PORTLAND, Ore. -- A new technology developed in part by Intel Corp. has shown the potential to cut the ultra-high-purity gases needed in semiconductor manufacturing by 20 percent and the time needed to purge semiconductor gas distribution systems between chip fab steps by 30 percent.
Pressure cyclic purge (PCP) technology developed by Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC) at its Environmental Research Center (ERC) for Environmentally Benign Semiconductor Manufacturing at the University of Arizona, could give Intel and other SRC members a leg up on next-generation semiconductor nodes. There has been a concerted effort to make the chemicals and gases more environmentally friendly and to shorten the downtime between process steps.
"As we go to the higher technology nodes, concern about contaminants keeps pushing the purity requirement higher, and purer gases means not only that they are more expensive, but the usage volume also goes up," Farhang Shadman, a professsor of chemical and environmental engineering at the University of Arizona and director of the ERC, told us. "The SRC members asked ERC to look into how we could reduce usage by making the purging process more efficient."
Between each step in the semiconductor manufacturing process, contaminants must be purged from a gas distribution system. Conventional processes blast a nearly constant flow of expensive ultra-high-purity gases until sensors indicate the impurities have dropped to acceptable levels. PCP modulates the flow with cyclical bursts in volume and pressure -- a pattern akin to how you might repeatedly blow on a feather to dislodge it from your sleeve.
Pressure cyclic purge technology enhances the process of removing bulk and adsorbed impurities in gas distribution systems. This method reduces gas use, lowers consumable costs, and shortens downtime during
the purging of lines and process tools.
The ERC built a simulator (now available to SRC members) that allows chip makers to simulate any specific semiconductor gas distribution system they might be running. After the simulation is configured to match a particular line, an optimization algorithm determines the best cyclical pattern of flow volume and pressure to cleanse that system.
Intel built a detailed, reconfigurable test bed that allows the simulator to be tuned by testing its predictions. The company wanted to increase throughput on its next-generation processor lines. Using PCP will require fewer ultra-high-purity gases and will take less time to purge between process steps.
"Intel was very excited about the project not only because of the savings in gas, but in the shorter time it takes to purge the system between steps," Shadman said.
SRC will offer free access to the PCP technology with its members, which include IBM, Intel, GlobalFoundries, Texas Instruments, limited-engagement members AMD and Freescale, and infrastructure members Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron. In addition, SRC hopes to form "limited engagement" partnerships for the technology.
"We are hoping to expand the SRC's membership by getting new members involved in our work by allowing them to join a specific area," said Bob Havemann, director of nanomanufacturing sciences at SRC.
Current members will start raking in savings from PCP starting in 2014, according to SRC. It also says companies using related manufacturing technologies (such as optics, optoelectronics, and flat-panel displays) may jump on the PCP bandwagon, because they are are also concerned about contamination.