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Environmentally Friendly Semiconductor Cleaning Device Became a Reality.
SHARP MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS CORPORATION Has Developed
High Temperature/High Concentration Ozone Water Generating Devices.


03 December 2007

SHARP MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS CORPORATION has developed a high temperature/high concentration ozone water generating device designed for semiconductors. It allows you to replace chemical solutions, such as sulfuric acid solutions, used in semiconductor manufacturing processes in large quantities with ozone water, which enables manufacturing semiconductors with no or with extremely small amount of chemical solutions.

A large amount of chemical solution is used when manufacturing semiconductors. However, thanks to the environmentally friendly activities of recent years, the amount of chemical solutions used per unit area for silicon is decreasing by optimizing the concentration of chemical solutions or recycling used chemical solutions. This device is designed to radically reduce the amount of such chemical solutions to be used. The used ozone water will be resolved into oxygen and water and no damage will be caused to the environment.

In order to solve the problem of the poor process capacity of the conventional cleaning methods using the conventional ozone water, we have developed our unique technologies as described below, utilizing our own manufacturing technologies for cleaning devices and the semiconductor technologies within the Sharp group. The following technologies provide practical cleaning processes even in a resist stripping process where the cleaning efficiency becomes poor with the conventional ozone water, by cleaning semiconductor substrates with a supersaturated concentration of high temperature/high concentration ozone water. Moreover, we can expect that the ozone water of high purity generated from pure water and high purity gas can be deployed for miniaturization.


Photo: Overview of the High Temperature/High Concentration Ozone Water Generating Device

Key Points of the Developed Technologies (Patent Pending)
1. The technology to generate a supersaturated concentration of high temperature/high concentration ozone water.
2. The technology to deliver ozone water to the substrate surfaces maintaining a high concentration.
3. The technology to quickly replace the ozone water after reaction on the substrate surfaces and continuously supply fresh ozone water.

<Features of the High Temperature/High Concentration Ozone Water Generating Device>
1. The technology to generate a supersaturated concentration of high temperature/high concentration ozone water.
* When a surplus thermal energy is supplied to ozone water, ozone molecules in a solution will be dissolved into oxygen. We have developed a mechanism that can raise the ozone water temperature to the required temperature in a short time while minimizing the self-decomposition of the ozone molecules in the solution. (Figure)

Figure: Conceptual Diagram of the High Temperature/High Concentration Ozone Water Generating Device


2. The technology to deliver ozone water to the substrate surfaces maintaining a high concentration.
* Supersaturated ozone water is thermodynamically in a nonequilibrium state and the ozone water concentration will be reduced to the saturating and dissolving concentration over time. We have developed a piping system that extremely reduces the decrease in ozone concentration so that you can use supersaturated high temperature/high concentration ozone water.
3. The technology to quickly replace the ozone water after reaction on the substrate surfaces and continuously supply fresh ozone water.
* We have developed a combined structure that has our proprietary nozzles and substrate rotating mechanism in order to supply high concentration ozone water over substrate surfaces.


<Contact Information on this Matter>
SHARP MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS CORPORATION
E-mail: info-sms-en@sharp.co.jp

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