Process Monitoring
Microelectronics industry - clean room AMC monitoring
Airborne molecular contamination (AMC) is a concern for any high technology manufacturing process, especially in the microelectronics industry. Organic contamination may cause adverse effects on
production tools and consequently increase costs for
high-tech companies.
Ionicon Analytik GmbH with its ultra-sensitive online measuring solutions provide powerful tools to detect organic contamination and monitor continuously cleanroom environments.
Air handling systems and filtration*
Contamination-free manufacturing is a viable goal and is achieved by source control and source monitoring in combination with filtration solutions in air handling systems. Permanent monitoring of the AMC level helps identifying sources, stabilizes production and prevents unexpected shortfalls of the service life of filtration units.
Results of PTR-MS measurements - clean room environment testing
PTR-MS gives our customers the ability to measure
online over a long period of time without taking specific
point-of-time samples like when using a sampler.
The detection limit nevertheless is as low as 5 pptv.
The level of AMC contamination in cleanroom environments is predominately created by internal sources of solvents and acetic acid, re-entrainment of exhaust air, aromatic compounds from ambient air and return air as well as material outgassings.
Even more important, spills, leaks and mishandling have to be taken into account and can cause serious costs in terms of wafer loss and tool-down time.
PTR-MS offers itself to monitor production-critical compounds like phosphates, phthalates and other VOCs. Incidents that can cause production failures and yield losses, can be immediately seen online. Corrective actions can be taken to optimize the processes.
*For further information about the integration of Monitoring
and AMC Control systems contact artemis control AG.
Related documents:
Production process control, clean room AMC monitoring (0.4 MB .pdf)
