Detection and Identification of Particles on Silicon Surfaces

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the inspection and analysis of particulate contamination on silicon surfaces and discusses the present status and future prospects of the technology with emphasis on applications of this technology in very large-scale integrated (VLSI) wafer processing for yield enhancement. The particulate detection program comprises surface inspection of unpatterned test wafers to check process equipment cleanliness and surface inspection of patterned product wafers to monitor total process cleanliness. To rapidly locate and analyze both organic and inorganic particles on a large silicon wafer, an automated wafer-surface particle detection and identification system has been developed. Examples of successful applications of the particle inspection and analysis program using this new system in the advanced VLSI wafer processing lines are presented. Because process-induced particulate contamination is prone to clustering, full-wafer inspection is preferred for particle detection. For particle detection, automated laser-scanning wafer inspection systems are indispensable tools in meeting the goals.