Improving Silicon Surface Cleaning: Methods, Metrics and Best Practices

Next-Gen Atomic-level Cleaning for state-of-the-art semiconductors and sub 20nm technology Improving silicon surface cleaning is essential for enabling reliable device performance as semiconductor nodes continue to shrink. Even microscopic residues and surface imperfections can lead to interface defects, yield loss, and long-term reliability challenges. In this article, we explore next-generation atomic-level cleaning approaches that help semiconductor … Read more

Best methods for atomic-level cleaning of semiconductor interfaces

In semiconductor manufacturing, atomic-level defects and contamination pose significant challenges to device performance, reliability, and yield. From high-precision sensors to powerful processors, even the smallest impurities can impact functionality. To mitigate these issues, advanced cleaning techniques are employed to purify interfaces and ensure high-quality results. In this post, we explore the most common atomic-level cleaning … Read more

Addressing Damage in Diced Sidewalls Prior to Packaging

In the world of semiconductors, ensuring that current flows precisely through the active area is essential. But what happens when it leaks through the edges? This common issue, known as leakage current, can significantly impact device performance and reliability. Sources of Leakage Current Leakage current in semiconductors generally arises from multiple sources: For example, H. … Read more

Carbon contamination must be reduced to obtain the best performance of Semiconductors

Classical chemical cleaning of semiconductors can introduce carbon contamination on both the surface and sub-surface layers. This phenomenon has been studied by Wan Tat Wat et al. in their paper (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10121102). Carbon contamination presents significant challenges. It can cause electrical drift, leading to deviations in device functionality. It complicates oxide growth processes, reduces dielectric breakdown … Read more

Unlock hidden opportunities in semiconductor manufacturing with customer opportunity assessment

In the high-stakes world of semiconductor manufacturing, every fraction of a nanometer matters. Yet, many companies—whether IDMs, foundries, or fabless companies—are unknowingly losing performance, quality, and yield due to atomic-level defects and contamination on their chip surfaces. Despite investing heavily in advanced fabrication techniques, many semiconductor manufacturers are unaware of how microscopic contaminants are impacting … Read more

Challenges of ALD process in semiconductor manufacturing

Driven by the rising usage in the manufacturing of new and advanced chips and the growing adoption of compact or miniature devices, Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is one of the best methods for producing thin films. While ALD is highly effective for depositing thin films with precision, recent research has shown it has inherent challenges, … Read more

High Bandwidth Memory: How interface defects threaten performance

High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) has rapidly become the cornerstone of high-performance computing, AI acceleration, and advanced graphics processing. Its stacked architecture and ultra-wide bus enable extraordinary data throughput, making it indispensable for workloads demanding massive parallelism and low latency. However, beneath the towering stacks of HBM chips lies a microscopic challenge: semiconductor interface defects and … Read more

Improve Your Sensor Performance and Quality

With a large number of sensor vendors competing on rapidly expanding markets, performance and quality are critical factors that sensor manufacturers use to combat competition and differentiate themselves in the market. Atomic-level defects and contamination in chip interfaces heavily impact the characteristics of the sensors and their competitiveness in the marketplace. Atomic-level impurities can alter … Read more

Atomic-Level Cleanliness: The Next Frontier in Semiconductor Fabrication

In recent years, awareness of surface defects has increased but not yet fully realized in the semiconductor industry. This is due to several factors, ranging from missing suitable characterization tools at fabrication lines to the lack of solutions to tackle these issues. For decades, semiconductor fabrication has focused on minimizing defects. However, as node size … Read more