Gary Van Schooneveld, CT Associates, Inc., Minnesota, USA

ABSTRACT

The reduction in semiconductor device critical dimensions puts pressure on the suppliers of fluid handling components and systems to continuously reduce their contamination contribution.  The ITRS’ (International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors) critical particle dimension for a number of devices is below the detection limit of commercially available particle counting instruments.  Industry standard test methods such as SEMI F57 and F40 have not necessarily kept up with the requirements being identified by the ITRS and end users.