ABSTRACTNH4OH/H2O2/H2O (called APM or
SC–1) cleaning combined with megasonic irradiation is found to feature
outstanding removal efficiency for various types of particulate contaminant.
The conventional APM cleaning, however, allows metallic impurity in solution
to adhere onto substrate surface, and it must be followed by acid cleaning
such as HCI/IH2O2/H2O (called HPM or SC–2)
cleaning to remove metallic impurity from substrate. The advanced APM
cleaning using MC–1 which is alkali cleaning agent containing chelating
agent has been developed, and this new cleaning is found capable for
preventing various metallic impurities including Al in solution from
contaminating substrate surface. Besides, with cleaning conditions
optimized, the advanced APM cleaning using MC–1 can also remove metallic
impurity from substrate surface. In short, this modified APM cleaning is
capable for removing particle and metallic impurity at the same time, which
is not possible with the conventional cleaning technology. The cleaning
process of semiconductor manufacturing process can be simplified if HPM
cleaning is eliminated by introducing the advanced APM cleaning using MC–1.
This leads to drastic reduction of cleaning cost and improvement of
throughput of the cleaning process.