Using electrostatic repulsion to prevent adhesion of infinitesimal particles

Abstract

The miniaturization of semiconductor devices has been proceeding rapidly in recent years. With that progress, the size of particulate contamination that must be controlled is also decreasing. Infinitesimal particles of diameters less than 50 nm cannot be controlled by conventional air flow control and filtering, so new control methods are required. We evaluated a new particle control method that uses the repulsive electrostatic force to prevent the adhesion of particles. We confirmed that the method suppressed the adhesion of particles by about 92%.