What is ChemTrace, A Business Unit of UCT, bringing to Ultrapure Micro 2020?

When we think of Moore’s Law, what comes to mind is the dramatic shrink in the device features. Only a small sub-set of us recognize how critical identifying, quantifying and ultimately minimizing impurities is to delivering device performance and yield that has enabled Moore’s Law to continue for decades.

I doubt 25+ years ago, any of the companies providing equipment, analytical services, or chemicals to the semiconductor industry envisioned the need to measure down to part per quadrillion, let alone believe they would develop the products, processes and techniques to deliver that sensitivity. And yet, participants at this conference have been doing the groundbreaking work enabling impurities like trace metals to be measured with PPQ levels in ultrapure water, and down to PPT in photoresists and other critical process chemicals. In these last decades, micro-contamination experts have collaborated with tool, process and yield experts to correlate impurity sources to the cleanroom, wafer and chamber environments developing new monitoring protocols and establishing well defined specifications. Whether it is a chamber part, the wafer bevels, chemical filters or a critical tool micro-environment, today’s labs routinely analyze ionic, organic and metallic contaminants – even on actual parts. This analytical data has provided chemical suppliers, equipment makers, and semiconductor manufacturers the ability to identify contamination sources, and quantify the purity level improvements achieved. In-line processes, in-house testing and out-sourced analysis ultimately combine to ensure robust and repeatable processes across the industry. It is this collaboration across the semiconductor ecosystem that has delivered the tremendous advances we are experiencing.

At ChemTrace, our passion remains to stretch the limits of analysis, providing the information that enables our customers to deliver the highest performing, most reliable semiconductor chips. We are excited about the future we are enabling. And, we want to thank the rest of the Ultrapure Micro community for your contributions.