Clean 3300 Chambers may be sealed or open with make up air from ULPA Filtration and Air Ionizers. Chamber Air Flow is Electronically monitored and may be servo by process step. Single and Double Sided Clean Dispensers, contact and non-contact scrubbers, POU Chemical Blending and more are configured by specific process requirements. The molded chamber provides aggressive gravity drainage with smooth surfaces.

Sealed Solvent Processing Chambers with Programmable Inert Environment to keep moisture out of solvent processing environment. The molded solvent chambers may be configured with multiple, programmable drainage systems. Single and double sided dispensers, contact and non-contact scrubbers, POU solvent heaters, solvent recirculation systems and more are configured by specific process requirements. An in-situ open or closed chemical collection ring may be configured for precise chemical re-circulation enabling in-situ post etch cleaning.

Wet Etch Processing Chambers may be Sealed or Open, with make up air from ULPA Filtration and Air Ionizers. Chamber Air Flow is Electronically monitored and may be servo by process step. Chamber temperature is electronically monitored and may be controlled for etch process conditions. An intetrated color CCD camera utilized SSEC’s WaferChek software provides Adaptive process control for metal and film etching. An in-situ open or closed chemical collection ring may be configured for precise chemical re-circulation enabling in-situ post etch cleaning.

Sealed, Wet Etch Processing Chambers with Programmable Inert Environment, Including Oxygen Analyzer, to provide closed loop recipe control for 0.15% Oxygen Control.  All SSEC’s Dispensers for large wafer processing are configurable in these chambers.

On-the-fly programmable high velocity spraying for single-sided or double-sided scrubbing is an enabling technology for structured wafers.  Fluid droplet size and speed are PC controllable, and utilize conventional semiconductor fluid technology, including fluid and gas filtration.

Patented* single wafer megasonics with DSP power control, including power feedback from the transducer and programmable duty cycle for high power, short duration cycles achieve damage-free cleaning. The unique design, with 40 mm transducer and programmable duty cycle, chemical flow rate, and spindle speed, improves the transport of chemistries or rinse water to the wafer surface and movement of contaminants away from the surface.

New Single Wafer Megasonic Scrubbing with SSEC’s Tri-Sonics Scrubber featuring three multi-angle transducers scrubbers in a single head with DSP control.

*US Patent 6,539,952

Rotary or horizontal PVA brush or bristle brush scrubbing, with through-the-brush chemical dispensing, programmable, closed loop force feedback for PVA brush scrubbing, and automatic height control for bristle brush scrubbing, achieves the most repeatable cleans at lowest consumables cost.

Patented* double-sided PVA brush scrubbing, with through-the-brush dispensing, utilizes the rotation of the brushes to rotate the wafer for higher force and higher speed, three-sided cleaning. Through-the-brush dispensing ensures cleanliness and uniform chemistry distribution. Standard tooling accommodates wafers from 50 mm to 300 mm, with quick, convenient change of wafer sizes.

*US Patent 5,675,856, Reissue Re. 36,767

A batch immersion station complements single wafer processing to give the best of both technologies, speeding subsequent single wafer stripping and reducing the chemistry usage and force of spray processing. Soaking in ambient, heated, fresh, or recirculated solvents, under control of exclusive “Equal Soak Time” and "scheduling" software, optimizes processing and ensures uniform results and maximum chamber usage. The immersion process includes wafer agitation, cascade solvent overflow, and a nitrogen blanket environment, with sealed door, to reduce moisture absorption into solvents for corrosion-free processing and lowest costs.

Solvents are used for photoresist stripping when SPM chemistry is not compatible with the underlying films.  Soft baked positive photoresist is easy to remove, and can usually be dissolved rapidly with a simple solvent in a spin/spray process.  As the photoresist is exposed to hard baking and other processes, it becomes more difficult to remove.  Different chemistries and temperatures are required.  The addition of an immersion step can be beneficial for bulk resist stripping.

SSEC strip processors offer wafer solvent processing with programmable top and bottom side dispenses in a nitrogen-blanketed process module, with separate solvent recirculation and temperature control.  Solvent dispenses include heated, high pressure fan and needle spray, high velocity spray scrubbing, nylon bristle brush scrubbing, and megasonic scrubbing, with complete, programmable surface coverage. 

