Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
A statistical design of experiments (DOE) approach has been employed to evaluate the effects of megasonic input power, solution chemistry, bath temperature, and immersion time on particle removal in SC-1 chemistries. Megasonic input power was the dominant factor in the response surface model. Substantially diluted chemistries, performed with high megasonic input power and moderate-to-elevated temperatures. were shown to be very effective for small particle removal. Follow-on studies to the original DOE have led to an investigation of ultradilute SC-1 chemistries with megasonic power. These chemistries ranged from 0 to 1000 ppm of NH4OH and H2O2. Post processing light point defect (LPD) counts differ substantially between bare n and p-type Si<100>, and ambient lighting conditions are shown to influence LPD counts on p-type Si<100>. Solution properties such as pH and oxidation potential have been studied, and an investigation of post processing silicon surface properties is underway.