Application of an Electrical Low Pressure Impactor (ELPI) for Residual Particle Measurement in an Epitaxial Growth Reactor

Seungjae Lee,Taesung Kim,Hongkang Lim,Dongbin Kim,Pengzhan Liu,Yujin Cho,Eunmi Kim,Dong-Bin Kwak,Seungho Keum

doi:10.3390/app11167680

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of using an electrical low pressure impactor (ELPI) for analyzing residual particles in a Si epitaxial growth process chamber and establish an application technique. Prior to experimental measurements, some preliminary works were conducted, including an inlet improvement of a cascade impactor, vacuum fitting fastening and flow rate adjustment, and a vacuum leak test. After that, residual particles in the process chamber were measured during N2 gas purge using an ELPI due to its advantages including the real-time measurement of particles and the ability to separate and collect particles by their diameters. In addition, ELPI could be used to obtain particle size distribution and see the distribution trend for both number and mass concentration. The results of the real-time analysis of the total particle count revealed that the concentration at the endpoint compared to that at the beginning of the measurement by decreased 36.9%. Scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDS) analysis of collected particles was performed using two types of substrates: Al foil and a Si wafer. The results showed that most particles were Si particles, while few particles had Si and Cl components. ELPI has the clear advantages of real-time particle concentration measurement and simultaneous collection. Thus, we believe that it can be more actively used for particle measurement and analysis in the semiconductor industry, which has many critical micro/nanoparticle issues.

Highlights

Due to recent increase in demand for personal mobile devices, the scale of the semiconductor industry is expanding and competition among related companies is intensifying [1].highly integrated chip production techniques on large-area wafers are rapidly being developed and applied as methods to increase the yield and profits of semiconductor companies
USA)Figure analyses performed to the check compositions, particle sizes, and shape of partimeasurement results residual particles in the epitaxial growth chamber after the epitaxcles collected from theofchamber
Looking at the number concentration measurement results in (a), about of particles were measured in the first stage and 11% of particles were measured in Results and Discussion the second stage

Summary

Introduction

Due to recent increase in demand for personal mobile devices, the scale of the semiconductor industry is expanding and competition among related companies is intensifying [1].highly integrated chip production techniques on large-area wafers are rapidly being developed and applied as methods to increase the yield and profits of semiconductor companies. For the fabrication of a high-quality wafer, the epitaxial growth process is used, which grows a desired singlecrystal thin film on a wafer for application to a device [2]. This process requires a high level of chamber cleanliness because the influx of contaminated particles can interfere with single-crystal growth, leading to defects such as dislocation [3]. For this purpose, it is essential to identify and remove contaminant particles. Various in-depth analyses are required through the measurement and collection of particles in the process facility [4]

Objectives

Results

Conclusion