SSEC combines immersion batch soak and single wafer spray solvent processing in one completely enclosed, fully automatic system.  Applications include metal lift-off, resist stripping, flux removal, and more, for Si wafers and III-V semiconductors including GaAs, InP, GaN, GaP, sapphire, and SiC and glass wafers.

Two Technologies in One Tool
SSEC has combined two process techniques in a single system to provide superior results at the lowest
cost of ownership.

Immersion processing is used with heated solvents for longer cycle time processing, while the single wafer spray process isused as a final processing step. Because each system is a sealed, nitrogen purged system, with separate solvent recirculators, solvent consumption, emissions, and disposal are kept to an absolute minimum.

With high pressure dispensing being critical to obtain optimum process result and yield, SSEC provides
high pressure flow rate control and monitoring, per step, per recipe set point and programmable low and high interlocks.

High pressure scrubbing is extremely effective by combining chemistry with mechanical forces. PC recipe, software selection on the fly of single or double sided scrub, with fan or needle spray, ambient or heated, is provided in each SSEC HPC processor.

SSEC’s unique high pressure flow rate monitoring and control system ensures consistent spray pressure to the wafer surface, regardless of equipment degradation, such as loaded filters, leaky plumbing, or worn nozzle.

Removal of photoresist from wafers employs a point-of-use(POU) mixing nozzle for pre-heated H₂SO₄ and H₂O₂, reaching temperatures as high as 170 °C.

An available O₃/DI water mixing system provides an environment-friendly cleaning medium. A Mykrolis pHasor™ Membrane Contactor, with 100% PFA fluid path, is configured to supply 40 ppm O₃ bubble-free in DI, under standard atmospheric conditions.

The novel chemical collection ring allows in-situ collection and reuse of processing chemistries, enabling reduced consumption of these expensive materials. Independent time control of solution collection ensures the most pure chemistry recirculation. This chemical collection system enables an in-situ, post-etch wafer clean process prior to drying.

When in the closed position, the collection ring is completely sealed, maintaining purity of chemistry, free of cross-contamination.

All drainage is gravity-driven, which, combined with the sealed collection ring, eliminates the need for forced exhaust. It also avoids hygroscopic action which could water-load the chemistries, making them unsuitable for recirculation.

Single wafer wet etching of metals, UBM etch, and RDL etch are performed with single wafer precision and repeatability, typically with uniformity initially below 3% and then optimized to better than 1% both within wafer and wafer to wafer.

In-situ adaptive process control is provided by SSEC’s WaferChek System, which manages the wet etch process through the optical properties of the wafer. 

Wet etching of films is performed with single wafer precision and repeatability, typically with uniformity initially below 3% and then optimized to better than 1% both within wafer and wafer to wafer.

In-situ adaptive process control with SSEC’s WaferChek monitor and full selectivity is provided for active, backside and bevel wet etching.

Spin coating for resists and polyimides, with a
dynamic coater cup with programmable air
flow, nozzle tip cleaning, positive displacement
resist pumps, and a robotic system is entirely
under PC recipe sequence control.

Many parameters are interrelated in the spray coating process.  Droplet size is determined by the operating frequency and the orifice opening.

High viscosity materials require lower frequencies to be atomized, resulting in larger droplet sizes and therefore thicker film deposition.

Larger droplets will results in thicker films in shorter process times.  However the flow properties of the film on the substrate may affect the conformality of the film.  Heating of the substrate may be required for certain applications depending upon the properties of the polymer being deposited.

A unique through-the-chuck backside EBR dispense is provided for square panels or wafers with backside patterns. Cleaning of the sides and back of substrates enables fully automatic hot plate bake processing after coating, with minimal maintenance requirements.

Coating, post exposure baking, solvent developing, and post-clean dehydration systems may be equipped with stackable hot plate bake modules with integrated exhaust and vapor prime capability. Highly uniform heating systems heat by contact or proximity, with temperatures to 150 °C, 250 °C, or 450 °C, depending on application. Optimal control software servoes the hot plate temperature control bandwidth to result in fast response without overshoot.

