July 16–DUBLIN, Ohio — Ashland Specialty Chemical Co., a division of Ashland Inc., and Semitool, Inc. have agreed to work jointly on innovation and process improvement in wet chemical processing for semiconductor manufacturing.
The combined efforts of Semitool and the Ashland-ACT business unit of Ashland Specialty Chemical Company’s Electronic Chemicals Division will focus on cleaning processes associated with integration of low k and copper materials for advanced devices.
“Ashland is committed to meeting the industry’s evolving needs with worldwide technical support and an aggressive research and development program, including our focus to provide the latest cleaning and stripping technology. Through cooperation with Semitool?we can increase our effectiveness in developing and deploying new process solutions for our global customers,” says Dana Durham, business director of Ashland-ACT.
Dana Scranton, Semitool’s vice president for surface preparation technology, agrees, saying in the rapidly changing semiconductor industry, it is critical that suppliers unite to develop value-added solutions in a timely manner.
“Our objective in this alliance with Ashland is to enhance our already strong position in post-etch cleaning by developing processes offering benefits in improved performance and lower cost of ownership,” he says. “Our capability to recommend advanced chemical formulations with our diverse multi-wafer batch and single-wafer product lines gives Semitool and Ashland the opportunity to offer solutions that address the leading-edge cleaning challenges of our industry.”
Recent innovations from Ashland include the low-k and copper-compatible ACT(R) AS-65 etch residue remover, specifically formulated to remove stubborn etch residues for sub-0.25um technology.
ACT AS-65 is an amine-containing product that quickly and efficiently removes etch residue, particularly those with high inorganic content. It contains unique corrosion inhibitors and features very low etch rates on sensitive metals including aluminum, copper, titanium and tungsten, with minimal impact on critical dimensions of vias, metal lines and trenches.
Advances in post-etch cleaning technology introduced by Semitool include the Enhanced Spray Technology (EST) batch systems, and the single-wafer Millenium products. The EST batch spray systems offer increased process performance and efficiency over previous generations of spray technology, with up to 50 wafer process loads and enhanced cleaning capability for high productivity. The company’s Millenium single-wafer system delivers high-performance, low-cost cleaning for leading-edge device manufacturing applications.