Beginning this month, the TEL Cleaning Systems product line officially changed their name to Surface Preparation Systems to emphasize a heightened focus on progressive evolving technologies, in addition to traditional cleaning challenges. TEL's current cleaning and surface preparation technologies include batch immersion, single wafer, and DI wafer scrubbers. TEL's SPS group holds the second largest market share globally.

Traditionally, wet processing focused on removal of contaminants, such as particles, metals, and organic residues. While these challenges remain, there is a greater focus now on the integration of wet process steps and control of surface condition at the atomic level. To adapt to these evolving challenges, requirements for wet processing have also had to change.

New technologies, such as high-k gate dielectrics and epitaxial Si and SiGe, require precise engineering of the surface prior to deposition, and TEL is dedicated to providing such surface preparation solutions in addition to traditional cleaning and etching. "Our close cooperation with other TEL product lines that provide thin films makes us acutely aware of these issues, which we expect to become increasingly important as we move into future technology nodes," said Kenji Washino, vice president of the new surface preparation group.

SPS leading edge technologies include the new Single Wafer Clean tool for FEOL strip and post cleans, which incorporates the unique and environmentally-friendly Vapor Ozone Strip (VOS) for non-plasma resist removal; and Atomized Spray (AS), an alternative to traditional megasonics for enhanced particle removal without pattern damage. As combined technologies, these offer a
reduction in Si and oxide loss in the post-implant resist strip steps following gate formation.

Additional unique technologies include the patented Stacked-Dual Dryer (SD2), which offers significantly reduced drying time, optimal CoO, and superior performance to surface tension gradient drying. BEOL development is ongoing utilizing the SWC and SCCO2 platforms.

In the next couple of years, the SPS group will continue to develop both FEOL and BEOL emerging technologies that reflect the surface preparation focus, in addition to meeting increasingly stringent cleaning requirements.