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. 11, 2003
Filed:
Jan. 05, 2000
Steven Verhaverbeke, Radnor, PA (US);
CFMT, Inc., Wilmington, DE (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides methods of reducing particle contamination during wet processing of semiconductor substrates. In one embodiment of the present invention, a surfactant is added to any processing solution having a gas-liquid interface that the semiconductor substrates will be contacted with during immersion. The surfactant reduces the contact angle of the processing solution to less than 90° and inhibits deposition of particles onto the semiconductor substrates during immersion. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the semiconductor substrates are contacted with only one gas-liquid interface during wet processing that occurs during the immersion of the semiconductor substrates in an initial liquid processing solution. In this embodiment, the last processing solution in contact with the semiconductor substrates is removed by displacement with a drying fluid stream.