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:
Jul. 09, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 27, 1996
Rodney L. Hill, San Jose, CA (US);
National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
In microelectronics (semiconductor) processing, pitting and voiding of aluminum and aluminum alloys by deionized (DI) water is prevented. The present method and apparatus degasifies the DI water to remove the dissolved oxygen gas. The oxygen gas concentration of the DI water is thus reduced from the saturation levels typically present to vastly less than saturation. It has been found that oxygen gas serves as the oxidizing agent in an electro-chemical reaction that includes the aluminum metal as the anode. The degasified DI water can be used at high temperatures and for long exposure times to rinse wafers without problematic aluminum etching. The present method is applicable to any semiconductor wafer fabrication or integrated circuit assembly process that uses DI water in contact with aluminum metallization.