The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 16, 1999
Filed:
Apr. 03, 1997
Toshiyuki Kaeriyama, Ibaraki-Ken, JP;
Takeshi Harada, Ibaraki-Ken, JP;
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
A process of cleaning debris (24) from a partially-sawn semiconductor wafer (10). The method of the present invention includes cleaning a partially fabricated wafer (12) that may have fabricated on it a micromechanical device (16) which can be easily damaged by particles (24) generated by the partial-saw process, such as oxide particles. The present invention includes cleaning the partially-sawn wafer with a solution including diluted hydrofluoric acid and an alkyl glycol. Clean-up using this solution accomplishes two goals. First, it removes debris including oxide particles on the wafer surface and in the kerfs (22), and second, reduces the depth of damage in the surface (26) of a CMOS layer (14) proximate the kerf (22) which has been determined to be a source of particles generated after a wafer cleanup process. A subsequent megasonic process is utilized to acoustically vibrate the wafer while bathed in deionized water to further remove any other particles. After the clean-up process of the present invention, the semiconductor wafer is completed by performing at least one more semiconductor process. An substantially improved yield is realized by utilizing the cleaning process of the present invention.