Use of a hybrid metrology approach to develop holistic filtration solutions in hydrogen peroxide

All semiconductor manufacturers are driving to advance their process efficiency and effectiveness to deliver improved performance. To achieve such improvements with each generation of new semiconductor devices while maintaining high reliability and yield, strict contamination control must be established for process chemicals and gases. Contaminants in these materials can be present in various forms, such as organics, gels, solid particles, anions, cations, polymers, etc., and are typically controlled using membrane-based filtration. To ensure that the appropriate filtration solutions are implemented, a two-step process is required. First, one must identify/characterize the contaminants present in the semiconductor grade chemistry using multiple analytical techniques to develop a diverse profile of contaminants and then use that knowledge to optimize filtration schemes across the supply chain to ensure end-to-end impurity control. In this paper, a hybrid metrology approach was utilized to first understand the contamination profile of semiconductor grade hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) at 30 % concentration then evaluate the effectiveness of different filter membranes in removing these contaminants from the chemical.