News

FSI’s NEW ORION® Single Wafer Cleaning System Officially Takes Off



OTS (February 2009) -- On November 3, 2008, FSI officially entered the single wafer wet cleaning market with the ORION^® System. In recent years IC manufacturers have been asking FSI for single wafer cleaning solutions -- FSI responded with the ORION^® system. The ORION^® system with its differentiated solutions is already providing unique critical path capabilities required for advanced technology nodes as reflected by orders received shortly after its launch.

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FSI International Receives Follow-on Order for ORION® Single Wafer Cleaning Technology from Major Semiconductor Manufacturer



New cleaning capability will be integrated into manufacturing for BEOL copper/low-k interconnect fabrication

MINNEAPOLIS (January 7, 2009) — FSI International, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSII) a leading supplier of wafer processing, cleaning and surface conditioning equipment for semiconductor manufacturing, announced today the receipt of an additional order for its new ORION^® single wafer cleaning technology from a major semiconductor manufacturer.

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FSI International Receives Order for ORION® Single Wafer Cleaning System from Major Semiconductor Manufacturer



Order represents acceptance of new single wafer cleaning technology for 32nm applications

MINNEAPOLIS (December 23, 2008) — FSI International, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSII) a leading supplier of wafer processing, cleaning and surface conditioning equipment for semiconductor manufacturing, announced today the receipt of an order for its new ORION^® single wafer cleaning platform from a major semiconductor manufacturer.

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FSI International Releases ORION® Single Wafer Cleaning System



Innovative closed-chamber design enables critical path cleaning capabilities for ultra shallow junctions, high-k/metal gates and metal capping layers at 32nm and below.

MINNEAPOLIS (November 3, 2008) — FSI International, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSII) a leading supplier of wafer processing, cleaning and surface conditioning equipment for semiconductor manufacturing, announced today the release of its new ORION® Single Wafer Cleaning System.

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Controlling Dissolved Oxygen in Cleaning Processes



OTS (September 2008) -- Dissolved gases have long been known to have significant impact on wet cleaning processes. Dissolved oxygen in rinse water contributes to surface oxidation and watermark formation during wafer drying [1-2]. Dissolved gases can affect megasonics processes and are often controlled in order to optimize particle removal efficiency and prevent pattern damage [3]. In addition, dissolved CO₂ is well-known to form carbonic acid, affecting the pH of liquid cleaning solutions. More recently, there is an increased concern about the effect of dissolved oxygen when cleaning surfaces with different metals exposed.

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Resist Removal Walks a Tightrope



At the 32 nm technology node and beyond, the most critical front-end-of-line (FEOL) cleans are during ultrashallow junction (USJ) formation, with an International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors' (ITRS) target of 0.3 Å/clean of silicon loss. Meeting this challenge is most difficult for resist removal following high-dose implants.

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Increasing Demands Require New Look at Wafer Cleans



As device structures scale down, it is getting increasingly difficult to achieve low material loss while still removing particles. It is also getting more difficult to keep from damaging, attacking or otherwise modifying surrounding materials and structures — including doped silicon loss, changes in the k values of low-k dielectrics, metal gate corrosion, pattern collapse, and more.

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FSI Ships Single Wafer Cleaning Technology Selected by a Major Semiconductor Manufacturer for Development of 32nm BEOL Cleaning Processes



MINNEAPOLIS (May 13, 2008) -- FSI International, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSII), a leading manufacturer of wafer cleaning systems used in the fabrication of integrated circuits, announced today that it shipped its single wafer wet cleaning technology to a major semiconductor manufacturer for the development of back-end-of-line (BEOL) cleaning capability for 32nm IC manufacturing. After a thorough review of competitive alternatives, this customer determined that FSI’s technology best met its anticipated new requirements for 32nm device manufacturing. For the development program, FSI has shipped an evaluation ORION™ Single Wafer Cleaning Cluster.

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FSI International Introduces New Cleaning Processes for Advanced Technology Nodes New Processes Meet Customer Needs Well Ahead of ITRS Schedule



MINNEAPOLIS (June 30, 2005) -- FSI International, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSII) today announced new cleaning processes to meet the needs of leading IC makers well ahead of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) guidelines for material loss. The ITRS calls for a maximum material loss per cleaning cycle of 0.4 angstrom at the 45nm technology node, while semiconductor manufacturers indicate their requirements are closer to 0.1 angstrom.

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Publications

"Reducing Time in Batch Cleaning"

By: Jeffrey Butterbaugh, FSI International
Wafer cleaning represents up to 15% of the total process steps to build an advanced, 90-nm semiconductor device and is still mainly carried out in batch processes. Performance and throughput advantages are the main reasons for the persistence of batch processing in cleaning. However, concerns about cycle time are driving development of single wafer cleaning processes. Jeffery W. Butterbaugh of FSI International looks at alternatives for maintaining performance and throughput while realizing gains in productivity for cleaning processes.

“Using Cost-Effective Dilute-Acid Chemicals to Perform Postetch Interconnect Cleans”

By: Hong-Seong Sohn, Samsung Electronics; and Jeffery W. Butterbaugh, Erik D. Olson, John Diedrick, and Nam-Pyo Lee

“Non-Damaging Chemical Photoresist Strip Process for Copper Low-k Interconnects”

By: Philip G. Clark and Kurt Christenson

“Non-Damaging Cleaning Processes for Porous Low-k Materials”

By: Philip G. Clark and Darren L. Moore

Photoresist removal using traditional plasma ash chemistries leads to severe degradation of low-k dielectric properties including increases in k-value and changes in critical dimensions. We present a new process using ozone-saturated, deionized water (DIO3) in a batch spray processor.

“Rapid and Controlled Stripping of Thick Resists for Semiconductor BEOL Applications”

"Characterizing Etch Residue Removal for Batch Processing of Spin-On Low-k Dielectric Materials"

Spin-on low-k dielectric materials, including SiLK and MSQ, are being integrated into BEOL Cu interconnect structures. Post-etch residue removal must selectively dissolve the organometallics without attacking the low-k or Cu film. We demonstrate such a substrate-safe stripper, GenSolve 670, in a batch spray system. A complete cycle time of 30 minutes is possible, providing a throughput near 200 wph.

"Improved Post-etch Via Clean with Fluoride-based Semi-aqueous Chemistry using an Intermediate Rinse"

By: Jeffrey W. Butterbaugh

Products

• ORION^®Single Wafer Cleaning System
• ZETA^® Batch Spray System
• MAGELLAN^® Batch Immersion System