Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Jong Kook Song

Sun Jae Lee

Sung-Ho Jo

Mo Hyun Cho

Dong Wook Cho

Pyung Ho Lim

Ki Hwan Park

A method for cleaning and drying semiconductor wafers improves device yield by providing more advanced control of the ratio of drying fluid to cleaning fluid, for example the ratio of N2 vapor to IPA vapor. In addition, a quick drain process is employed to improve process throughput, and to further improve particle and watermark removal during the cleaning and drying steps.

Method of rinsing and drying semiconductor substrates

A wafer cleaning process using standard cleaning 1 (SC1) solution includes a step of supplementing the cleaning solution with predetermined amounts of NH.sub.4 OH and H.sub.2 O.sub.2, or NH.sub.4 OH, H.sub.2 O.sub.2 and H.sub.2 O during the cleaning of wafers with the solution so that a constant composition of the solution is maintained. After the cleaning solution is replaced with a fresh one, the solution is stabilized for a certain period of time to accomplish a complete mixing of the components therein. The present invention prolongs the useful life of standard cleaning solution and thus contributes to the efficiency of the cleaning process.

Method of cleaning a silicon wafer using a standard cleaning solution

Growing community of inventors

Suwon-si, South Korea

Jong Kook Song