Wafer cleaning system

US6308369A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Silikinetic Technology, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Alejandro Salvador Garcia · Mission Viejo, US
• Brent Krick · Mountain View, US
• Anthony Nichtawitz · Lima, PE
• Daniel Nordeen · Ramona, US
• Josh Oen · Fremont, US
• Kenneth A. Smith · Houston, US
• Vincent Suro · Sunnyvale, US
• Daniel Wolf · San Jose, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 24, 2000
• Grant date: Oct 30, 2001
• Expiry date: Feb 24, 2020

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01L21/67046
• WIPO field: Semiconductors
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A wafer cleaning apparatus provides two opposed brushes for brushing a vertically disposed wafer in a tank which can contain a process liquid. A pressure controller adaptively controls the pressure exerted by the brushes on the wafer to compensate for brush wear. Rim driving wheels engage the wafer periphery with a porous jacket coupled to a fluid delivery system, thereby simultaneously rotating and cleaning the periphery of the wafer. The apparatus includes a fluid delivery system for separately and independently delivering a plurality of constituents of a cleaning solution to the brushes, thereby ensuring that a freshly mixed cleaning solution reaches the wafer. The tank can be filled with a process liquid through which megasonic waves provided by a transducer can propagate and impinge upon the wafer thereby enhancing the cleaning of the wafer or the brushes.