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:
May. 13, 2003
Filed:
Aug. 17, 2001
James P. DeYoung, Durham, NC (US);
James B. McClain, Raleigh, NC (US);
Stephen M. Gross, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Micell Technologies, Inc., Raleigh, NC (US);
Abstract
A method of cleaning and removing water and entrained solutes during a manufacturing process from a microelectronic device such as a resist-coated semiconductor substrate, a MEM's device, or an optoelectronic device comprising the steps of: (a) providing a partially fabricated integrated circuit, MEM's device, or optoelectronic device having water and entrained solutes on the substrate; (b) providing a densified (e.g., liquid or supercritical) carbon dioxide drying composition, the drying composition comprising carbon dioxide and a drying adjunct, the drying adjunct selected from the group consisting of cosolvents, surfactants, and combinations thereof; (c) immersing the surface portion in the densified carbon dioxide drying composition; and then (d) removing the drying composition from the surface portion. Process parameters are controlled so that the drying composition is maintained as a homogeneous composition during the immersing step, the removing step, or both the immersing and removing step, without substantial deposition of the drying/cleaning adjunct or entrained solutes on the substrate.