Aqueous and solvent single wafer developing, with chemical blending and developer recirculation enables precise, repeatable, reliable, and economical developing.

With the enabling combination of stream and spray technology, SSEC processors achieve the most uniform develop processing, both within wafer and wafer to wafer.

SSEC’s multiple process chamber architecture enables high volume wafer production. 

WaferChek in-situ monitoring uses color CCD detection of surface property changes as a measure of process progress and completion, providing more reliable control than timing, thresholding, or rate-of-change determination. It allows automatic adjustment of the process on a wafer-at-a-time basis, improving wafer-to-wafer uniformity while reducing chemistry consumption and disposal. Data for management and process tracking is captured, along with a video file for subsequent process analysis.

Particularly suitable for etching and cleaning, a programmable high flow stream dispense can apply up to 3,000 ml per minute of ambient or heated chemistry. Flow rate, nozzle height, and arm motion profile and speed are fully PC programmable by individual process step. Combination dispense systems with high flow stream and spray dispensing are available as standard.

The chemical blending system allows reduced chemistry usage, consuming only the amount actually needed for each wafer.

Single pass or recirculated chemistry is blended according to recipe under PC control. Chemistry is transported with vacuum and pressure drive, with automatic tank washout and dry between blends.

On-the-fly temperature control on a true, non-batch
basis is achieved through use of programmable heaters.

Fluoropolymer and quartz heaters are provided for acids, bases, and DI water solutions. Solvent heaters have polished stainless steel inside surfaces. Processors also feature fluoropolymer heat exchangers with Thermo Neslab heater/chillers.

Single wafer tooling that supports both thin wafers, to 80 µm, and SEMI standard wafers for wet processing meets the demand for ultra-thin wafers used in advanced device packaging.

This innovative tooling, used in robotics, spindle tools, and immersion, supports and protects the delicate, thin wafers from damage. There is no hardware changeover for handling either thin or SEMI standard wafers.

Process variables are logged on a per wafer basis, with a choice of the variables to track, including temperature, flow, concentrations, spin speeds, WaferChek™, endpoint, etc. The operator also has a choice of when the data is to be tracked.

Spot-free spin drying is the final step in clean wafer production. Spin speed and acceleration/deceleration are PC controlled, with the rotation profile fully optimized.

Additional drying capabilities complement the rotation with 0.003 µm filtered nitrogen assist or DI:IPA:HF as your application requires.

Treatment with 172 nm USHIO Excimer light dry clean cycle improves subsequent wet processing steps. The pre-treatment conditions the surface for better wetting action, and generates free oxygen and ozone that transform organics to volatile oxides. The illumination also improves hydrophilic properties.

With the SQL data front end, users have the capability for real-time monitoring of all equipment variables, either from the system computer or remotely. Data and events are stored locally on the tool in a standard SQL database.

Wafer history is available, logged at 1-second intervals. Access is provided for single or multiple tools. Historic mode allows re-creation of system state and correlation with wafer events.

Handlers accept wafers in safe, horizontal orientation, positioned for input/output access. This approach reduces the risk of damage and operator strain, a part of SEMI S2-0706E Safety SEMI S8-0705 Ergonomics compliance.

A fully integrated system handles FOUPs, including Asyst and Brooks, and SMIFs with smart tags, in compliance with SEMI E-15. SSEC's SECS-II/GEM software provides full management capability, including E-87 Carrier Management, E-94 Control Job Management, E-40 Process Job Management, and E-90 Substrate Tracking.

A fully vacuum - and pressure-driven chemistry management system controls all flows, without the potential for contamination in a system with moving parts.

Programmable chemical blending and dilution, with supplies from concentrate, and recirculation minimize operating expense and chemistry disposal requirements. The entire chemistry circuit is constructed of the highest grade wet chemistry components, including pneumatic valves with flared fittings, flared manifolds, and connectors.

Supply can be from either built-in or separate chemistry management systems, with bulk feed from containers from one-gallon bottles to 55-gallon drums.

Processing both sides of a wafer calls for effective, safe handler automation.  SSEC processors offer a choice of edge contact tooling when only a single wafer size is to be processed.

Tooling is also available that can handle multiple wafer sizes without any hardware change, requiring only program inputs.