INTRODUCTION

As mega-trends, such as artificial intelligence and robotics, smart homes and smart cars, and the Internet of things evolve to meet growing needs for speed, scale, and reliability, they force integrated circuit (IC) manufacturers to increase processor power efficiency and memory size. At the same time, device manufacturers striving to meet new worldwide consumer and business data demands at lower costs, face significant challenges in terms of process control, yield, and economics.

As logic devices migrate to smaller line widths, 3D NAND architectures increase layers, and DRAM memory density increases, sensitivity to contamination and defects have a greater impact on device performance. To achieve optimum wafer yield and reliability, the microelectronics industry needs to address the increased materials consumption requirements and the material purity challenges for these high-performance technologies from chemical manufacture to their point of use.

Controlling contamination begins with the chemicals that come into direct contact with every wafer. Increasing chemical purity is the first step in enabling process cleanliness and improving device yield. This is why device manufacturers continue to pressure chemical suppliers to deliver a higher level of purity, soon approaching parts per quadrillion (ppq), and avoid introducing contaminants during chemical packaging, transport, and distribution.

Equally important are material purity and the materials of construction in fluid delivery systems. Without contamination-controlled chemical packaging, filtration, pumps, and fluid handling components, chemicals are vulnerable to recontamination by particles, metals, and impurities. Conducting contamination mapping to understand the contamination source is critical to defect control, yet it can be especially challenging when manufacturers source products with varying cleanliness levels and combine batches from many different vendors.

Chemical manufacturers, OEMs, and device manufacturers need to work together with component suppliers to manage contamination and maintain higher purity levels in chemicals, storage tanks, and fluid delivery systems. This paper looks at purity challenges in two key areas, particularly particle shedding and leachable metallic contamination, and the benefits of investing in cleaner fluid systems to more comprehensively meet the purity specifications that are driven by leading-edge technologies.