for a fast, sensitive, and easy to use detection tool. The use of a TXRF machine in the silicon wafer fabrication area provides the ability to measure metals at levels ranging from 5E11 to 1E9 at/cm² without multiple processing steps.

Date Published: 27 April 1999
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 3743, In-Line Characterization, Yield Reliability, and Failure Analyses in Microelectronic Manufacturing, (27 April 1999); doi: 10.1117/12.346909

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3743:
In-Line Characterization, Yield Reliability, and Failure Analyses in Microelectronic Manufacturing
Kostas Amberiadis; Gudrun Kissinger; Katsuya Okumura; Seshu Pabbisetty; Larg H. Weiland, Editor(s)