Characterization of Organic Contaminants Outgassed from Materials Used in Semiconductor Fabs/Processing

As ULSI technology continues to advance, semiconductor manufacturers are facing new contamination control and monitoring challenges, including airborne molecular contamination (AMC). AMC is being recognized as one of the yield limiting factors in newer generation microelectronics fabrication processes. A major AMC source, materials' outgassing can introduce a variety of organic contaminants into semiconductor fabs, impacting many processes. This paper provides a brief overview of typical organic outgassing contaminants, their sources, process impacts and analytical techniques used to detect these species. In addition, outgassing study results for polycyclodimethylsiloxanes and several other contaminants using thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) analysis are employed to demonstrate the relationships among (1) outgassing level and outgassing time (linear), (2) outgassing quantity and the inverse of outgassing temperature (logarithmic), and (3) outgassing quantity and material surface area (linear). A new method, based on gas diffusion conductivity detection, for ammonia and volatile amines' outgassing analysis is also presented.